The ISA Fast Second

Paul, Tom Hyslop, and Grant Frautschi rolling RAMBLN’

Via Ken Whitehorse over at the Past Champions Iceboat Shop:

Immediately after the 2022 ISA cookout and trophy presentation, some racers came over to the Past Champions Iceboat Shop and helped roll M-165 on its side. Why? During the first A Skeeter race of the ISA, Krueger was running a fast second and was challenging for first. One more mighty pull on sheet rope would have secured the position! And so one more Herculean pull, and he ripped the pulley blocks out of the deck! Sigh…. There is no time for lamenting; it’s time to repair M165 with a newer and stronger oak backbone! See all you iceboat racers on the lake next week!

Paint Your Skeeter Trailer

Bob Kau visits the Past Champions Skeeter Shop.

What do you do when your runners are sharpened, your Skeeters are ready for ice, and the temperature is a balmy 70F in the middle of December? The guys next door to iceboat.org HQ, Ken Whitehorse and Paul Krueger of the Past Champions Iceboat Shop, made good use of the day and painted their trailer. However, today’s falling temperatures moved the project back inside for wheel-bearing packing, almost as important as sharp runners.

Renegade Swing


Iceboaters are problem solvers, and Andy Gratton is one of the best. Based upon his experience at Lake Christina near Ashby, MN, last season, Andy figured out a way to make it easier to ferry a Renegade up and down a steep bank. Having “lifted hulls up and down banks one too many times,” he built a helpful device that easily picks up a Renegade hull.

“The crane will easily pick a Renegade (or perhaps a C skeeter hull.) It has a pick point about 11 feet aft of the trailer axle. I think that will do for getting the hulls over the bank we were using last year. As you can see from the photos, the slings and spreader bar works well for a Renegade hull. Both slings are the same length.”