July’s iceboating calendar usually features the ice sailors who are competing in the historic Chicago to Mackinac sail boat race. That post is on the horizon and if you are competing in it, let me know the details so that I can add you to the list.
Don Anderson, a Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Renegader and also responsible for bringing the MARY B Stern Steerer back to Madison, is competing in the Long Beach to Honolulu ocean race, Transpac. The Transpac ocean race is “the longest of the two oldest ocean races in the world…. first sailed in 1906.”
Don is a grinder on MR. BILL, an Andrews 68. MR BILL is in Division 2 and will leave Long Beach for Hawaii on Thursday, July 6, 2017. You can track Donny and MR. BILL on the Transpac website.
Plank riders providing ballast old school style on the MARY B at the 1952 Northwest regatta on Lake Monona. Photo from Herb Krogman collection.
A Surprise in the Mail: Part 4
Here’s a sight you won’t see these days at a regatta, guys riding Stern Steerer planks during a race. The MARY B was originally built with a basket big enough for a skipper and jib trimmer. In a big blow, ballast was needed and there was only one spot for extra crew to ride – the plank. Eventually, two more baskets were added to the MARY B so that the crew would have a more comfortable and safer ride. The two guys pictured on the plank helped Carl Bernard sail the MARY B to win the Northwest that year in 1952.
Carl Bernard accepts congratulations from Mary B at a regatta(Photo added to certificate by Deb)
OT Havey, the man who commissioned MARY B, on screen at the awards ceremony.
In the grand setting of the reading room of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, the MARY B group was awarded for their efforts to return, restore, and maintain Madison’s most winning stern steerer. Special guest at the event was Marianne Hobbins, who was there to honor the iceboat that her father, OT Havey, dreamed about, commissioned Frank Teztlaff to build, and named after her mother, Mary Bernice Havey. Don Sanford accepted the award on behalf of the group with Bill Bauer, Peter Fauerbach, Jerry Simon, and Steve Holztman there as well. Kudos to the Madison Trust for Historical Preservation for having the vision to recognize that a community’s stories are at the heart of historic preservation. This special award along with Bill Mattison’s upcoming induction into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame, reminds Madisonians that ice sailing has always been an important part of what makes this area a special place.
The classic stern steerer, MARY B, and the folks working hard to restore her, have received a 2017 Preservation Award in the catagory of Preservation from the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation.
AWARDS CEREMONY
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2017
Location: Wisconsin Historical Society, 816 State Street.
Time: Hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and social hour in the WHS lobby from 5:30-6:50 p.m. Awards ceremony begins in the WHS reading room at 7:00 p.m. More information
