Spring iceboat sailing can be magnificent. Wet shoes are easier to ignore when the sun is shining and it’s so warm, the gloves remain in the gear bag. Here’s another video from the Bill and Mauretta Mattison collection filmed sometime in the 1960s. Cast of characters include Skeeter sailors Bill Mattison HONEYBUCKET VI, Dave Rosten PIRATE, Charlie Johnson M99, Paul Krueger M165 (must have been a brand new boat because there’s no RAMBLN name applied yet), and one of the Bluel’s in SHADOW II.
You’ll note that several DNs showed up to play and a few raced without helmets. Apparently the club’s view on mandatory helmet usage must have evolved since the 1960s because they are now required in order to race. Some of the DN sailors enjoying that day include Bob Brockel JAY BEE, Harry Fields HARI KARI, and Jack Lowe HI JACK. Jack’s dog, Skipper, makes an appearance. (I remember that Skipper had a propensity to take care of business on the canvas boat covers.)
So take 14 minutes and go back in time with this unedited video from a perfect day on Lake Mendota.
Previous: Classic Video: Pewaukee Ice Yacht Club
Here’s another Bill & Mauretta Mattison home movie proving the point about mast gluing parties referenced in the previous post. This glue party at the Mattison shop on Williamson Street in Madison, WI took place sometime around 1982. The mast is for an A Class Stern Steerer, possibly the MARY B. Clampers and gluers that day were Billy Mattison, Jack Ripp, Jerry Simon, Greg Simon, Lon Schoor, Donna Schoor, Jim Henkel, Don Sanford, Paul Krueger, Ken Whitehorse, Bill Hanson, Bill Mattison, and Ken Schmidt.
Bill Mattison points his Graflex camera at Mauretta who was filming him on Lake Mendota. Dave Rosten M160 in the background.
It’s always a good day when a surprise arrives in the mail, particularly when the package contains vintage ice sailing footage shot by Bill & Mauretta Mattison. Don Sanford recently had Kodak transfer the Mattison’s 16, 8, and Super-8 mm into electronic files which he burned to disc and sent off to me.(Speaking of Kodak, the Mattisons owned one of Madison’s premier film processing labs, Star Photo, for many years.)
Let’s begin by traveling back to the late 1950s/early 1960s on Pewaukee Lake. At first I thought this may have been the 1957 International Skeeter Association Regatta which was sailed on Pewaukee (Buddy Melges won) but a couple clues led me to believe that we are watching a Pewaukee Ice Yacht Club race. All of the boats, except for one, carry the Pewaukee designation V on the sail. The biggest clue is that Bill is filming from the weather mark. Bill finished 8th at the 1957 ISA so therefore, he would not have been filming at that regatta. The 1957 ISA newsletter regatta report and results are posted below the video. Stay tuned to the end of the video to see the spring ritual of carrying iceboats through a wet and deteriorating shoreline. Pewaukee friends, if you recognize any of these Skeeters, please let us know!
I’ll be editing and posting two more ice sailing videos from the Mattison archives in the coming weeks.
Bill Perrigo’s THUNDERJET IOU is easy to spot. Some other sail numbers and boat names I picked out were:
SNO USE
V112
MISS PEGGY V50
SNOW GOOSE V4
V20 John Flanagan
TWISTER V71
V83 Al Sternkopf
4LIYC Nite sailor and MARY B group member, Don Sanford, was reviewing some 1953 footage filmed on Lake Monona and noticed this young man sailing by on an iceboat. The boat looks similar to the plans published in the 1952 American Boy magazine posted here yesterday, March 24, 2020.
Below are photos of Andy Gratton’s boat PEANUT (aka Face Plant Boat) modeled after the plans in the same magazine. He made it for his son years ago and has sailed it a number of times.
PEANUT and the famous Hudson River Stern Steerer JACK FROST which was visiting Lake Winnebago in 2013. Click here to see video of JACK FROST being set up on that day.
Speaking of iceboat plans, here are scans of some the earliest plans for ice yachts on record from Fredrik Henrik af Chapman’s book, ArchitecturNavalis Mercatoria published in 1768. (Benjamin Franklin commissioned a set of iceboat drawings from the Dutch in 1767, one year earlier than the publication of Chapman’s book.) Chapman, born in Sweden to English parents, is considered to be the first naval architect.
Though many in the ice sailing world have been aware of these plans for quite sometime, they were new to me. My post about stumbling across the iceboat plans that Benjamin Franklin commissioned prompted Alexander de Voss to take the time to scan and share Chapman’s plans with us which are based upon traditional Dutch ice yachts.
A few words about Alexander de Voss. I met Alexander on Lake Orsa in Sweden this winter when his ice sailing club De Robben trailered their vintage boats from the Netherlands for a week of cruising. (Previous: Where It All Began) He and his son brought a vintage DN and a really cool small-scale Monotype. In 2010, Alexander, built a historical shipyard in order to preserve local old vessels, materials and shipbuilding techniques. If you like wooden boats, read The Historical Shipyard of Alexander de Voss and Shipyard “Klaas Hennepoel” – Warmond to learn more about this functioning museum.
