Matthew Sheehan “takes a look at the need for speed” on this episode of Planet Sail, and he doesn’t forget ice sailing. Using drone video from 4LIYC racing a few weeks ago, Skeeter sailors Mark Isabell and Rob Evans provide the example of the fastest sailing on the planet in contrast to the beauty and slower pace of Henry Bossett’s drone video of a South Bay Scooter. Link to YouTube video.
There is a serious need for speed out there right now. From state of the art super sleek foiling Moths that will go upwind at 20knots, to ice yachts that will hit 80mph and more – both of which we cover in this episode.
Iceboats of all types were out in force over the weekend, using up every hour they could before a winter storm lashed the east coast. Here’s a classic Long Island South Bay Scooter sailing Bantam Lake in Connecticut. Henry Bossett was also there with his drone. See his video here. Tip of the Helmet: Mike Acebo
In his internet travels, Henry Bossett came across a library site of oral histories from Liverpool, New York. The interviews with Ken Wentworth prompted Henry (a now retired North Sails New Jersey sail maker) to recall an old boat builder “who would come in to show me his hand-designed and built model boats… I asked him about the North Shrewsbury Ice Yacht Club… He replied with a story of how he used to hang out there as a kid and listen to the “Captains” sitting around their potbelly stove, spinning yarns of days gone by, and impressing him with wild tales. Anyway, this guy obviously knows how to spin a tale also, but he does have direct knowledge of some interesting iceboat history.”
Each video runs about 3 minutes and are an entertaining listen.
The ICICLE: The Roosevelt stern-steerer and runner technology
Page from William Bernard Scrapbook. PRINCESS II, built by Wm. Bernard and sailed by Email Fauerbach.
A few days ago, 2 separate emails arrived within hours of each other regarding history about one of Madison’s original champion ice sailors, Emil Fauerbach. It was a sign that it’s time for a history post. Henry Bossett ran across an article about the Madison ice yachting scene published in 1904 the New Jersey Ashbury Park Press. Peter Fauerbach (Emil’s great great nephew) and all things Fauerbach historian, shared a snippet he found in his research. Emil Fauerbach was most famous for winning the Hearst Cup in 1914 in PRINCESS II. He died a few years later and left such a void in Madison’s ice sailing community that many thought it wouldn’t survive. Previous:Fauerbach Pennant Back on Fauerbach Ice Boat
Class A Skeeters with North Sails (created by Henry Bossett at the North Sails New Jersey loft) line up at the 2010 Northwest Regatta on Lake Winnebago. Photo: Joe Terry
There’s been a long tradition of ice sailors who have worked with North Sails. You’ll find some of that history in 4LIYC Nite sailor, Don Sanford’s story about the life of Peter Barrett.
In 1964, Lowell North hired Peter to manage North’s second sail loft in Costa Mesa, California. Peter and his family moved to California in the summer of 1965. Peter would work at North Sails for the next 21 years. Five years later, in 1969, he and his family moved to Pewaukee to manage the new North Sails Midwest loft. Together with his old UW sailing buddies Charlie Miller, Art Mitchell, and Peter and Olaf Harken, they operated North Sails Midwest, Harken Yacht Fittings and Vanguard Sailboats from the basement of an old bottling plant in Waukesha. They all lived on Pewaukee Lake, raced Finns and were members of the Pewaukee Yacht Club.
