2020 Northwest Ice Yacht Racing Association Information
March 13-15,2020
Lake Waconia, Minnesota
The DEBUTANTE: The Derusha Interviews
Around 1915, the Van Camp brothers of Oshkosh, WI wanted to compete for the most prestigious ice sailing trophies of the day. They looked to the east coast and commissioned a top-notch Class A stern steerer. The DEBUTANTE was built by Jacob Buckhout of Poughkeepsie, New York, the most renowned ice yacht builder of the Hudson River style during that time. An first class racing ice yacht needed a corresponding helmsman and the Van Camps called on Oshkosh’s John Buckstaff to take the tiller. The DEBUTANTE won the Stuart trophy in 1920 and 1939 with “Bucky” in the driver’s seat. (The “DEB” also won the 1960 Northwest Class A trophy with Bud Stroshine.)
In 1963, Roger Derusha of Menominee, MI bought the DEBUTANTE in from the Van Camps. Roger was an influential Renegade sailor and passed on in 1999. The “DEB” is still in Menominee, MI with Roger’s son, Renegader and DNer Mike Derusha.
This video combines two interviews from the 1980s. The first interview is Greg Siebold with Roger and Mike. The second interview takes us to a workshop at Marinette Marine where Mike Peters and Steve Buch interviewed Roger at length about the DEBUTANTE. Apologies for the quality and poor aspect ratio of the videos but we are lucky to have them.
The DEBUTANTE with Carl Bernard, Camp Van Dyke, John Buckstaff, and Andy Flom.
“Just Something We Had to Do”: Lake Winnebago Guys Talk Ice
Life’s slower pace has motivated me to finally tackle a big project – converting the many ice sailing DVDs that have been given to me into a format suited for the internet. Here’s one of the first, an interview with the late “Nubs” Salzsieder, Mike Peters, and Andy Gratton (and Andy’s young daughter) on Lake Winnebago. Andy bought the WISCONSIN from someone in Lake Mills, WI in 1994 which helps to date the video.
Ice-Boat Racer Says….
This Camel cigarette ad featuring Lake Hopatcong Ice Yacht Club Commodore George J. Seger ran in newspapers nationwide in March of 1939. An internet search revealed that Commodore Seger must have capitalized on his Camel advertising fame and marketed a model ice boat. The shiny red Skeeter model and the box it came in are both lovely works of art. The model was offered for sale at an auction site in 2017. I’ve never seen one of these models before. Maybe someone out there has one. If so, send a picture!
Interview with DN Champion Ron Sherry US44
Bubble Man
The Spaight Street Syndicate reports in from Florida where Skeeter bubbles are born.
Bubble Man
Made a quick trip to Florida to retrieve a replacement canopy for my C-Skeeter. A builder error caused the original to go airborne and shatter during a photo shoot for the launch of “Black Ice,” a new line of extreme weather clothing from Sail Racing International. The line will be in market this fall. Sail Racing
Meet Charles Stence, aka, Bubble Man. He runs an airplane maintenance service in Indiantown, Florida and makes canopies for experimental aircraft as a side business. If you need a canopy, give him a shout. He has exceptionally high standards, good pricing and is an excellent communicator. It was a pleasure dealing with him. Aerocanopy.
Canopy specialists
1952 Hearst on Lake Monona
MARY B draws a crowd on Lake Monona. Photos: Earl W Brown
In January 1952, Lake Monona delivered and the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club hosted the Northwest regatta and the Hearst Challenge. (The Hearst trophy was donated in 1903 by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.) Lake Monona in the 1950s could be counted upon for sailable ice thanks to the soot pollution from the coal burning power plant on its northeastern shore. The downside for the Skeeters was that the coal dust very quickly dulled runners. Perhaps the coal cinders didn’t affect the big iron of the Stern-Steerer runners.
The three majestic Class A Stern Steerers that competed for the Hearst that year were 2 4LIYC boats and 1 from Oshkosh including the MARY B owned by O. T. Havey and skippered by Carl Bernard with crew Norm Braith and Charlie Johnson; FRITZ owned and sailed by Jim Lunder with Beauford Polglase; and FLYING DUTCHMEN owned by John Buckstaff of Oshkosh, WI and skippered by Chuck Nevitt with crew Bud McDonald. MARY B was able to defend her title that year.The excitement of the regatta drew crowds and prompted the 4LIYC to set up a public address system at Law Park. Someone provided a play by play account during the racing.
These historic ice yachts are still with us today. Current owner of the FLYING DUTCHMEN, Dave Lallier in Fond du Lac, reminded me that FLYING DUTCHMEN is the correct name of the boat, not DUTCHMAN. The Van Dyke brothers from Milwaukee commissioned the FLYING DUTCHMEN in the 1930s, hence the plural designation. MARY B is back in Madison and owned by the Ice Boat Foundation while FRITZ is owned by Fred Stritt and is available for sale.
These color slides were originally posted on the Historic Madison, WI Photo Group Facebook page by the granddaughter of Earl W. Brown, the man who took them.
4LIYC Member Card: The Best Way to Travel
The San Diego Yacht Club welcomed 4LIYC Commodore Don Anderson back in March when he crewed on MR BILL, an Andrews 68, in the annual San Diego to Puerto Vallarta yacht race. MR BILL finished 2nd in class and 3rd overall. Don has been crewing on MR BILL for a few years and has competed in 2 Trans Pac races.
View from MR BILL
Spaight St. Syndicate Memorial Weekend Report
Tug, Spaight St. Syndicate’s motorized assistant
New Additions to the Spaight Street Syndicate
Hi all. Been a while. Life moves on during our global pandemic. On May 5, I officially became a real old dude. A grandpa. Haven’t started building Dash (Dashel) Daniel Percevecz’s first iceboat yet, but it’s on my list. Much joy, but also heartbreak, as I lost my mom the same day.
Daniel with first grandchild and newest Ice Optimist sailor.
Since my last update, I’ve pimped out my trailer. It’s set up to haul a C-Skeeter, a Renegade and three DNs; with sails, planks and runners for all. Along with a powered kick sled or two. I’ll give you a tour in a future update. Good ride for a Northwest!
Also meet “Tug,” the newest addition to the Spaight Street Syndicate garage. She’s a real tomboy—an electric powered trailer mover built from readily available parts, complete with lights and cup holders. Many thanks to Ken Whitehorse for the welding. I may have understated the task when I mentioned I had a few pieces of metal to weld up. But Ken was a great sport, and we had fun working on the project. I often need to move trailers around by myself, and Tug makes it really easy not only to move, but to position in tight spaces.
The other active project is repainting my Renegade components. Haven’t paid enough attention to the old girl in a while, so she’s getting a new dress. Plank and springboard done, mast going into spray booth tomorrow. Thanks to Jeff Russell for the booth. Left over from his airplane painting years ago, so all I had to do was reassemble and buy new plastic. Came complete with intake filters and an exit fan. Fumes disperse quickly.
So much for now. Grateful to the veterans out there for all they have sacrificed for our freedom. And to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, Rest In Peace. You will always be remembered.
Ice Sailing Goes Postal
2013 Mozambique Postal Stamp featuring DN and Renegade Class iceboats. The boat left middle US44 is Ron Sherry of Detroit, MI.
2013 Mozambique Postal Stamp featuring a Renegade class ice boat.
Bob Cummins inquired if the iceboat stamp issued by the US Post Office had ever been featured on iceboat.org. His email was a great jumping off point to search for other examples. I knew that Poland had issued a set and the Google pointed to Postal History Corner; Canadian Postal and Philatelic History where there’s a comprehensive page dedicated to ice sailing stamps and postcards from around the world. Until yesterday, the only thing I knew about the eastern African country, Mozambique was that Bob Dylan had written a song about it. What a surprise to learn that Mozambique had issued 6 iceboating stamps in 2013! All of these stamps are available to buy on ebay or stamp collecting websites.
1955 Hungarian postal stamp featuring a Monotype iceboat.
1978 Polish postal stamp issued in conjunction with the DN Gold Cup sailed at Krynica Morska, Poland, February 6-11, 1978.
1985 American stamp with a stern-steerer iceboat.
Meet CLANCY
CLANCY on Lake Monona near Law Park in Madison, WI c.1952
Craig Wilson found the above photo while looking through his dad J. Dale Wilson’s slide collection. (Craig is the aerial kite photographer who has been snapping our pictures for many years. See some of his work here on Flickr.) Craig figures the slide dates from around 1952 or 1953 and wondered if we knew anything about the yellow stern-steerer. I sent it off to Andy Gratton, Mike Peters, and Don Sanford. Here’s what the collective stern steerer history brain trust found:
Via Don Sanford:
The gods of iceboating must be sending me a message…..I believe that this is the Clancy. She was owned by the Oetking family. See page 81 of “the book” (mine). [On Fourth Lake]
I have been on the trail of these folks for years and during the past six weeks (pandemic) I had a chance to plow through the internet, sailing websites, and obits. This is a family of sailors. Last week, I finally connected with Curt Oetking. (Who also goes by “Pete.”) His dad, Pete, crewed for Carl [Bernard] on the MARY B in a few regattas.
I sent him a photo of the Clancy that Jay Payton gave me several years ago. He sent this message:
“Clancy which was my mother Clare’s nickname…..”
Armed with that info, I looked in the Bernard Slide index and found several entries that mention either “Clancy” or Oetking. Somewhere I have a statement that the Clancy was a scaled-down version of the MARY B. Andy [Gratton] told me that he knows where she is now.
As for the photo, I believe that this was taken on Lake Monona, just off Law Park. it’s the only place on either lake where cars can park that close to the water.
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer Andy Gratton reports that Clancy is still around and in the care of Jim Rettke in Marinette who has owned it at least 35 years or more.
CLANCY in front of the Ray Stroud residence on Farwell Drive in Maple Bluff, Madison, WI.
CLANCY from the Carl Bernard Slide collection.
Celebrating the Women of Ice Sailing: More History
Previous: Celebrating the Women of Ice Sailing
Skeeter Ice Boat Cub sailor Jane Pegel shares her memories of female ice sailors and race committee members. Some of the women she mentions were featured in an article that ran in Rudder Magazine in 1943, see below.
UPDATE: One more woman who must be included is Green Lake Nite sailor Maureen Bohleber who won the 2019 ISA title.
“Sunday morning on Lake Geneva is really ladies’ day. The skipperettes get the boats ready themselves and there is every evidence of sex equality at the crack of the starting gun.”
The Skeeter IBC was organized in 1933 and the Club archives show a fleet of women racing Skeeters:
- Bettye Nye
- Ethel Koehler
- Lucille Fitzcharles
- Ariel Clayton
- Sue Vilas
- Vera Granath
- Rose Anderson
- Medora Adams
- Helen Campbell
- Frieda Hoiles
Winning the championship:
- 1934 Lucille Fitzcharles
- 1935 Vera Granath
- 1936 Bettye Nye
- 1937 Vera Granath
- 1938 Bettye Nye
- 1939 Sue Vilas
The Club cancelled racing during WW II and subsequently the women’s fleet seems to have disappeared from the weekly race schedule, though many raced in the ISA Women’s Division.
When I was a Williams Bay high school student, my father bought me Holy Smoke, a 20 ft. Mead. In 1951 I took it down to Fox Lake to race in the Women’s Division of the ISA regatta. In the opening race I was leading at the first windward mark but didn’t know how to sail off-the-wind so ended up DNF. My recollection is that I improved over the weekend and finished second in the regatta. There were several outstanding women skippers competing, including: Olive Lindstedt, Fox Lake IYC; Dorie Sarns, Detroit IYC; and Harriett Sternkopf and Jean Zwicky of the Pewaukee Ice Yacht Club who were outstanding Skeeter sailors.
I continued to race my Skeeter for several years and won some SIBC trophies. Then in November, 1956, I switched to a DN and raced successfully in that class through 2014. My daughter, Susie, started racing a DN in 1969, at age 12. She was top Junior In the Northwest and brought home trophies in several DN championship regattas, both gold and silver divisions,several times beating her mother.
Julie Richards from Grand Traverse IYC is an outstanding DN skipper and has taken home a number of awards, including a Central Division championship.
The list of faithful women race committee volunteers includes Mauretta Mattison; Cora Millenbach; Mary Jane Schalk; Deb Whitehorse; the three Sherry sisters – Loretta, Debbie, Jane; the Green Lake contingent of Julie Jankowski , Laurie Norton, Debbie Bierman; Mrs. John Koeck came all the way from Lake Hopatcong, NJ; Mrs. Gene Treuter led the Cass Lake contingent. And there have been many DN wives who devoted evenings to keeping class membership records.
Many thanks to them all.
…Jane Pegel
Runner Tracks Online Newsletter
If you can’t get enough iceboating news, check out the latest issue of the DN class newsletter, Runner Tracks. The photography is outstanding and does a tremendous service in the promotion of our sport.
RUNNER TRACKS IS AVAILABLE IN THREE DIFFERENT FORMATS:
Flipbook Magazine
Download pdf file (best for tablets)
Download single page pdf (best for phones)
Photo: Sean R. Heavey
Photo: Sophie Marc-Martin
Celebrating the Women of Ice Sailing
Happy Mother’s Day to all the women involved in ice sailing. The day provides a chance to share some history of women in ice sailing. The first woman who comes to mind for most of us is Skeeter Ice Boat Club’s Jane Pegel, pictured above, who has won many ice sailing titles. Ron Sherry sent this article about Detroit Ice Yacht Club’s Garwood Regatta published when Jane won the Scripp’s Trophy for DNs, a reminder of the time when the idea of “housewives” accomplishing anything was considered a novelty.
Women have been key members of iceboat race management for many years. Below is an article shared by Jack Jacobs about his mother and the other women of the Detroit Ice Yacht Club who
made things run smoothly so that ice sailors could concentrate on racing and socializing. Much of what is written about scoring iceboat races in this article remains true 68 years later such as keeping the chatter to a minimum and the writers keeping their eyes on the score sheets while they miss the excitement of the racers rounding the leeward mark.
Distraction of the Day: Curious & Rare & BERZERKER
Ye Olde Party Boat
Museums and archival websites have flung opened their virtual doors and allowed access to their archives to help us while away the hours. Stumbled across this print dated from around 1600 on the British Museum website. It’s purported to be the earliest representation of an iceboat – Dutch, of course. The artist took some liberties because a 10 person iceboat would need some good breeze to get going not to mention the impossibility of handling the boat around such a twisty narrow track.
Seeing this 10 person iceboat brought to mind one of the greatest ice sailing projects ever seen, executed by the Toledo Ice Yacht Club in 2007, the BERZERKER. She was built to be a one-weekend party boat, a stern steerer assembled from what ever they found laying around. BERZERKER gave many people their first iceboat ride during that Winter Carnival weekend on Lake Erie.
 |  |
Picture of the Day: Pewaukee Northwest 1973
Photo by Gary Whitehorse. That’s a lot of horsepower! Stern steerer iceboats start on race at the Northwest regatta which took place on February 2-4, 1973 on Pewaukee Lake in Wisconsin.
UPDATE: The photo was originally taken by Gary Whitehorse and uploaded to the 4LIYC Facebook page.
Peter McCormick (via Andy Gratton) forwarded this picture to the iceboat.org inbox this week wanting to confirm if these stern-steerers were on Pewaukee Lake and when this regatta took place. I started looking into the files and realized that I was there with my brother and dad, Dave Rosten and that my Dad won the Class A Skeeter trophy. Another 4LIYC skipper, Peter’s dad Bill McCormick, won the C Stern Steerer trophy that year as well.
If you have any information on the stern-steerers or the regatta you’d like to share, please drop a line. debwhitehorse@iceboat.org
UPDATE: 30 April:
“I was 16 years old at the time and won the DN junior trophy. Chuck Miller was racing a DN in the regatta called “Chicken Little.” He got a big kick out of racing against me in the regatta. Ever since that time I always felt that Chuck Miller was a really nice guy, someone who really loved his sailing and iceboating.”
Susie Pegel, formerly DN 905
Andy Gratton, WSSA Secretary: “Max Runge sent me this old photo. …There are some boats I don’t recognize, such as the C skeeter, the black mast, the yellow mast, B9, and what appears to be a round backbone second from the far end. V83 is the D skeeter that got turned around and ended up in Fond du Lac in the 1980s with Herb Bankstahl. He named it FIDDLESTIX, I think it came from Sternkopfs. Who is pushing ROSEMARY?”
Peter McCormick, stern steerer (TWINBEDS) and Renegade sailor: “I remember my dad [Bill McCormick] telling me how he took TWINBEDS to Pewaukee on a lumber truck for either a Northwest or WSSA regatta.”
UPDATE:
Tom Hyslop: “Not sure about the lake or the year as some of the Pewaukee boats were not built until the late 70`s.
B9 was CLANCY owned by John Olson.
V83 was a Sternkoph boat.
Yellow mast with red V is COUNTRY WOMAN owned by me.
Black mast with V is ECLIPSE owned by Ric Sternkoph and Mike Hasse.”
1973 Northwest Results
STERN STEERERS
Class A: No Race
Class B: CLANCY, John Olson
Class C: TWIN BEDS, Bill McCormick
Class D: DEE WHIZ, Bill Osenga
Skeeter Class A: Dave Rosten, PIRATE
FREE FOR ALL: No Race
DN Class: George Timmons
DN Class Junior: Susie Pegel
Renegade Class: Elmer Millenbach RENEGADE III
 |  |
Distraction of the Day: Hey! It’s S8 Open Class!
These Russian S-8 Open Class stern-steerers are a blast to watch. Video was shot in March 2020 on Syamozero Lake in Karelia, Russia which is about a 6 hour drive northeast from St. Petersburg. Their class website is here.
Tip of the helmet: Andrey Ivolgin
420 On 4/20
Obligatory
Picture of the Day: 4LIYC Commodore Don Anderson rounds the leeward mark in his Renegade EASY RIDER on Lake Mendota.
Not Liquid Yet
Moosehead Lake in Maine on April 17, 2020.
The Ice-Out Fat Lady continues her quarantine. Congratulations to the Chickawaukee ice sailors up in Maine who eked another day out of the season to make it a six month run. Read Bill Bucholz’s report here.
If the Canadian border was open, Pat Heppert and his C Skeeter would be sailing Thunder Bay this weekend. Mike Madge reported 2 feet of ice there on April 16th and they appear to still be sailing. Follow along on the Thunder Bay Ice Boating Facebook page.
Nites Go Grand Prix Style
2020 Nite Nationals on Green Lake. Photo: Rob Resnick
Nite Class Announcement
Following the end of our season which was at the 2020 National Championship we as a BOD were tasked with looking at a response to dealing with boats that were lapped on the race course in conditions that may have been marginal. Though rules exist in other iceboat classes that deal with this same issue, it tends to be in a more broad manner. We felt that in the best interests of the class and both experienced and less experienced sailors we have come up with a better solution. This solution is now known as the Grand Prix Rule.
This new rule will be in place in our sailing instructions going forward, it was voted on and passed by the BOD. The use of the Grand Prix Rule will also allow for the race management teams to apply it as needed. The insertion of the new rule in the Sailing Instructions made more sense then the Bylaws as it was a regatta management issue.
The rule reads as follows:
Grand Prix Rule
1. In regatta conditions consisting of marginal wind speeds and warm air temps or with both conditions in effect, the Grand Prix Rule may be instated for all competitors who are sailing within either fleet. This rule allows for lapped boats to be retired off the course.
2. The Head Judge and/or the race committee have the option to use this rule for all races meeting the criteria. Notification of the Grand Prix Rule in effect must be announced prior to the start of that race. A lime green flag will be displayed to competitors that have been lapped. Those individuals will accept their place and withdraw off the race course. The race committee can withdraw its use of the Grand Prix Rule for further races at any time if the conditions have improved, however races that have been sailed under the Grand Prix Rule may not be rescinded as long as all time limits and laps criteria have been met.
3. Scoring for boats that have been lapped shall be as follows see addendum 1.
We look forward to future events and the use of the Grand Prix Rule at Nite Nationals and also Nite Regattas. We hope this improves the already great events we have and allows for the enjoyment of sailors in all skill levels.
Nite BOD
Thunder Bay, Baby
DNer Mike Madge executes a fly-by maneuver on Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada on April 11.
New! ISA News & Views Newsletter Archive
