International Skeeter Association Ice Regatta Takes Over Lake Monona This Weekend

Published: Thursday, February 17, 2022 12:00 pm

The 2022 International Skeeter Association (ISA) and Renegade Regatta Championships are happening this weekend, February 18-20th, 2022, on Lake Monona, new Madison, WI. The race was rescheduled from its original dates of January 17-9th, 2022.

This three-day regatta is for A, B, and C class Skeeters, Nites, and Renegades. The Regatta is open to ISA or Renegade Class members, and online registration is available on the iceboat website. Registration ends at 7 AM on Friday, February 18th, and is mandatory to participate in the event.

The first ISA regatta was sailed in 1940 after extensive organizing in the late 1930s. Skeeters, single sail ice boats measuring 16 feet or more in length, were developed on Geneva Lake, a good-sized lake about an hour south of Lake Monona in Wisconsin. Skeeters are piloted by a single skipper, and are steered from the front of the boat—unlike original iceboats, which are manned by two or more, and steered from the rear.

The ISA Regatta is considered the "Formula One" of ice yachting, and several world championship titles have been awarded to local Madison skippers. The ice boating world was rocked in 1989 when New Jersey's Dan Clapp won with his first front-seater and then continued to dominate the ISA regatta throughout the 1990s.

Though skeeters are just one of the types of iceboats allowed to participate in the regatta, powerful skeeters are considered the fastest boats on the ice, though they are challenging.