The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta for 2023 has been tentatively called on for March 4 and 5. The site selected is Lake Kegonsa. Final confirmation will be made by 1 PM Thursday, March 2. Check back here after that time.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Photo: Kevin Chapman
The NIYA Race Committee has called the 2023 Regatta tentatively on for March 3 – 5, 2023 at Lake Kegonsa, Madison Wisconsin.
The lake currently has 15 inches of ice, with a slushy surface from the recent snow that will melt quickly.
The rain event that starts tonight will revise the surface a good deal. The lake will be checked Wednesday morning to see if it is still viable for the Regatta. The final call will be made by noon or earlier on Wednesday.
Steve Schalk
Secretary/Treasurer
NIYA
SOLD! DN. Built circa 1965. Perfect beginner boat – has all the parts and it sails fine but not as fast as it could if someone tuned it up right. I think one SS shroud is a bit frayed. Mast & boom are wood. Hull weight: 69.2 lb, total everything: 182.2 lb.
$850 OBO.
60 mph mutton on ice
While we wait for the Zamboni that will improve the ice, here is something from the files of iceboat historian Henry Bossett. Did you know that ice yachts not only hauled building materials and people but also conveyed livestock?
Hank Ward was the enterprising Hudson River ice yachtsman who ferried people and then sheep between Newburg and Fishkill, NY.
This 1879 woodcut depicts Ward’s iceboat ferry. The woodcut might be a pastoral view of reality because the restrained sheep were not willing passengers, and elegantly dressed “lady excursionists” in the close vicinity of livestock would have been a bad combination.
February 11, 1879, Evansville, Indiana Journal reported, “Ninety sheep were brought across the river, ten at a time. One or two trips were made so quickly that the boat crossed over and returned to the Fishkill side before the next ten sheep could be caught and their legs tied.”
Gloria and Buddy Melges at the 2007 Northwest Regatta at Menominee, MI. Photo: Chris John
Buddy Melges Archives
Previous: Melges, the Wizard of Zenda
The long anticipated Buddy Melges documentary is set to premiere in March. The producers have promised “some great iceboat footage from 1999” in the documentary.
‘Wizard of Zenda’ Documentary to Premiere on March 25, 2023
The Wizard of Zenda, a film about the life of sailing legend Buddy Melges, will have its first premiere at the Annapolis Film Festival March 25. Wizard of Zenda takes the viewer on a wild ride through the career of one of the greatest sailors in the history of the sport.
This is the untold story of Buddy Melges, a fiercely competitive but beloved sailor who won Olympic medals and championships, and his quest to capture the pinnacle of sailing, the America’s Cup. Melges was an entertaining character who shared everything he knew and refused to take himself too seriously. His intuitive, some would say mystical, powers to see and feel the wind, along with his home base of Zenda, Wisconsin combined to earn him the well-deserved nickname: The Wizard of Zenda.
Buddy Melges gets the checkers at the 2007 Northwest. Photo: Chris John.
Melges won the respect and admiration of his peers and adversaries. Many of sailings biggest icons were interviewed for the film, including 3-time America’s Cup winner Dennis Conner, Australian champion John Bertrand, former ESPN sailing analyst and America’s Cup winner Gary Jobson, and Bill Koch, the billionaire businessman who teamed up with Melges in the 1992 America’s Cup.
Quicklier Film Partners Executive Producer Anne Peterson chose long-time partner and filmmaker Mark Honer to write and direct Wizard of Zenda. “It’s been a long road, but we’re excited to share this amazing story,” said Peterson who grew up sailing the same waters as Melges at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. “Many people know about Buddy’s championships. But not many know how he used that winning platform to teach not just sailing, but lessons about humility, honesty, persistence and overcoming adversity”.
Through exhaustive research, the filmmakers uncovered film and video ranging from a 1946 regional regatta, when buddy was 16, to a world iceboat championship in 1991 which Buddy won at the age of 71. “We told sailors we were producing a film about Buddy Melges and doors magically opened,” said Honer. “The jackpot was getting unprecedented access to over 100 hours of behind-the-scenes archival footage of the 1992 America3 campaign.”
Quicklier Film Partners is partnering with organizations and sponsors to distribute the documentary through private screenings, events and film festivals. To learn more visit WizardofZenda.com.
National Iceboat Authority Web Page
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.
