International Skeeter Association Regatta
The International Skeeter Association (ISA) was organized in the late 1930s and the first ISA regatta was sailed in 1940. Skeeters were developed on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. They are piloted by a single skipper and steer from the front of the boat as opposed to the original iceboats which were crewed by two or more and steered from the rear.
The Skeeter is the “Formula One” of ice yachting, a wide open development class where state-of-the-art sailing is seen annually. The only restriction on the Skeeter builder is a 75 square foot sail maximum sail area. While the basic configuration for successful E Skeeters has long been established, significant design improvements have been developed within the Four Lakes fleet. Taller rigs and rear seat Skeeters designed and built by 4LIYC members Bill Mattison and Paul Krueger have brought world championship titles to Madison skippers. In 1989, New Jersey’s Dan Clapp took the ice boating world by storm with his first front-seater and dominated the ISA regatta during the 1990s. Skeeter builders are adept with high tech materials like carbon fiber, and Kevlar. The super powerful Skeeters are the fastest boats on the ice. Sufficiently committed skippers find the greatest challenge in these boats, where design, building, and maintenance skills share equal roles with sailing ability
INTERNATIONAL SKEETER ASSOCIATION DUES NOTICE
NEW! Pay your ISA dues online here.
Or pay through the U.S. Mail: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT AN ISA MEMBERSHIP FORM
President Jason Thompson
jsthompsdds@hotmail.com
Vice President Pat Heppert
Pat.T.Heppert@saint-gobain.com
Secretary/Treas. Steve Schalk
W6001 Brick Church Rd
Fontana, WI 53125
262-275-2871
I564@charter.net
The annual dues are $25.00 for the 2023-2023 season, payable to:
International Skeeter Association
Steve Schalk, W6001 Brick Church RD, Fontana, WI 53125
December 1st, 2023 is the deadline for new items to be placed on the 2024 agenda.
January 12, 13, & 14, 2023 (Friday, Saturday, & Sunday) is the first scheduled weekend for the 2024 Regatta.
2018 ISA Photos
Battle Lake photographer, Jann Kline, took advantage of the elements of light, wind, and ice to shoot these beautiful photos at the ISA regatta there on Saturday.
2018 ISA Saturday PM Update
Battle Lake, Minnesota. Photo: John Eisenlohr
2018 ISA Information & Results
Another update from the ISA championship regatta being sailed at Battle Lake, Minnesota. Word is that the sailors were happy with the wind and conditions today. Mary Jane Schalk has updated the scores to reflect 6 total races in each fleet. See them on the International Skeeter Association page.
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
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
| SailNo | HelmName | R1 | R2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U 194 | John Dennis | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| M 197 | Kenny Whitehorse | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| M 165 | Paul Krueger | 3.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 |
| V 500 | Steve Orlebeke | 5.0 DNC | 5.0 DNC | 10.0 |
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
| Rank | Sail No | HelmName | R1 12-7-18 | R2 12-7-18 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | I 234 | Jim McDonagh | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| 2nd | I 564 | Steve Schalk | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
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
| Rank | SailNo | HelmName | R1 12-7 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 517 | Dan Bierman | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| 2nd | 396 | Bill Reed | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| 3rd | 384 | Don Sanford | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| 4th | 169 | Steven Wiberg | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 5th | 415 | John Stasieluk | 6.0 DNC | 6.0 |
Sailwave Scoring Software 2.25.11 www.sailwave.com
2018 ISA Regatta Called ON For Battle Lake, MN Dec 7-9
The 2018 International Skeeter Association Regatta has been called ON for December 7, 8, 9 in Battle Lake Minnesota. Please see the ISA page for pre-registration, launch, lodging, and schedule of events. This regatta holds races for A,B,and C Skeeters and the Nite class.
2018 ISA Regatta Update
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.
2018 ISA Regatta Tentatively Called ON
The ISA race committee is tentatively planning for the 2018 championship
December 7,8,& 9. Tentative site Battle Lake, Mn.
The Western challenge will be held this weekend and we expect detailed scouting reports.
Next ISA Championship update will be Sunday evening. Get your gear ready for an 2018 event!
ISA: 2019 Notice of Dues
Paul Krueger leaving an impression on Lake Kegonsa. Photo: Peter Fauerbach
INTERNATIONAL SKEETER ASSOCIATION DUES NOTICE
The annual dues are $25.00 for the 2018-2019 season, payable to:
International Skeeter Association
Steve Schalk, W6001 Brick Church RD, Fontana, WI 53125
December 1st, 2018 is the deadline for new items to be placed on the 2019 agenda. Items from 2018 carry over if no meeting is held in 2018.
PLEASE NOTE: THE 2018 REGATTA IS STILL UNDER POSTPONEMENT. THE RACE COMMITTEE IS PLANNING TO FIND A SUITABLE SITE MOST LIKELY IN MINNESOTA IN MID DECEMBER 2018.
January 11, 12, & 13, 2019 (Friday, Saturday, & Sunday) is the scheduled weekend for the 2019 Regatta.
ISA Homepage
Area Iceboat Shop Deconstructs to Reassemble
Ken Whitehorse
In 4LIYC iceboat shop news, the Krueger-Whitehorse shop is being torn down and the contents relocated 50 feet north of its present location. This all began in the 1950s when Walter and Harry Whitehorse needed a place to work on their open-wheel sprint and midget race cars. Iceboats were added to the mix in the 1960s when Harry and Walter discovered a way to keep going fast in the winter. Paul Krueger has been in the shop since the beginning when he was a teenager, first turning wrenches on midgets and then working his magic on Skeeters.
The “R” Word: Free Iceboat to Restore
 You can go from this… |  ..to this in a few simple steps. |
UPDATE: July 17,2018: The boat has found a home on Lake Como. Thanks to all who helped with this rescue.
Skeeter Iceboat Club sailor Steve Schalk recently came across the proverbial barn find near Delavan, Wisconsin that dates back to the beginning of the Skeeter class.This 1930s iceboat was home built and patterned after Walter Beauvaix’s early open-back Skeeter design. Just the hull and plank remain and It’s always been stored in a dry barn waiting for either the woodpile or for someone to restore her. If you’d like to save the boat from the burn pile and take on a restoration project, contact i546@charter.net to arrange pick-up. Andy Gratton has offered to donate a sail for the boat.
To learn more about the history of Beau Skeeters, read “A New First“, about the Goes family’s original Beau Skeeter PIKE, and “Wish You Were Here: Skeeter Iceboat Club History“.
Early Beau Skeeter PIKE, on the left with the P sail.
Independence Day
John Dennis sails his Class A Skeeter. Photo: Gretchen Dorian
Have a great July 4th. Only 150 days until ice making!
DRIFTER Plans
Minnesota ice sailor, Pat Heppert, has put his virtual drafting pencil to paper and produced AutoCAD plans for his C Skeeter build, DRIFTER. Download them here.
It seems like many people have asked me for plans for my current iceboat, which has been kind of partially drawn up for a few years. So I have finally taken the time to fully detail out the entire boat. The goal of this is NOT to profess any sort of iceboating wisdom, just simply to try to get more people interested in building and continue enthusiasm in the sport. It ended up being 29 pages on 11 x 17 paper. The plans and building guide are now posted in a public folder on Google Drive per the link below. You should be able to download the files with the link below; if you have trouble let me know. The plans are in PDF format as well as AutoCAD format. The AutoCAD format can be viewed and printed with a free viewer program downloadable from Autodesk.
Pat Heppert
Pegel Slide Collection: Frank Trost & TUSCARORA
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!
Regatta Watch: ISA Postponed…Until Dec 2018
No fooling!
The International Skeeter Association Championship has been postponed. Gladstone, Michigan, the potential site, received 10″ of snow on Saturday. No sailable conditions exist for the regatta at this time. Check back in November 2018 for the next update. The hope is that the regatta can be sailed in December in Minnesota.
Waiting for December
Regatta Watch: ISA & Renegade Champonship Postponed
1955 ISA regatta sailed on Lake Monona in Madison, WI.
Both the International Skeeter Association and Renegade Championship Regattas have been postponed.
Ice checkers found 25″ of hard black ice at Little Bay de Noc at Gladstone, Michigan but with too much shell ice for safe sailing. Next update will be Sunday, April 1, 2018. [Never thought I’d be typing that date about an iceboat regatta!-ed.]
In the meantime, let’s revisit the 1955 ISA championship won by Buddy Melges in MICKEY FINN. Jane Wiswell (before she married Bob Pegel) won the women’s division. There’s some good detail in this article if you are a fan of the sport.
ISA Newsletter Archive
