Steve Arnold Photos: The Biggest of Planks
Bill Mattison builds the DEUCE runner plank c. 1980, from the Steve Arnold collection
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Vintage ’80s
Bill Mattison with help from 4LIYC members built a new runner plank for the World’s Largest Iceboat©, the DEUCE, in the early 1980s in his Williamson St. shop. Luckily, we have photos that the late Steve Arnold took during that build. Twenty some years later, Bill supervised the lofting and building of DEUCE’s hull at Rick Hennig’s Cabbage Patch shop in Racine which culminated in a glue-party that attracted iceboaters from all over the Midwest who wanted to take part in that historic occasion. (Photos and stories documenting that build here.) I can’t think of a better time to repost Dave Elsmo’s classic video about the DEUCE, “54 Foot of Fast”, embedded below.
Cover Girl: The MICHIGANDER
MICHIGANDER on Pewaukee Lake for the 2018 Wisconsin Stern Steerers Association championship.
The biannual magazine from the makers of “what holds us together”, Gougeon’s (West Systems) Epoxy Works, highlights one of the finest Class A stern-steerers ever crafted, Eric Sawyer’s MICHIGANDER. Get a free print or digital subscription to the magazine here.
Regatta Watch: WSSA Cancelled For the Season
The season is over for the Wisconsin Stern Steerers Association. Here’s the Stern Steerer kid to help give the season a send-off.
Regrettably the Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been cancelled for this season. Perhaps there will be some early ice in December that might allow us to race for the 2019 season. In the meantime you have all summer to fix those nagging problems, or for some of us, to finish the new boat so it is ready for early ice. Keep your runners sharp!
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Regatta Watch: WSSA Postponed
ROSEMARY, skippered by Andy Gratton at the 2019 Northwest Regatta. Photo: Pat Heppert
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to March 23 and 24, 2019. The next update will be Sunday, March 17. Check back here at that time.
Andy GrattonWSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Monotype XV European Championship Conclusion
The European stern-steerer class, the Monotype XVs, concluded their European championship in Estonia on Thursday. The championship went to Russian sailors Oleg Vasilev and Ruslan Rudenko. Oleg has had a successful 2019 racing season, having placed 13th in the A fleet at the DN European championship in Poland this year.
Monotype XV European Championship
All boats and equipment are measured before the regatta. Photo: Jaak Nirgi
While North America’s Stern Steerers wait for regatta conditions, focus your attention to across the pond where the Monotype XV European Championship racing begins tomorrow on Lake Vortsjarv in Estonia. The boats arrived today for registration, equipment inspection, practice racing (no wind though) and the opening ceremony. Stern steerer sailors Mike Peters and Erich Schloemer made the trip over for a Monotype XV regatta several years ago and competed in a borrowed boat. Monotype XVs are the most popular one-design Stern Steerer class in Europe.
From the Monotype XV website:
The Monotype-XV ice yacht was designed in 1932 by the legendary Erik von Holst of Estonia. It became popular in a very short time, and more than 200 yachts were built in but a few years. The yacht is a strict monotype construction; in broad outline, it looks the same as in the nineteen thirties. The structural elements are nowadays joined by modern methods and the use of epoxy adhesive. The bronze runners have been replaced by runners in stainless steel. The sail is of course made of Dacron or an equivalent material. The Monotype-XV is the largest monotype class in Europe today, and the only yacht for two for which European as well as international championships are arranged.
Data: Sail area 15 m2, length=7.5 m, width 4.2 m and mast height 7.2 m. Minimum weight 205 Kg. Crew 1-2 persons. Read more.
Regatta Watch: WSSA Postponed
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to March 16 and 17, 2019. The next update will be Sunday, March 10. Check back here at that time. Still too much snow on the lakes though I heard Lake St. Claire might be good.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Waiting with NORA
“When I grow up”
A splendid picture from Uppsala in Sweden with the famed historic ice yacht NORA and an Ice Optimist as they wait together for the wind to come up.
Regatta Watch: WSSA Postponed
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to March 9 and 10, 2019. The next update will be Sunday, March 3. Check back here at that time. Still too much snow on the lake although the ice on the roads might work for us.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Regatta Watch: WSSA Postponed
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to March 2 and 3, 2019. The next update will be Sunday, February 24. Check back here at that time. Still too much snow, shell ice, and roughness.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
WISCONSIN ICE BOATING HOTLINE 608-204-9876
WSSA DUES
W.S.S.A. dues are $20.00 and can be mailed to Andy Gratton at the following address:
W.S.S.A.
c/o Andy Gratton, Secretary/Treasure
2102 Doty Street
Oshkosh, WI. 54902
***NOTICE*** Due to the high cost of “snail” mailing newsletters it is encouraged that you send in your $20 dues and an e-mail address. If not, your name MAY be removed from the mailing list. If you are no longer interested in receiving the newsletter please respond or email to Andy Gratton