North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club
ORGANIZED
DEC. 20th, 1880

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The NSIBYC was founded by Jim Weaver and seven fellow ice boaters on December 20, 1880 and is still sailing on the banks of the Navesink River, in Red Bank, New Jersey making our club one of the oldest ice boat clubs in the world. Our clubhouse is about 100 years old and has been moved twice before coming to rest at its present location around 1922. We are actually "the oldest club dedicated exclusively to ice boating continuously occupying its own clubhouse in the world." Our clubhouse walls abound with photographs, pennants and trophies dating back to the 1880's. We cordially welcome all guest ice boaters to our many functions and regattas.

With 155 Regular Members and numerous Honorary and Junior Members, sailing everything from the smallest skeeters to A Class stern steerers, there is never a lack of participation at club functions. Last season we had a total of three days of good sailing ice and an abundance of wind. Maybe not a lot compared to some of the Northern and Western venues, but we were glad to have it and made real good use of it.

Our club has produced more than its share of superior ice sailors. Henry Bossett is a three time DN World Champion; Mike O'Brien has also won the DN Worlds three times and Danny Clapp has won five of the last six National Class A Skeeter Championships.

In addition to club races for stern steerers, DN'S, Yankees and other skeeters, we annually hold the "John Darling Memorial Pennant" Regatta, open to all Class C and D stern steerers. We also host the National Sweepstakes Regatta for skeeters and stern steerers, conditions permitting.

Red Bank is "the hippest town in New Jersey" according to New Jersey Monthly (no New Jersey jokes, please) and we can assure all visiting hard water boaters a terrific good time whether racing or partying. Pay us a visit!

Our Iceline telephone number is (908) 747-5665, reachable from mid December to the end of February.

Members of the club sail and race virtually all classes of present day ice boats. Among these are the following:

STERN STEERERS

Class 1 and 2 Stern Steerers (Historical Designations)

Class 1 - 550 to 1000 sq. ft. sail area

Class 2 - 350 to 550 sq. ft. sail area

These boats are carry-overs from the turn of the century ice boat design theory which said that "BIGGER IS BETTER". Examples of these giant rare breeds are the Jack Frost and Cold Wave. These are Hudson River boats and have last appeared on our ice in 1978 during the second challenge for the Challenge Ice Yacht Cup of America.

Class A Stern Steerers ("A Boats")

These are the majestic behemoths which you may have seen on our river. They are the largest present class of boat and carry from 250-350 sq. ft. of sail. There are about 16 of these boats owned by club members and some, still sailing, are well over 100 years old. The boats are usually gaff-rigged or Marconi-rigged, although there are some from New York State that are lateen-rigged. A Boats were formerly designated as Third Class Ice Yachts.

Class B, C, and D Stern Steerers ("B, C, and D Boats")

Class B - 175 to 200 sq. ft sail area¹

Class C - 125 to 175 sq. ft. sail area

Class D - 75 to 125 sq. ft. sail area

These boats are essentially smaller versions of the giant A Boats. Their smaller size makes them considerably simpler to transport and set up on the ice. We have approximately 20 B, C, and D Boats in the club.

BOW STEERERS

Bow steerers, sometimes referred to as E Boats because of the maximum 75 sq. ft. sail area, are broken down into 3 generic classes by the International Skeeter Association (ISA) and are known as SKEETERS. Class restrictions are described as follows:

Class A Skeeters ("A Skeeters")

Generally, when an ice boater uses the term Skeeter, he is referring to the Class A Skeeter, which is the very long, thin, and graceful single seated type of boat which you may have seen on the Navesink River. The mast is raked severely toward the stern, and the sail is long and narrow, with a maximum area of 75 sq. ft. The A Skeeters in our club are identified by the letter N (for Navesink) on the sail, as are all other North Shrewsbury Skeeters. This class is so efficiently designed that they seem capable of sailing in any direction with virtually no wind whatsoever. We have a growing fleet of about 8 at the present time. The only restriction on A Skeeters is sail area.

Class B Skeeters ("B Skeeters")

Although the overwhelming majority of B Skeeters in the world are Yankees, other boats which meet the B Skeeter restrictions (side-by-side seating, 23 ft. maximum mast height, and a maximum of 75 sq. ft. of sail area) may be sailed as B Skeeters. We do not have an overall B skeeter fleet in our club. Ours is restricted to Yankees only, thereby making it a Yankee fleet. The Yankee is very similar to A Skeeters except the hull design seats 2 people side-by-side. We have a fleet of approximately 12 Yankees at present, and they can be readily identified by a circled letter Y in addition to the letter N on the sail.

Class C Skeeters ("C Skeeters")

C Skeeters are limited to a maximum 20 ft. mast height and 75 sq. ft. maximum sail area. At present we have a small fleet (4-5) of competitive C Skeeters in the club. Although Arrows, Nites, Zephyrs, Vikings, Blade Runners, etc. may qualify as C skeeters, they are not really competitive with the larger C Skeeters.

In addition to the Skeeters previously described, other NSIB&YC fleets are:

Mini B Skeeters

At the conclusion of our very successful 1993-1994 season, during which we had 45 days of ice with 30 days of sailable ice on the Navesink, a Mini B Skeeter fleet was proposed and approved by the club. This fleet gives skippers of small two-seater bow steerers the opportunity to race against other boats of similar small design. Restrictions are placed on mast height, sail area, overall length, runner plank length, and side-by-side seating. At present, we have a fleet of 8 boats including 3 Zephyrs, 2 two-seat DN's, 1 Gambit, and 2 boats of unnamed type.

Arrows

The Arrow is a one-design, commercially-built ice boat with a fiberglass hull, aluminum spars, and a cockpit which holds 2 people side-by-side. It can be identified by a large letter A with an arrow through it on the sail. There are approximately 25 boats in our Arrow fleet.

DN's

The DN is a result of a contest sponsored by the Detroit News (thus the name DN) back in 1937, and its popularity continues to expand each year. This boat can be built either "from scratch" in the home workshop or can be assembled from commercially available components.These are by far the most numerous and popular ice boats on the river because of their small size, simplicity, and ease of transport. There is no single component of the DN that one person cannot carry with relative ease from his car to the ice. Once on the ice, one person can assemble the boat with no assistance. These boats can be identified by the letters DN on the 60 sq. ft. sail. We have approximately xx in our DN fleet.

 

Thanks for visiting the NSIB&YC's first attempt at an Internet page.
Any comments can be sent to
Bill Comella at aa2mb@juno.com
or
Stan Grohowski at stang@cybernex.net