HEAVE-HO — Together from left, Ken Bolles, Ted Grumme, Bob Fanning, Rick Lemberg, Ben Herdrich and Andy Allen lift the mast of the "Ho Hum," a class A skeeter capable of high speeds when given the right conditions.

Syracuses iceboat club held an open house Saturday. The day carried a good breeze, leading many to note it would have been a good day to be out on the lake; the only thing missing from this perfect day was ice.

However, the lack of ice did not stop the group from setting up and displaying their iceboats, as well as some of their works in progress for the open house. All in all, eight classes of iceboats took center stage at the gathering from two-seater gambits to a classic stern steerer.

According to Bob Fanning, Syracuse, the group is largely recreational with many sailing during the summer and ice boating in the winter. Rich Lemberg, Ricky Lemberg and Andy Allen are the ones who compete and have placed in several ice boating events.

The group of approximately 12 individuals remains active during the off-months of both sailing and ice boating, said Ken Bolles. In the spring, the workshop is aimed to gearing up our sailboats. In November, we are setting up the iceboats and doing repairs. We will come in after work and work on the iceboats.

The workshop is currently filled with projects from creating new boats and planks, serving as shock absorbers for the iceboats, to all manners of repairs. Last year, the group created four iceboats from scratch. All group members have worked on the boats, building everything except some of the hardware and the skates coming from swap meets.

When boats need work, we make room for them in here and repair them, said Bolles. Those in the community also know we do boat repairs, so we will do their repairs, too. We do a lot of different boat repairs.
Both Bolles and Fanning also welcome any parts or iceboats those in the community might have and are willing to part with.

The open house brought in a large crowd with approximately 75 to 85 visitors present at one point during the day. Later in the evening, those who were around were given the chance to watch the group work on a plank brought in. Fanning remarked they also traded stories about being out on the lake during winter time.
No doubt they are hoping for plenty of new stories this year as well as an early icing. Fanning stated they will need at least 4 inches for most of the boats and 8 inches for the larger boats like Ho Hum, a class A skeeter. Once the ice reaches that level of thickness, the group will be out whenever the chance presents itself, with several noting one has to take advantage of the good days.

When the conditions are right, you need to go, said Fanning, who completed 350 miles last year according to his GPS device. You dont want to go when there is too much snow or heat, which softens the ices. You need more wind as the ice softens. In March, many of us will go out early in the morning before it warms up.

Last year, they were able to start the season around Dec. 17 and are hoping to be out before Christmas again this year, too.

FIRST OF ITS KIND - Ben Herdrich tries out his ice board, the first one to debut on Lake Wawasee. Up north, ice boards are already quite popular.

Hendrich also enjoys ice boating, noting, "The great thing about iceboats is you don't need to live on the lake. You can just load them on a truck and set them up on the ice."

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