Oh, Baby, It’s Cold Outside

by Daniel Hearn, Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Commodore
Time to bundle up and sit by the fire? Not a chance… it’s iceboating season! Wisconsin Public Television wanted to know what this crazy sport was all about so they reached out to an authority on the subject, Deb Whitehorse, who holds more offices in the ice sailing community than anyone.

She is the longtime Secretary of the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club based in Madison, Wisconsin and a member of the club’s prestigious Honor Roll. The club is likely the most active in the world, with adrenaline junkies racing in a number of classes on Madison’s chain of lakes whenever conditions allow. Whitehorse is also the Secretary and Treasurer of the International DN Ice Yacht Racing Association, which is the largest ice sailing class in the world.

Whitehorse has traveled to cold places around the globe to help manage races in the sport that has been in her DNA since birth. Her father and husband were both legendary ice sailors, and every once in a while, she drops her scoring pad and jumps in a boat for some hot laps.

She is the webmaster of the most trafficked website on the internet, creates and manages multiple ice sailing class websites, and receives frequent inquiries for comments related to the sport. If it’s anything ice sailing, Deb Whitehorse is “in the know.”