4LIYC Scores
The 4LIYC did have a racing season, albeit a short one. Fortunately, our by-laws allow for regattas sailed on home ice to be counted towards club scoring. Our Nite class members will be taking home the “pots and pans” at this year’s banquet on April 27. (Banquet information here.) The Renegade class was also able to race that weekend on Kegonsa and Trophy chair Jori Lenon and the board have been working on the specialty trophies too.
Class photo at the 2019 Blokart North American regatta at Ivanpah Dry Lake near Primm, Nevada.
2019 Blokart North Americans: Jim Nordhaus 2nd in division, Aiden Schmeidlin 1st in division, Gary Nordhaus 1st in division, Andy Gratton 2nd in division, Geoff Sobering 3rd in division.
You may have noticed that this website wasn’t being updated very much during the past few weeks. That’s because I was in Primm, Nevada at the 2019 Blokart North American championship along with some other Wisconsin ice sailors. Jim Nordhaus and Geoff Sobering placed 2nd and 3rd in their division. First time land sailor, Andy Gratton, placed 2nd in his division. All three of these ice sailors won races in their division against some extremely tough competition. Scores here.
Footage from today’s historic Spaight Street Syndicate Global Championships on Lake Kegonsa.
Kegonsa has provided a decent venue for DN scrub racing so far – providing you sail and keep close with those who have local knowledge of areas to keep clear of. The next few days of cold temperatures should help to heal the seams on Kegonsa. Watch Geoff Sobering’s Lake Kegonsa drone video from Saturday.
There’s a mixed precipitation weather system coming through on Monday that NOAA reports “.. is a very complicated forecast and the details will most certainly change over the next 24 hours, so remain alert and flexible and keep up with the forecast.” Tuesday and Wednesday night’s low temperatures look very promising for Monona and Mendota because both are clean slates, having frozen and opened back up again. Stay tuned!
Geoff Sobering emailed a link to this old favorite, a Chevrolet advertising newsreel from 1935 featuring a car racing a stern-steerer. A few days ago, Bob Rast posted the Oldsmobile magazine ad below in the 4LIYC Facebook group. (DN class records don’t indicate who owned 289)
Both got me thinking about how much Detroit’s auto industry and iceboating have been intertwined, not only in advertising, but in boat development and iceboat skippers who have ties to GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc. Detroit has given us the DN and Elmer Millinbach, iceboat innovator. Renegader Lorne Sherry (Ron’s father) designed and tested trailer hitches for GM, DNers Paul Goodwin, Jim Grogan, Ted Flack, Rob Holman, and Leon Lebeau work in the industry. Photographer Gretchen Dorian’s family owned a GM dealership in Detroit.
Iceboat ads have been featured on this website previously but they are always fun to revisit to help get us fired up for the upcoming season. I’ll post a few more in the coming weeks. If you have a favorite and want to share it, let me know.
4LIYC Renegader Jim Nordhaus, Bill Petsch of New Zealand, and Hobie Alter competing at the 2018 Blokart North Americans at Ivanpah. Photo: Gary Terrell
4LIYC Skeeter sailor Gary Whitehorse sails his converted iceboat on the Ivanpah dry lake near Las Vegas in 1984.
Ice sailors have been making the spring pilgrimage to the “cathedral of land sailing”, the playa at Ivanpah, for several decades. Pewaukee Skeeter skipper Bill Dale has been at it the longest, sailing in NALSA events for 40 years. 4LIYC members Jim Nordhaus, Geoff Sobering, Scott Geotz, Kyle Metzloff, and Wayne Schmeidlin have been competing in Blokart regattas there for the past several years.
At this year’s Blokart North Americans, Jim Nordhaus’ iceboating skills helped to take him to second place overall in Performance (think Gold fleet) and first in his fiercely competitive division. A Blokart speed record of 77.7 mph was set by Scott Young and Dave Lussier on the last day of competition. Read more about that on Scuttlebutt.
Gary Whitehorse recently shared photos and memories on Facebook of the time he sailed his iceboat ENTERPRISE at Ivanpah.
Gary Whitehorse posted the following on Facebook: “1984, we thought we would try our skills at land sailing. Ivanpah Dry Lake was not far from where we lived in Lake Havasu, AZ. I finished 4th in Class 2 (the fastest class at the time) at the World Land Sailing Competition. There are many good stories on how this all came together.
The race course was announced on the starting line. A yellow paper taped on the hull were filled with maps of the various courses. Being a novice at this sport, I had not memorized them. I never lead a race, although got up to 2nd a few times. The boat was very fast, but the big, sticky tires scrubbed off to much speed when changing direction.”
Gary’s brother, Greg added to the story: “I remember you called me from Arizona and asked if Bob Kau and I could convert the Enterprise into a land sailor. Paul Krueger had all the stuff, it would be easy you said. Well, Bob and I worked late into the night for a few nights to get it ready. (Some of the late nights may have been more to do with a well stocked fridge at Bob’s shop now that I think of it). Ron Rosten was going to tow it out there for you. A few weeks prior to sending it out West, I had tipped it over on Lake Kegonsa. Although damage was minor, I neglected to fix the steering pedals and all that you had to push on were the pipe ends. You weren’t thrilled about that.”
Jim Nordhaus crosses the finish line in first place.
ENTERPRISE Class A Skeeter at Ivanpah in 1984
Ron Rosten hauled the boat from Wisconsin to the desert.
The Vice Commodore hunts down the Commodore on Lake Mendota.
The Commodore and Vice Commodore lead the pack.
We had a good turnout at last night’s 4LIYC meeting. Renegader Don Anderson was elected Commodore and fellow Renegader Tim McCormick was elected Vice Commodore. Jerry Simon agreed to serve as Treasurer again as well as myself as Secretary.
Many thanks to outgoing Commodore Ken Norton for all he accomplished for this club. We hosted some major regattas during his tenure and Ken was always checking ice and making sure everything ran smoothly behind the scenes. Ken is a “doer” which is what makes a successful ice yacht club. Also much gratitude to outgoing Vice Commodore Geoff Sobering who always steps up when needed. Thank you two for keeping this iceboat club one of the best around.
