It’s the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club’s turn to host the Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet, and the Nite Class has an event worth celebrating. The 4LIYC and the Nite Class invite you to kick off the season in October with an iceboating doubleheader extravaganza, the Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet and a celebration of 50 years of the Nite National Championships. Our good friends at Harken in Pewaukee will host both events during the October 26 – 27 weekend. Stay tuned for more developments.
What to Know: 50 Years of Nite National Championships
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2024
Time: 4 pm – 7:30 pm
Round table discussion followed by a social hour
Location: Harken Inc.
N15W24983 Bluemound Rd.
Pewaukee, WI
More information niteracing.org
Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet
Buy, Sell, and Learn About Ice Sailing
Date: Sunday, October 27
Time: 9 am – Noon
Location: Harken Inc. Parking Lot
N15W24983 Bluemound Rd.
Pewaukee, WI
More information iceboat.org
SAIL Magazine checks in with Peter Harken. Read the article here. Sailing Stories: Peter Harken
At 86, Peter Harken remains as excited as ever about the company he and his brother, Olaf, founded.
WENDY MITMAN CLARKE SAIL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
And of course, in our smaller one-design type boats, the scows and the iceboats, we needed blocks that reacted very fast. They were light. And so we were always searching for that. I went home with the idea in my head and made some sketches and came back the next day at work and made some blocks. And then I started using them on my own boat. I wasn’t planning to to sell them or make them for anyone, I just wanted some for my iceboat. And they really worked. Continue reading.
Just like his name, Peter Harken’s life story is so intertwined with the company he helped to build that I gave up trying to separate the two. And the fifteen-month delay between writing and publication meant I was enchanted all over again when I read through Part I. So many Hall of Famemagaz inductions… yet the humble Peter seemed quite surprised that I (and Seahorse’s readers) might actually be interested in his life story The editor has graciously given me permission to share the PDF with you, but that only covers up to the 1980s. To read Part II, you’ll have to subscribe. Well worth it for all the Rod Davis lessons! Thanks for following along, and let me know what you think of ‘Plodding along dropping white plastic balls‘.
Excerpt from Plodding along dropping white plastic balls by Carol Cronin for Seahorse Magazine:
The most famous of those ideas solved a classic iceboat problem: how to get enough purchase on the mainsheet without adding so much friction that the boom had o be pushed out downwind. ‘Iceboating, your reactions have to be really fast. When you let the sheet out a little bit it has to happen right away – or you’re going over!’ Read here.
The media team at Harken tells the story of the 2023 DN World Championship in this widely shared video. Many thanks to the members of the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club who helped make this regatta happen behind the scenes. Link.
Get Started Iceboating!
Our friends at Harken have done it again, utilizing their international reach to promote the sport of ice yachting. Marketing intern Samuel Bartel, a recent University of Wisconsin graduate and DN sailor, created a YouTube video series on how to get involved in this “outrageously fun sport.” Thanks Samuel and Hannah Lee Noll for the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club and iceboat.org shout-out!
Read more and see all four videos on the Harken Blockheads website. Or view them on YouTube
Preparing for Iceboating Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
