Via Pat Heppert from Lake Pepin’s Pickle Factory on the 4LIYC Facebook page:
“If it’s less than 75 sq. ft. and less than a 28-foot mast, they’re all Skeeters.”
Parked next to his C Skeeter DRIFTER, this little blue homemade (aren’t they all? – Ed.) iceboat looks like the kid brother tagging along. With enough wind, who knows.
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to February 7 and 8, 2026. The next update will be Sunday, February 1. Check back here at that time. The Northwest Ice Yacht Association regatta takes precedence.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Speaking of stern-steerers, Lake Winnebago stern-steerer sailor George Gerhardt shared the above photos a couple of weeks ago. I asked Andy to explain exactly what are we looking at:
Sorry for the delay, I was at my brother’s in Costa Rica for a week. It’s very bad iceboating there, I wouldn’t recommend trying.
Years ago when I first saw the Pirate Boat, as George calls it, I noticed the reefing points at the top of the sail. I have never seen a reef like that. All the other reef points I have seen for gaff rigs have been for taking in sail at the foot. This is the first time I have seen the Pirate Boat reefed and it is interesting. I wonder if the reef points also allow the upper portion of the sail to fly by rolling up the sail from the reef points down. That would show just the gaff area, even less sail than exposed here. I can see an advantage with the area shown in the photo – there is a lot of sail area remaining down low, which will produce a lot of force to get through rough ice and deeper snow yet not creating a lot of heeling moment to cause a capsize like Jay’s boat “Frosty’ shown below. The reefed sail isn’t a rig that will produce high speeds as it creates a lot of drag, but it will allow sailing more often due to the power.
I have plans to make the original Fritz backbone into a 38′ gaffer. I don’t need it to go fast, it will go fast enough for me, I just want to be able to sail more often.
Andy
Woops!
Iceboating has seen its share of firsts, and this may be another one. In the 1930s the stern-steerer DEBUTANTE showed up with the first aluminum runners, and Chuck Kotovic Jr. won the 1954 ISA with one of the first Dacron sails.
Now a new kind of experiment is underway. Tomasz Zakrzewski, a Polish DN sailor who has raced many championships on our lakes, has built what may be the first runner plank designed entirely by artificial intelligence. It was not a shortcut. Tomasz spent hours feeding the system with detailed files and measurements to train it. With enough data, the machine can analyze patterns and generate something that has never been built before.
This week marks a milestone for me — and possibly a first in the history of iceboating.
I have just finished building a runner plank designed entirely by artificial intelligence.
Over the past days, I trained an AI model by feeding it detailed information about more than 100 runner planks built over the last decade — including materials used, layup schedules, structural failures, stiffness measurements, field results, and performance notes. Based on this dataset, ChatGPT proposed its own optimized layup concept… and the design was so interesting that I decided to build it. Continue reading.
Chicago to Mackinac started early this year when retired Renegader Glenn Betzoldt decided to organize his own race—not by iceboat or soft water sailboat, but with his glider plane.
Well, I never did the sailboat soft water race to the Island, so I decided to start my own race, first ever Michigan Sailplane “air sailing” race to Mackinac. So Memorial Day, I finally got the forecast I needed to go.
I started west of North Cape Yacht club and another Sailplane came out of Ann Arbor to join me. So, we had 2 classes, Open& 18 Meter, but the 18 Meter ended up dropping out.
So, then it wasn’t a speed race, this time just distance, about 275 miles start to finish. I guess you could say I was in the Cruisers Class.
It worked out great, and had enough altitude to cross the straits without any sweat. My biggest concern of the trip was all the landing lights I had to deal with since I have a 70’ wingspan. (144 sq feet sail area) The lights on the island were about 2 feet tall with an additional 2 feet for flags on top of that – to help find them in the winter under the snow.
To get the glider off the Island, I didn’t want to use horses to pull the trailer off the ferry and get it to the airport $$$. So, after spending the night on the island, I did a self-launch off Mackinac to move the glider to Cheboygan. My wife, Laura, drove up with the trailer and we de-rigged and drove back home.
It was a once in a lifetime Sailplane flight!!
Glen
Another way to sail the Great Lakes, a concept painting by Harry Whitehorse titled “Great Lakes Freighter.”
Pencil Sketch of Tim McCormick by Greg Whitehorse
Speaking of Tim McCormick in the previous post, this beautiful pencil sketch, created by Greg Whitehorse, captures Tim sailing his Renegade AIM on Lake Monona. Thank you, Greg, for this thoughtful piece of art that keeps Tim’s memory alive.
National Iceboat Authority Web Page
Location: In person at the Elks Lodge 711 Jenifer St, Madison, WI 53703
Time: 6:30 PM
YOU ARE SKIPPER NUMBER
TO ROUND THE MARK SINCE NOVEMBER 1999.
