One of the tenets of this sport is adaptability – being ready for whatever Mother Nature throws our way. 4LIYC Nite sailor Lars Barber has been planning for the season like any good ice sailor and created this portable propane grill for some after-race cookouts. In normal times, a cookout on the ice is a treat. With COVID likely limiting our access to the local watering spots, a fire on the ice with brats, bags of shelled peanuts (Tip of the Helmet Tom Hyslop), and our favorite beverages will almost become mandatory. So take a few extra minutes to plan when heading to the lake. Throw a bag of pre-cooked brats, snacks, and garbage bags into the cooler. Iceboating will get you out of the house this winter.
Paul trimming a little carbon off of his Class A Skeeter plank.
Paul Krueger and Ken Whitehorse were back in the Skeeter Shop on Saturday preparing for the upcoming season. Paul focused on the runner plank while Ken welded up a portable fire pit. Is there room in the trailer for a portable fire-pit? A fire on the ice at the end of a sailing day could be the answer to the social-time dilemma that COVID has presented.
Ken utilizing his blacksmith skills. Wait, what’s that in the background, a Skeeter bus?
Bill Mattison & HONEYBUCKET, an oil painting on canvas by Harry Whitehorse
“Millenium Factor”
For our final installment of Bill Mattison Week, we go back to the 1992 Harken catalog where another National Sailing Hall of Famer, Peter Harken, talks about Bill, Paul Krueger, winning the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant, and building MILLENIUM FACTOR QUATRO in the Willy St. Boat Shop.
In normal times, the 4LIYC would have thrown a party for tonight’s National Sailing Hall of Fame induction ceremony. There will be much to celebrate when we can gather off-ice again including Bill’s induction and Greg Whitehorse’s 4LIYC Honor Roll induction. In the meantime, follow Bill’s example and get busy in the shop making dust and preparing equipment for the upcoming season.
Today’s Bill Mattison Week installment takes a quick jibe from ice sailing over to Bill’s other passion, circus modeling. Barb Sanford’s 2017 article for Wisconsin Academy publication “traces his obsession for detail and passion for the circus”. And yes, Bill did run away with the circus as a kid. Read the article here.
Photo: Gretchen Dorian Class A Skeeters on Lake Winnebago
Bob Rast reports on the 4LIYC Facebook page that another iceboat swap meet has been organized at the Delavan Yacht Club. Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2020
Time: 10 AM – 3 PM
Location: Delavan Yacht Club
1501 Cedar Point Drive
Delavan, WI Map
UPDATE: 12 September: Via Susie Pegel: There won’t be a raffle.
North Shore Drive (Delavan Lake) under reconstruction starting Sept. 17,
including closing of bridge over the Outlet.
So to get to the Delavan Lake Yacht Club:
Go west on Hwy 50 into the city of Delavan to intersection with Borg Road
(Walgreens and Wendy’s on corner)
Go south on Borg Road to intersection with North Shore Drive
Go east on North Shore Drive until Cedar Point Drive and then down hill to
Delavan Lake Yacht Club
If you see Rustic Pub and Delavan Lake Store you have gone too far
“The second you think you’ve got it all figured out, somebody’s going to knock the socks right off you,” Mattison says.
“The Icing On The Lake”
Welcome to Day 4 of Bill Mattison Week at iceboat.org. Today’s feature article written by the late David Medaris ran in Madison’s local paper Isthmus in 1988 when Bill had just finished HONEYBUCKET VIII. Bill explained how he built Skeeter iceboats “to the average” and talked about his roots in Madison. Click here to read.
One of the tenets of this sport is adaptability – being ready for whatever Mother Nature throws our way. 4LIYC Nite sailor Lars Barber has been planning for the season like any good ice sailor and created this portable propane grill for some after-race cookouts. In normal times, a cookout on the ice is a treat. With COVID likely limiting our access to the local watering spots, a fire on the ice with brats, bags of shelled peanuts (Tip of the Helmet Tom Hyslop), and our favorite beverages will almost become mandatory. So take a few extra minutes to plan when heading to the lake. Throw a bag of pre-cooked brats, snacks, and garbage bags into the cooler. Iceboating will get you out of the house this winter. 
