NIYA

Northwest Ice Yachting Association An iceboat regatta first sailed in 1913 in Menominee, Michigan.

Stern Steerers

The NIYA was originally a stern-steerer regatta organized to determine ice yacht supremacy in the Midwest. A,B,C,& D stern-steerers continue to compete in the NIYA.

Skeeters

Class E Skeeters first raced the NIYA in 1936 when Lake Geneva sailor Harry Melges won in MICKEY FINN.

DN Class

Skip Boston of Detroit was the first winner of the NIYA in the DN class in 1954.

Renegade

First sailed as a seperate class in 1958 and won by “Mr. Iceboat”, Elmer Millenbach.

NIYA Centennial

The NIYA celebrated 100 years of iceboat racing in 2013 on Green Lake in Wisconsin.

2020 Northwest Ice Yacht Racing Association Information

March 13-15,2020
Lake Waconia, Minnesota

DNs @ Fondy

Via Daniel Hearn:

Sailors from Lake Geneva, Chicago, Madison and Oshkosh met in Fond du Lac for a weekend of scrub racing on Lake Winnebago. Lighter breeze Saturday and good breeze Sunday. Lost count of the number of races. Nice dinner Saturday night in Ripon with some of the Green Lake contingent. Let’s do it again next weekend if we avoid snow in the area!

2018 Renegade Championship Tentatively Called On

Photo: gretchendorian.com

UPDATE DEC 10: FINAL CONFIRMATION DAY WAS INCORRECT. IT HAS BEEN CORRECTED TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 BY 1 PM CT.
The 2018 Renegade Championship regatta has been tentatively called on for December 15-16, 2018. Primary site is Lake Winnebago at Fond du Lac, WI and secondary is Lake Puckaway near Green Lake, WI. Final confirmation will be made on Thursday, December 13, 2018 by 1 PM CT.

 

2018 ISA Completed

Sunrise at the ISA in Battle Lake, Minnesota. Photo: JD

The boats are packed, on the trailer, and heading west (John Eisenlohr and his mini-Skeeter to Montana!), east, and south towards home this morning. The 2018 ISA has been called complete.
Click here to see results.

2018 ISA Update

The sun shines again on 4LIYC sailors Paul Krueger and Ken Whitehorse as they take a break on Paul’s A Skeeter RAMBL’N XII

2018 ISA Information & Results

The Skeeters are all done for the day in Battle Lake, Minnesota. The wind was too light to get a third Nite race in. Results have been updated on the ISA page.

And isn’t it great to see PK back in the saddle again. To say that iceboaters are a determined lot is an understatement.

2018 ISA Provisional Results

Direct from the ISA Tabulation Office in Fontana (just up the hill from Chuck’s on Geneva Lake, one of the world’s greatest iceboating bars), here are preliminary results from the ISA regatta.
2018 ISA Information page

Click here to see results

2018 ISA A Skeeter

Battle Creek, Mn. December 7th, 8th, & 9th

Results are provisional as of 13:28 on December 7, 2018

Overall

Sailed: 2, Discards: 0, To count: 2, Entries: 4, Scoring system: Appendix A
SailNoHelmNameR1R2Total
U 194John Dennis1.01.02.0
M 197Kenny Whitehorse2.02.04.0
M 165Paul Krueger3.03.06.0
V 500Steve Orlebeke5.0 DNC5.0 DNC10.0

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.25.11 www.sailwave.com

2018 ISA B Skeeter

Battle Lake, Mn. December 7th, 8th, & 9th 2018

Results are provisional as of 13:30 on December 7, 2018

Overall

Sailed: 2, Discards: 0, To count: 2, Entries: 2, Scoring system: Appendix A
RankSail NoHelmNameR1 12-7-18R2 12-7-18Total
1stI 234Jim McDonagh1.01.02.0
2ndI 564Steve Schalk2.02.04.0

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.25.11 www.sailwave.com

2018 ISA Nite

Battle Lake, MN. December 7th, 8th, & 9th

Results are provisional as of 13:31 on December 7, 2018

Overall

Sailed: 1, Discards: 0, To count: 1, Entries: 5, Scoring system: Appendix A
RankSailNoHelmNameR1 12-7Total
1st517Dan Bierman1.01.0
2nd396Bill Reed2.02.0
3rd384Don Sanford3.03.0
4th169Steven Wiberg4.04.0
5th415John Stasieluk6.0 DNC6.0

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.25.11 www.sailwave.com

Western Challenge: Lost & Found Department

DN Runners Missing since Battle Lake.
3/16 carbon runners with wings. Built by Ron Sherry. In black Harken runner bag with a Colorado College luggage tag that says 3/16 w/wing. May also have regatta stickers on them.
I sailed them on Sunday at the Great Western Challenge but they never made it home. I had to have taken them off in the pits.
Contact Mike (Six one two) 598-38 zero zero

2018 Western Challenge Debrief

4LIYC sailors Dave Elsmo, Doug Kolner, Hugh Sugar, and Tim Sugar are probably a bit tired and sore after sailing at the DN Western Challenge regatta over the weekend in Battle Lake, MN. Following are some photos and reports.

Resourcefulness at its finest.

Doug’s report lifted from his Facebook page:

4987 still looks great. New tenderized plank performed beautifully. Tough racing in 20-25 mph.
1st race tangled with an old friend at the leeward mark when he luffed up in front of me after dropping his main sheet. Had to go in and realign my runners. My next race, I was rounding the weather mark in a good hike when my port runner blew up. (No stiffeners. Would have helped. Longer chocks and big air overloaded them. 21st century DNers have carbon bodied 440c stainless. Rest if the platform is pretty deluxe though.) Did a 360 and parked with a boat heading right at me goin’ a million mph. Missed me. End of a great weekend of sailing with world champs and sailors from Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and old friends from when I used to race these boats many years ago.
Battle Lake, MN full of Minnesota nice!!! Special thanks to Lars Barber for comin’ to play.

2018 ISA Regatta Update

Copyright Gretchen Dorian Nite Iceboat Sailing

Photo: gretchendorian.com

The 2018 International Skeeter Association Regatta has been tentatively called ON for December 7-9, 2018 for Battle Lake in Battle Lake, Minnesota.
Final confirmation will be made on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 by 12 PM CT.

The DN World Descends On Battle

A boy and his iceboat

DN sailors from around the world have gathered on Battle Lake in Battle Lake, Minnesota for the Western Challenge fun-regatta. I counted about 30 masts at noon and there were more arriving. The ice is hard with a bit of snow. A couple of marks were set up and DNers scrub raced all day in the lightish air. As you can see in the photos, the visibility was low and sailors took care to sail safely.

 

 

1930s Winnebago Iceboating Video

Great grandfather’s 8mm film of iceboating on Lake Winnebago in the 1930s. from r/OldSchoolCool


LINK TO VIDEO
This is an amazing video found on Reddit by Tom Lothian featuring Stern Steerers and early Skeeters in front of the Legion in Oshkosh. I’m certain there are photos of this regatta in the Carl Bernard collection. I recognize the DEUCE and at the very end, the 4LIYC’s Carl Bernard on the MARY B, I think. If you recognize any boats or people in this video, take note of the screen time and let me know. I’ll look over the photos from the Carl Bernard collection to see what I can find.
A big tip of the helmet to Tom Lothian!

Youth Movement

ICE SAILING 101
Current UW students Soren, Will and Jonathon; and recent college east coast college graduate, now Epic employee, Clark, workin’ it in the Spaight Street Syndicate lab. New steering posts and plank attachments, runners shimmed, sharpened and aligned…ready for first test of the semester at the Great Western Challenge. Tip of the helmet to Steve Duhamel at Northwind Iceboats for the donated parts to resurrect P154.

 

News From the National Iceboat Authority

Photo: Jeff Russell

The National Iceboat Authority Releases Updates to the Racing Rules and Launches a New Web Page

National Iceboat Authority
Via NIA Secretary/Treasurer Tim McCormick:

With the help of Deb Whitehorse, the NIA now has its own web page to make it easier for sailors to find information related to the racing rules. The page is pretty simple but it meets the following goals:
1. Share the purpose of the National Iceboat Authority which is to advise sailors on how to conduct iceboat races through an established set of racing rules and to provide a venue for appeals and rules interpretations.
2. Provide a location for the current version of the Constitution & Racing Rules of the NIA.
3. Provide a contact email for inquiries.
4. List current and former Directors of the NIA so sailors can easily associate a name with a face.

In addition, the Racing Rules of the NIA have been updated to clarify:
1. When and how to ABANDON a race.
2. The compensatory points which may be awarded to an assisting yacht. We’ve also added appeal decision #9 related to filing a protest in a timely manner. A detailed list of the changes can be found in the revision history on the last page.

We hope you find these updates useful and that we’ll all be a part of iceboat racing which is safe, fair, and fun!

Thanks,

Tim

Western Challenge @ Battle Lake

4LIYC sailor Lars Barber sanding Doug Kolner’s DN plank.

Dust is being made and runners sharpened in preparation for the first unofficial fun DN regatta of the season, the Western Challenge. Stay tuned to the Minnesota Ice Sailing Association website for the latest. Battle Lake has been chosen as the site. Look for final confirmation on Wednesday. The ISA regatta was sailed at Battle Lake 2 years ago and the town was very welcoming to all the sailors.