2017-2018 Season Archives
2017-2018 Archives
2017-2018 Season:
- DN Regattas
- Northwest Regatta CANCELLED FOR THE SEASON
- International Skeeter Association and Renegade Championship POSTPONED UNTIL DECEMBER 2018
Iceboaters Skills at Land Sailing – 1984 and 2018
4LIYC Renegader Jim Nordhaus, Bill Petsch of New Zealand, and Hobie Alter competing at the 2018 Blokart North Americans at Ivanpah. Photo: Gary Terrell
4LIYC Skeeter sailor Gary Whitehorse sails his converted iceboat on the Ivanpah dry lake near Las Vegas in 1984.
Ice sailors have been making the spring pilgrimage to the “cathedral of land sailing”, the playa at Ivanpah, for several decades. Pewaukee Skeeter skipper Bill Dale has been at it the longest, sailing in NALSA events for 40 years. 4LIYC members Jim Nordhaus, Geoff Sobering, Scott Geotz, Kyle Metzloff, and Wayne Schmeidlin have been competing in Blokart regattas there for the past several years.
At this year’s Blokart North Americans, Jim Nordhaus’ iceboating skills helped to take him to second place overall in Performance (think Gold fleet) and first in his fiercely competitive division. A Blokart speed record of 77.7 mph was set by Scott Young and Dave Lussier on the last day of competition. Read more about that on Scuttlebutt.
Gary Whitehorse recently shared photos and memories on Facebook of the time he sailed his iceboat ENTERPRISE at Ivanpah.
Gary Whitehorse posted the following on Facebook: “1984, we thought we would try our skills at land sailing. Ivanpah Dry Lake was not far from where we lived in Lake Havasu, AZ. I finished 4th in Class 2 (the fastest class at the time) at the World Land Sailing Competition. There are many good stories on how this all came together.
The race course was announced on the starting line. A yellow paper taped on the hull were filled with maps of the various courses. Being a novice at this sport, I had not memorized them. I never lead a race, although got up to 2nd a few times. The boat was very fast, but the big, sticky tires scrubbed off to much speed when changing direction.”Gary’s brother, Greg added to the story: “I remember you called me from Arizona and asked if Bob Kau and I could convert the Enterprise into a land sailor. Paul Krueger had all the stuff, it would be easy you said. Well, Bob and I worked late into the night for a few nights to get it ready. (Some of the late nights may have been more to do with a well stocked fridge at Bob’s shop now that I think of it). Ron Rosten was going to tow it out there for you. A few weeks prior to sending it out West, I had tipped it over on Lake Kegonsa. Although damage was minor, I neglected to fix the steering pedals and all that you had to push on were the pipe ends. You weren’t thrilled about that.”
Pegel Slide Collection: FROZEN ASSET
Bob Pegel Class A Skeeter FROZEN ASSET
Bob and Jane took meticulous care of their iceboats. Bob’s Skeeter, FROZEN ASSETS, had different color schemes which is unusual in my opinion because up here at Four Lakes, the most of the Skeeters in that era were red and white, period. Jane writes about Bob’s boats:
Bob had many different boats. Each boat had a different paint scheme. I don’t recall the sequence or how many boats there were. He had conventional under the boom cockpits and also rumble seaters. Originally Bob’s number was I-117. The number 9 had been assigned to Cora Millenbach and she gave 9 to Bob and he then had I-9 on his Skeeters and then also on his Renegades. After he got tired of the color blue, he had green boats. Bob raced in A Division and also in C Division (which was a varnished boat with a white deck). He won C division ISA and also Class E in the Northwest. The brown skeeter with sail I-117 was actually the boat with white sides and dark blue deck. The hull broke in half and was rebuilt. It was rebuilt and back on the ice and rigged to sail before it could be repainted. I have a photo of that boat under sail hanging in my hallway. In that photo It it obvious the hull is getting ready to break.
NOTE: There are two steps to view photos at full size.
1.Click on photo, another page will open.
2. Click on the photo again and you will be able to see the full sized version.
The Summer Slide Series: Bob & Jane Pegel Collection
Jane Wiswell Pegel of the Skeeter Ice Boat Club with trophies.
Several months ago, an envelope arrived in the mail with 177 slides. I finally got around to converting them and am pleased to announce that iceboat.org’s off-season series will feature the Pegel family iceboating slides. I’ll try to post a few each week with commentary and context from Jane and Susie as their schedule permits.
I don’t have any information from them yet on these photos, but will update if it comes. Before she was a DN sailor, Jane sailed a Skeeter, CALAMITY JANE. In the above photo, Jane holds a plaque that appears to read “Women’s Skeeter Champion.” ISA regatta records indicate that Jane won the Women’s Championship in 1955, 1956, and 1957.
NOTE: There are two steps to view photos at full size.
1.Click on photo, another page will open.
2. Click on the photo again and you will be able to see the full sized version.
TRUDLE II: Story Behind a Photo
TRUDLE II from the Rosenfeld Collection, Mystic Seaport
Lake Winnebago Stern-Steerer sailor, Dave Lallier, posted this eye catching photo on the 4LIYC Facebook page this morning.
A little research indicates that TRUDLE II was owned by Ernst von Lengerke of New Jersey who served as Commodore of the Musconetcong Ice Yacht Club. He received credit in Frederic Gardiner’s book, “Wings on Ice”, as an invaluable source of information about the sport. The boat is also mentioned in a 1940 New Jersey Register article about a successful iceboat regatta held at Red Banks. If you want to dig deeper, one of the Google search results led me back to this website in the form of an article written in 1947 by Ray Ruge that references TRUDLE III.
UPDATE April 18, 2018: Nels Lybeck posts the following on Facebook: “The Trudle III is currently in the care and hands of myself and Doug MacFarland (ex DN US 2500) here in Red Bank and has been restored with a new sail to fit her Duralum (before aluminum) Marconi rig. We received it from Ernst Von Lengerke’s daughter before she died a few years ago.”
Winter V2.0
Bill Bucholz shared this video on the Chickawaukee, Maine Iceboat Club website. The ice sailing season appears to be holding on in Lac St. Francois, in Lambton, Quebec where they sailed on Sunday, April 15. The weekend snow storm makes the world feel upside down – as if it’s December and we are waiting for first sailing reports. Here in Madison this morning, there’s 4″ of snow on the ground, it’s 24 F, and it’s snowing. Mike Madge reports 4′ of ice in Thunder Bay, Ontario. There could be some more ice sailing to come.
Baikal Ice Sailing Photos
Photo: Jacek Kwiatkowski
If you need something to do while you are cooped up this weekend because of yet another snow storm, peruse these wonderful photos by Jacek Kwiatkowski from this year’s Lake Baikal DN and Ice Optimist regattas.
The Season Marches On
Lake Bakail ice sailing April 2018 Photo: Lukasz Zakrzewski
The fat lady isn’t even in the building yet. DNs and Ice Optimist sailors from 12 countries (including Chicago sailor Chris Berger) have gathered on Lake Baikal this week for the annual regatta. Closer to home, the Chickawaukee Ice Boat Club sailors are making an effort to sail in Maine this Thursday.
Regatta Watch: Renegade Championship Postponed Until Dec 2018
The Renegades have decided to put their 2018 Championship hopes on hold until December. Next update November 2018.
Regatta Watch: ISA Postponed…Until Dec 2018
No fooling!
The International Skeeter Association Championship has been postponed. Gladstone, Michigan, the potential site, received 10″ of snow on Saturday. No sailable conditions exist for the regatta at this time. Check back in November 2018 for the next update. The hope is that the regatta can be sailed in December in Minnesota.
Waiting for December
Menominee Photos & Video from George
Iceboats on Green Bay at Menominee, Michigan on March 24, 2018
George Gerhardt shared some photos and video from the last hurrah at Menominee last weekend.
Video here.
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Online Ship’s Store
National Iceboat Authority Web Page
4LIYC Governing Documents
Click for 4LIYC Meeting Dates
- January 2 THURSDAY Honor Roll Nominations
- January 15 Deadline for By-Law or Racing Rules Amendment Submission
- January 29
- February 12 Business Meeting
- February 26
- March 12 Last Meeting of the Season
Location: In person at the Elks Lodge 711 Jenifer St, Madison, WI 53703
Time: 6:30 PM
YOU ARE SKIPPER NUMBER
TO ROUND THE MARK SINCE NOVEMBER 1999.
