SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ICEBOAT SWAP MEET
There’s no better way to start the ice sailing season than by attending your local iceboat swap meet. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or interested in learning how to join the fun, iceboat swap meets are great for meeting up with friends, making new ones, checking out equipment, finding that one elusive part you’ve been searching for, and learning more about the sport. Please let us know if you have a Swap Meet that we can add to this list!
NEW ENGLAND NEIYA Swap Meet, Lunch & Meeting Information:
When: Saturday, October 26th, 10:00am
Where: Thompson Speedway Golf Course, 205 E Thompson Rd, Thompson, CT 06277
Information: New England Ice Yachting Association
WISCONSIN
Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet
Date: Sunday, October, 27, 2024
Time: 9 AM – Noon
Location: Harken parking lot
N15W24983 Bluemound Rd, Pewaukee, WI Information
MINNESOTA
Hosted by: Tim Carlson and Sailcrafters Loft and Rigging ((952) 540-7474)
Date: Saturday, November 2
Time: 9 AM – Noon
Location: 7450 Oxford Street St. Louis Park, MN 55426
Information: Minnesota Ice Sailors Facebook page
Minnesota’s annual iceboat swap meet is a great opportunity to buy and sell used iceboat gear. Or, just spend time meeting local iceboaters and asking questions about our sport. Anyone interested in iceboating is encouraged to attend.
MICHIGAN
2024 Western Michigan Iceboat Swap Meet
Date: Saturday, November 2nd
Time: 9 am to 2 pm
Location: Muskegon Yacht Club., 3198 Edgewater Street. Muskegon, Michigan.
ANNUAL COMBINED SWAP MEET
Three West Michigan Clubs: West Michigan Ice Yacht Club, Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club, Grand Traverse Ice Yacht Club
Information: Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club Facebook Page
Time to Renew Your Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Membership
As we start readying our gear for another iceboating season, it’s time to renew your Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club membership for the 2024-2025 season!
Your membership dues help cover essential costs such as:
Safety Equipment: Your membership helps us maintain and upgrade crucial safety gear, ensuring our safe experience on the ice.
Website Maintenance: Keeping iceboat.org current involves hosting fees, software updates, and technical upkeep. Your membership ensures we continue to deliver timely updates and resources to our community.
Event Costs: Your contributions are vital in supporting our ice sailing events and social gatherings, ensuring a fantastic season of camaraderie.
Whether you’re a long time sailor, a fan of ice sailing, or new to the sport, your support keeps our community strong. Plus, being a member comes with the perks of staying connected with fellow ice sailors, participating in club events, and helping preserve the sport we love.
How to Renew:
Go to our membership page, fill in your details, and choose your membership level. Whether you choose our standard membership or become a sustaining member, every bit helps ensure we can keep the iceboating tradition alive.
Thank You!
We’re grateful for your continued support and can’t wait to see you on the ice for another great season. Let’s make it the best one yet!
Previous: Ice Sailors to Represent USA in Youth America’s Cup Iceboating: The Unsung Training Ground for America’s Cup Helmsmen
It’s time to check in on the talented iceboaters from Fontana, WI, who are in the hunt in Barcelona, Spain, for the Unicredit Youth America’s Cup. Harry Melges IV, Kyle Navin, Finn Rowe, and Severin Graham (from Florida, but we hope to see him on the ice someday!) have advanced to the final series, clinching victory in Race 8 today. The team now stands second overall in Group A, just behind Italy.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 24, 2024, American Magic will face Italy, Great Britain, Sweden, Spain, and Australia in the final series of 3-4 fleet races. The top two teams will then compete in a single match-race final to decide the overall champion.
Catch the action live and watch these young sailors continue to represent the USA in thrilling foiling races. Watch Live:
ESPN+
YouTube Link: America’s Cup YouTube Channel Race Time: 7 AM CT (with your coffee!)
Learn More About the AC40 Boats: The AC40 is modeled after the larger America’s Cup AC75 boats, featuring two large, weighted foils and no traditional keel. These boats foil on a single foil, with the windward foil raised from the water to reduce drag and boost speed. For more information, check out this in-depth article: Yachting World – Youth America’s Cup 2024. foiling races.
TUSCORA, a beautifully maintained vintage Skeeter, once owned by Frank Trost of the Pewaukee Ice Yacht Club, was exhibited at an antique boat show yesterday. Frank Trost’s boat holds a special place in the history of ice yachting, with deep ties to Pewaukee’s ice sailing community. Along with a newly sent photo of the restored boat, we’ll revisit its history and legacy.
Tim Fredman shared the photos and wrote: “I helped Rob Ritter (brother of John at S&R Marine) set this up for an antique boat club gathering yesterday. John is the current caretaker of the equipment, having been given it by Don and Mary Schwister, who were the prior caretakers. Frank Trost was one fine man and a great iceboater. To me, it looks like a survivor. Not much different than the last time I saw it about 45 years ago. Runners, sails, horses, parts, etc are all on the trailer looking as if it just returned from a regatta!”
PREVIOUS: Pegel Slide Collection: Frank Trost & TUSCARORA by Deb Whitehorse | Jun 4, 2018 | 2017-2018, Bob & Jane Pegel Slides, Home Page, ISA
Frank Trost TUSCARORA III
Frank Trost, along with his neighbor William Perrigo, was another legendary E Skeeter sailor from Pewaukee, WI. Trost and Perrigo captured the 1953 Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant the first time the race was held in the Midwest after Fox Lake’s Eddie Rollberg won it out east in 1952. Trost was part of the winning team that went on to win it another 3 times.
Frank Trost gave one of my favorite descriptive quotes about ice boating to a Russian reporter in 1960:
From “Sailing In the Cold Region“, a Russian magazine article published in 1960:
Frank Trost, Perrigo’s neighbor, describes even poetical a ride on his “Tuscarora”:- Iceboat comes alive, he begins to talk to you. Was I somehow on Lake Delavan. Gusts crosswind reached 80 km / h. I didn’t feel under itself, but the “Tuscarora” didn’t obey. It seemed to fly through the air; only the wind howled in the wires and whistled – people standing on the bank told us that the boat roared like a jet plane – and in my helmet was a rumble that I have not heard the creaking of the runners. After the arrival, from flying in all directions icicles Trost’s face was covered with hundreds of tiny cuts. But the little things it did not disturb. As many iceboat sailors, he doesn’t recognize the face masks. He argues that in order to determine the speed of a good sailor should feel the wind on his face and trap slightest changes, skillfully using them to speed up the movement. It is worth and cause injury to the blood!
If you are not smart like Pat Heppert, I would highly recommend getting yourself a Daniel 2.0. You see, Pat designed this slick sheeting system for our Mini Skeeters. Rather than pulling downward off the boom, our sheet runs underneath the deck, which allows us to trim with the full benefit of our legs and torso. Now Pat is plenty strong enough to sheet the traditional way, but his much older and weaker travel mate is a total wuss. The system was likely designed with this in mind, but Pat is too nice to say so. It also allows us to crouch down deep into the cockpit keeping our elbows in, reducing windage. Even Pat, with his superior musculature, can nearly disappear inside the cockpit.
My first attempted Mini build ended with my mast listing to leeward at about 30 degrees. I told everyone I was testing an on-the-fly adjustable stay system. I said it with such conviction that no one immediately pointed out that the Mini has a stay-less rig. Given the wreckage that was left on my deck, I doubt anyone bought it, but it was worth a try. I have made a living spinning tales for decades, so I just could not help myself. This configuration certainly was not fast!
The playa fact checkers uncovered that the spinmaster’s boat blew up on the second day of racing last May. Regatta Manager extraordinaire, Dennis Bassano, provided the “tow of shame” back to the pits, while interested parties gathered around to survey the wreckage. “That one’s not going to buff out,” one helpful observer offered. “Hardly a scratch I replied,” simultaneously wondering what I was going to do in the desert for the rest of the week? Fortunately, Ironman Renee Fields (for those not in-the-know, the adjective is gender neutral), graciously offered to withdraw from the Mini Class, to allow me to race Pete John’s spare boat. Renee routinely races in every class. Pete is still going fast nearing 90 years old. Two amazing people!
Truth-be-told, the builder was too much of a weight weenie, removing structure he considered unnecessary. Guess we all know how that turned out! Sorry John. Sorry Pat. In my defense, it worked for Senna. At least the hull was still in primer, so the eventual paint would hide my ineptitude.
Since I was performing major reconstructive surgery, I decided to move my ratchet block further forward underneath the deck. This, to give me more un-tapered mainsheet to clutch before reaching maximum block-to-block. And, to still have only the tapered sheet running through all eight blocks at race trim. If I were smart like Pat, I would have left a tracer line in my hull before closing it up. No matter how I attempted to contort my body, there was no way I could reach that far forward. And my access panel underneath, was not quite big enough. Enter Daniel 2.0. Dashel Daniel , my grandson. Among the greatest honors of my life, he was named after me.
Dash was happy to scurry into the cockpit abyss, skillfully rerouting my mainsheet through bulkhead bushings, around my ratchet block in the correct direction and back to my waiting hand. So, if you find yourself with a similar dilemma, let me know, and I will share contact info for his mom. Dash has yet to learn his marketable value, but rest assured he will. His “Pappy” (and his Dad) will see to that! For now, he is most satisfied to work for chocolate!
Link to video.
Previous: Ice Sailors to Represent USA in Youth America’s Cup
In this interview with Harken Blockheads, Harry Melges IV, one of the helmsmen representing the USA in the upcoming Youth America’s Cup, was asked which boat sails most similarly to the cutting-edge AC40. His answer? “Iceboating is probably the most similar.”
This comes as no surprise for those of us in the iceboating community. Ever since foiling boats began to dominate the America’s Cup, we’ve recognized the parallels between the speeds and control demanded by both foiling and iceboating. Harry’s insight confirms what we’ve known all along iceboating is the perfect training ground for mastering high-speed sailing.
As Harry and his team prepare to compete on the world stage in Barcelona, it’s exciting to see hard water skills being recognized as key to success in the Youth America’s Cup. Iceboating continues to play a role in competitive sailing, and we’re proud to see our sport contributing to the next generation of champions.
