by Deb Whitehorse | Jan 3, 2021 | 2020-2021, Home Page
Date: Wednesday, January 6, 2020
Time: 6:30 – 7:30 PM
Location: Your most comfortable chair
Zoom alert! 4LIYC members, you won’t want to miss this one, a PowerPoint presentation from Archie Call about the history and development of iceboating. Archie has made some significant discoveries about who exactly was the first to iceboat in America and the Hudson River-style iceboat lineage. Archie will also take questions during the presentation; please mute your microphone unless you have a comment or question for Archie. Watch for the link to the Zoom presentation in your email box.
Archie sailed Renegades for 46 years with the Toledo Ice Yacht Club and the 4LIYC and retired in 2017 from active sailing. Archie has worn many hats during his life, including computer programmer, production manager, manufacturing operations researcher, data scientist, and system IT management. He’s been busy giving talks on various topics such as U.S. Twelve Square Mile Reserve Survey: 1805, DNA: The code of all life, Human Mortality, Roads in America, Historic survey of Perrysburg in 1816, and Ice Boating on the Inland Seas.
Archie Call sailing his Renegade on Lake Mendota in 2011. Photo: Robert Resnick
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jun 15, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page
This Camel cigarette ad featuring Lake Hopatcong Ice Yacht Club Commodore George J. Seger ran in newspapers nationwide in March of 1939. An internet search revealed that Commodore Seger must have capitalized on his Camel advertising fame and marketed a model ice boat. The shiny red Skeeter model and the box it came in are both lovely works of art. The model was offered for sale at an auction site in 2017. I’ve never seen one of these models before. Maybe someone out there has one. If so, send a picture!
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by Deb Whitehorse | May 5, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page
Ye Olde Party Boat
Museums and archival websites have flung opened their virtual doors and allowed access to their archives to help us while away the hours. Stumbled across this print dated from around 1600 on the British Museum website. It’s purported to be the earliest representation of an iceboat – Dutch, of course. The artist took some liberties because a 10 person iceboat would need some good breeze to get going not to mention the impossibility of handling the boat around such a twisty narrow track.
Seeing this 10 person iceboat brought to mind one of the greatest ice sailing projects ever seen, executed by the Toledo Ice Yacht Club in 2007, the BERZERKER. She was built to be a one-weekend party boat, a stern steerer assembled from what ever they found laying around. BERZERKER gave many people their first iceboat ride during that Winter Carnival weekend on Lake Erie.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 22, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page
Ran across these marvelous magazine covers during internet travels. They make me wonder the fate of the originals and make me hope they are being enjoyed somewhere by someone.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 18, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page
Previous: When Ben Franklin Ordered Iceboat Plans
So yesterday, I sent an email to the Founder’s Online, where I found the letters detailing Benjamin Franklin’s request back in 1767 to have a set of iceboat plans drawn for him by Holland’s “ship builder of the Admiralty.” Someone from Founder’s Online was very kind to respond this morning and include two scans of the ice yacht plans. The scans are in very poor condition and I did what could in Photoshop to clean them up. I’ll continue to look for better scans but in the meantime, enjoy these! Chasing down Ben’s iceboat blueprints have opened up a rabbit hole into historic ice yacht plans. I’ll post more in the coming days.
For fun, a comparison an old style Dutch iceboat still sailing in 2020 and detail from Ben Franklin’s iceboat plan.
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