No 4LIYC Racing Dec 27 – 28 But Keep Your Runners Sharp

by | Dec 26, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page

There will be no 4LIYC racing this weekend, December 27 and 28.

With rain in the forecast and recent warm temperatures, we’re taking a break to protect the Kegonsa landing and the racing track. That gives us more racing later. To be clear: Lake Monona looks good but has many holes. We still have Lake Mendota is still in the bank as well.

It’s also a good weekend to slow down and watch Wizard of Zenda, the Buddy Melges documentary. The full film is now on YouTube.

The screenshot here shows Buddy with 4LIYC’s Bill Mattison at an ISA regatta in Lake Geneva, around 1999 with other familiar faces in the background.

As Buddy would say, keep your runners sharp.

Winter looks ready to return Sunday night. We still have a big season ahead. If things line up, we may even be able to race the historic Bloody Mary Eye Opener on January 1, a long-time 4LIYC favorite. Stay tuned.

Summer Solstice: Countdown to Ice Begins

by | Jun 20, 2025 | 2024-2025, DN, Home Page

Sunset over Lake Mendota, early 1970s. Bill Mattison’s HONEYBUCKET DN, built for his children and photographed by Bill himself.

As we mark midsummer this weekend, iceboaters know we’re one step closer to ice-making.

In about 20 weeks, DNs will gather in Finland for the annual Week 46 regatta. Just four weeks later, the DN Western Challenge kicks off the North American season on the first weekend of December in Minnesota.

That’s less than five months until we line up on the ice again. The season is turning. Time to check your gear—winter is coming.

If you are new and want to try ice sailing, get in touch with us!

Save the Date: 4LIYC Awards Banquet

by | Mar 17, 2025 | 2024-2025, Home Page

4LIYC Skeeter guys Paul Krueger, Bill Mattison, and Dave Rosten with a pile of hardware. From the Bill & Mauretta Mattison collection.

Mark your calendars! The Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Let’s celebrate the incredible season of 2024-2025.

More info to come!

The Mattison Scrapbooks – Cool Shots

by | Mar 9, 2025 | 2024-2025, Home Page

Staging the perfect shot back in the day —no filters, no drones, just a guy in a business suit on the ice and a camera.

I recently visited with Mauretta Mattison and her daughter, Lynn. Mauretta handed over a box overflowing with iceboating memorabilia that she had meticulously collected over the years, detailing her late husband Bill’s and family’s extraordinary life on the ice. It’s a collection that could keep an iceboating historian busy for months. As I quickly flipped through it, two items caught my attention: a pair of photos capturing what looks to be a lazy, light-air day on the ice and another featuring Elmer Millenbach, the Renegade’s mastermind

The first photo is a behind-the-scenes look at a photo shoot on the ice. Wisconsin State Journal photographer Edward Stein is lying on his side, dressed in a business suit and dress shoes—no winter gear.. He’s aiming at Bill Mattison, relaxed on the runner plank of his Skeeter, with another guy peering up at the sail from behind the boom. Next to it in the scrapbook is the finished product—the photo Stein snapped that day, which ran in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Then there’s a second photo that caught my eye—a classically cool image featuring Elmer Millenbach and his wife, Cora Lee, standing beside their Ford Thunderbird (possibly a 1964?) with Elmer’s Renegade on top of the car. Elmer, the Detroit innovator who designed the Renegade, was known for transporting his hull on top of cars instead of using a trailer. The Thunderbird is stylish match for the sleek lines of the Renegade.
Stay tuned as I dig deeper into this box of history.

Elmer and Cora Lee Millenbach have Fun Fun Fun cruising with style.