Iceboaters, we have a horse in the Youth America’s Cup race starting in Barcelona on September 17, 2024. Just down the road from Four Lakes, Fontana, WI, home of the Skeeter Iceboat Club, has the highest concentration of Youth America’s Cup sailors in North America, all with a background in ice sailing. Kyle Navin, Harry Melges IV, and Finn Rowe have been selected to represent the USA in this prestigious event. Their iceboating experience has prepared them well for the high speeds and intense competition of the AC40 boats, which can reach 45 knots downwind (almost as fast as an iceboat.) WHAT TO KNOW When: Begins September 17, 2024 Event website How to Watch About the Team Photos courtesy of Nite sailor Dave Navin
Harry Melges IV in his M80 Skeeter
Kyle Navin and Finn Rowe
Kyle Navin, finished 2nd at the Nite Nationals
Kyle Navin, finished 2nd in the Nite Nationals
Kyle Navin began his ice sailing career in an Ice Optimist
Gloria Melges with her husband, Buddy, at the 2007 Northwest Regatta at Menominee, MI. Buddy won the Skeeter title that year.
The Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club and ice sailing community extend our deepest sympathies to the Melges family on the loss of their matriarch, Gloria Melges. Via Sailing Scuttlebutt:
Gloria Melges, 93, a beloved member of the sailing community and an esteemed race committee officer, passed away peacefully on July 20, 2024. Born in New Jersey on May 27, 1931, Gloria was raised spending summers aboard a Great Lakes cruising sailboat out of Chicago, where her father served as Commodore of the Columbia Yacht Club. This unique upbringing instilled in her a lifelong passion for the water and sailing.
Gloria pursued higher education at Northwestern University Dental School, where she graduated with honors. During her time at Northwestern, she met and fell in love with Wisconsin yachtsman Harry C. “Buddy” Melges Jr. Their relationship blossomed, but their time together was interrupted when Buddy went to serve in the Korean War. Despite the distance, their love grew stronger through the heartfelt letters they exchanged while he was away.
Upon Buddy’s return, he proposed to Gloria, and they were married shortly thereafter. Their deep bond and unwavering love for sailing became the foundation of their 69-year marriage, a passion they passed on to their three children: Laura, Harry III, and Hans. During their seven decades together, Gloria was a steadfast supporter of Buddy’s illustrious career, cheering for him both on and off the water.
Gloria’s legacy extends beyond her family. She was the first female Commodore of the Lake Geneva Yacht Club on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin, a testament to her trailblazing spirit. Continue reading.
Gloria and Buddy on the plank of Buddy’s Skeeter MICKEY FINN, talking to Bill “Curly” Perrigo and his son Will.
Iceboaters have a cliché: we spend 50% of our time building them, 35% talking about them, and 15% sailing them (your mileage may vary.) Ice sailors gathered at the Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet and fulfilled the talking-about-them quota on Sunday, November 6, at the Delavan Lake Yacht Club in Delavan, WI. Veteran and new ice sailors gathered to exchange complete boats, sails, planks, hulls, and runners. It was a lovely sunny and windy day to be back where the iceboat swap meet all began, with the Skeeter Iceboat Club.
Next milestone – who will have first runners on the ice in North America?
Ron Sherry and Skip Dieball
Nite guys Don Sanford, Mike Peters, and Brad Wagner.
More ice talk next to some DNs on offer.
Iceboaters love models!
Susie Pegel continuing the family tradition of organizing and staffing the raffle table.
There’s a big story behind this guy and this boat. Ron Sherry and a Bob Kau-built Class A Skeeter. Ron won the 1996 Northwest Free-For-All trophy in this boat.
The boats and history of our southern friends at the Skeeter Iceboat Club are featured in the winter 2021 issue of At The Lake -Geneva Lakes Area Magazine. Check it out here.Tip of the Helmet: Jane & Susie Pegel
Via Jane Pegel of the Skeeter Ice Boat Club in Williams Bay, WI:
Attention Iceboaters:
Due to the COVID pandemic, the annual iceboat swap meet that is customarily held in Williams Bay, WI in early November is CANCELLED for 2020.
Anyone wanting to Buy or Sell an iceboat may get on a list that will be emailed in early October to over 400 iceboaters. Email info to sailing19@charter.net
Another option is to get listed in the Buy and Sell section of iceboat.org. Email to debwhitehorse@iceboat.org
