Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Tom Hysop reminisces after the recent death of Bill Perrigo, iceboating legend:

When it came to ice boating, family patriarch Bill ‘Curley’ Perrigo was definitely what you would call ‘old school’. I remember seeing him on the ice at the end of a hard day of sailing with his face bloodied and raw from being exposed to the stinging ice chips and the bitter wind. (I would be thinking to myself; ‘Man, if this is what it takes, I don’t know if I want to do it”!)

Popular theory in those days was that you had to feel the wind on your face in order to find the best possible way around the race course.

I don’t know for sure, but I would bet that Bill Perrigo never spent much time thinking about full-face helmets, or worse, enclosed cockpits (egad!!!), on ice yachts. As far as wind chill goes… forget about it.

Perrigo was more than a tough ice boater however, he was a damn good one too. Regatta wins in both the Northwestern and the ISA, along with victories in the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America races, would appear on his ice yachting resume before he hung up his goggles for good.

His championship winning E Skeeter back in the fifties and early sixties had what I always considered to be the greatest name ever hung onto an ice yacht, Thunder Jet

Nearly forty years have passed since the last time I’ve seen that boat on the ice, and yet the name Thunder Jet can still stir up images of a fleet of bright white sails flying over a frozen surface at some long ago regatta.

Thunder Jet, as I was to learn later listening to the stories Bill Mattison, Jack Ripp, and others would tell of our sport’s past, was really one tank of an Skeeter ice boat. Built heavy to begin with, on windy days its sleek fuselage was further strained by the rumored hundreds of pounds of lead that Perrigo would casually toss in the cockpit before shoving off. Thunder Jet was not built for gentle breezes, it wasn’t made for medium conditions, and ‘building for the average’ wasn’t part of the game plan. Thunder Jet was built for when the wind was howling and it took a genuine set of brass ones to park your butt in a Skeeter ice boat and yank really hard on the go fast rope.

As legend has it, Perrigo’s Thunder Jet was always the last boat off the starting line and usually the last boat to round the top mark. The quicker, (but not necessarily faster), Skeeters would jump out to what seemed to be insurmountable leads. But if it was windy enough soon Thunder Jet could be seen ripping through a fifty boat field like a sharp saw blade through dry sitka.

By the second lap Perrigo would be mid-pack, by the third he’d be battling for the lead, and by the last lap Perrigo and Thunder Jet would be showing a rapidly disappearing stern to the rest of the frustrated Skeeter fleet.

Even though thirty-five mph wind speeds were perfectly acceptable in those days, most regattas weren’t sailed in hurricane like conditions.

But apparently a few were, as Perrigo captured three Northwestern Regatta titles, (1950, 1952, and 1958), two International Skeeter Association championships, (1958 and 1964), to go along with three successful efforts in the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America series, (1953, 1955, and 1961).

One of Bill Perrigo’s last great ice yachting triumphs came in the Challenge Pennant races sailed on Lake Mendota in March of 1970.

The 4LIYC had won the Pennant in 1964, and successfully defended it for the next five years. Indeed, few thought that the Pennant races of 1970 would produce anything other than a 7th straight 4LIYC victory.

But the Pewaukee Ice Yacht Club had different ideas.

In their bid to wrestle the Pennant away from the 4LIYC, Pewaukee decided to send Art Jark’s lightening fast, ex-Bill Mattison Honeybucket, now named the Nancy E III, to Madison as one of it’s challenging yachts.

And Art Jark promptly tapped Bill Perrigo to steer ft.

The Pennant title came down to the last race of the series that year. 4LIYC’s Dave Rosten, expertly piloting his Skeeter, Pirate, appeared to be headed for victory. But as the long, ten lap, twenty mile race wound down the wind began to pick up. The light snow that had fallen on and off throughout the day began to be blown around at the ice surface.

Soon the swirling snow built to almost surreal white-out conditions. All you could see of the boats racing around the course were the top four or five feet of the mast and sail. Finding the marks in these unbelievably dangerous conditions was next to impossible. On the last lap of the race Rosten could not find the top mark.

Somehow, Perrigo did.

A few minutes later the race scorers and other on-lookers were shocked to see Jark’s V-69, with Bill Perrigo at the helm, streaking toward the finish line.

The Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America went to Pewaukee.

Under the toughest of conditions, Bill Perrigo proved how tough he was.

The piece was written by Greg Whitehorse.

In spite of heading off to the woods for the start of bow hunting season, Bob Strezlewicz managed to get a coat of paint on his new Skeeter. By the time he gets that deer in the freezer and the hardware mounted it’ll be time to go sailing. Way to go, Bobby.

Andy Sajor has made some good progress on his old boat, cutting down and old Hobie Cat sail. Kevin Grindle and his guys on Walker Pond have made good use of these sails for years.

All he has left is to align the runners and upholster the seat.

Some one from the design department at U-Haul must have see Kevin at some point: look at the sails. The artwork featured on the sides of their trucks and trailers are destination icons: lighthouses, redwoods, etc., but who could have imagined that Lake Hopatcong and iceboating would make the cut?

No news from Pat and Chris, the two Whizz on Nantucket, but we can only hope that they’re too busy building to check in. Jory’s new Mini-Skeeter #46 is done and just awaiting his rig. Lots of people were afraid that because he is selling all his gear he was getting out of the sport. Nope: he’s just doubled down and lightened his load. He’ll have ICYWOOD at the swap meet and will sell her as a package or as parts, trailer as well.

CIBC hats and jackets will be at the meet to be picked up by those who’ve ordered, and hats for sale. If you’d like a jacket there is still time, but there is a minimum order of six. We have one order so far. Write me at hilltop@midcoast.com with questions. Deadline is this coming Tuesday night.

This season we’ll have a large screen web cam for Damariscotta Lake thanks to the efforts of Ryan Haskell. It’s almost ready to go live, and I’ll post it here when it does. Thanks Ryan!

There are those who can’t accept that there’s really a lake called Charcoccacocomanuhauccacoccchhaubunacuncamaucc actually exists. When Jory and I first sailed this fabulous lake in Massachusetts, we ate at a restaurant that had a map of the lake in the foyer. The name bordered the entire top of the map, and as we were walking out, marveling at all those letters, an old guy came in. I asked him if he was from around there, and if he could pronounce the name of the lake. Without missing a beat he rattled off a couple of dozen syllables as if he had learned them in grade school. It’s always amazing to find local cultural touchstones in our increasingly homogeneous world.

This, alone, would be an effective argument for travelling to iceboating venues beyond your normal horizons. You find treasures like this:

And then if you’re really lucky you’ll meet great people who will teach you how to pronounce it!

And speaking of meeting great people and finding treasures, don’t forget about the NEIYA Swap Meet Nov. 5 at the Nites of Columbus Lodge in Westboro MA, and the CIBC meeting at Dave Fortier’s the day after.

One harbinger of a cold winter is a bumper crop of acorns. Another is a proliferation of ice boat building and restoration projects. Deep in an iceboater’s bones there exists an autonomous hot line to the ice-crystal weather ball. These guys just know that this will be a cold winter.

Bobby Strzelewicz, on Lake Charcoccacocomanuhauccacoccchhaubunacuncamaucc (has a man and his lake ever been better suited to one another?) is building a small skeeter that will utilize a Gambit rig.

His use of blocks and wedges to clamp the bottom edge of his side boards is very elegant.

The decks are strip planked. It is Bobby’s own design; after many sleepless nights rolling the details around in his head, he went into the garage one day and in less than a week had the fuselage built. We can’t wait to see it out there on his lake, also known as Webster.

Speaking of strip plank decks, there are a number of new Mini-Skeeters. Frank Ables’s Rolling Rock #33 was previewed here back in June. He’s just finishing up the painting and promises to send photos soon. We are building one for Jory Squibb, #46, (ICYWOOD and all the gear are for sale!) which should give Frank a run for his money. Ryan Haskell has plans for #40, but is just getting started. Mike Acebo has built two, and Brian Langley one.

Over in Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain, Andy Sajor has saved this small skeeter from the burn pile and hopes to have it on the ice this winter. He reports that it was designed by a local guy drawing on elements of many boats and utilizing a DN rig. It’s a tad smaller than a Whizz.

The CIBC fall meeting has been scheduled for Sunday, November 6 at Dave Fortier’s in Biddeford, ME. Meeting at eleven, followed by pot luck lunch. As always, the club will provide the protein on the grill; bring salads and drinks.
The NEIYA has their meeting and Swap-Meet-that-can’t-be-beat on the Saturday 11/5 at the usual location at the Nites of Columbus Hall in Westboro, MA. All the right stuff, and all the greatest folks. Don’t miss it. And the catered lunch is only ten bucks!