Home Of The Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Boat And Yacht Club
Howie Dietz
Thanks to George Neyssen, he has scoured OLD NYS Historic Newspapers and created a LRIBYC Summary document about the club, its genesis and founding fathers. He used the NYS web https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/
LRIB&YC Historical Artifacts
From: The County Review, January 26, 1923, page 8
Weather permitting, ice yacht races will be held here next Saturday between ice boats of the Lake
Ronkonkoma Iceboat, and Yacht Club and scooters owned by South Bay racers. The Ronkonkoma fleet
has been tuning up during the past week and the Iris, a famous Poughkeepsie racer, now owned by
Commodore W. B. Gubner; the Radio , owned by Vice-Commodore L. C. Heilman; Zero, Joseph Kirk,
treasurer; Bootlegger, Secretary Leo Cattanach, Dr. W. Lucas' Flapper and the fast scooter, Charlotte,
owned by George Cummins, are all ready for the starter's flag. The scooter owners from the Great South
Bay are expected to enter as many entries. All the ice boats except the Iris were built from plans drawn
by George Buchout and assembled here after the shipment arrived by freight. The ideal weather and
thick ice, so free from slush, afforded the skippers of Long Island's first ice bout club opportunity to
assemble their boats and tune them up for the first races. Lake Ronkonkoma is ideally located for ice
racing as the fresh water of the lake freezes to a great depth and lasts much longer than the salt water
of the ever changing Great South Bay where scooter racing has almost become a thing of the past, due
to climatic and tidal changes along the coast.
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From: The Suffolk County News, January 26, 1923, Page 1
Great Sport at Ronkonkoma.
Several members of the Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Boat and Yacht Club, were out Saturday tuning up their
ice boat flyers in preparation for the coming races. An approximate two and one-half mile course was
measured. The Radio and Isis, both 20-footers and owned respectively by Vice Commodore L. C.
Heilman and Commodore W.B. Gubner, are expected to uphold the banner of the club this weekend.
The boats showed their unusual ice burning speed in Saturday’s prevailing north-westerly gales. The
wind, together with excellent ice, afforded Ideal conditions for tuning and testing. The Zero and Flapper
boats owned by club members will make their try out shortly. The News Is Informed this afternoon that
if weather and ice conditions are favorable Iceboat races will be hold tomorrow, Saturday afternoon at 2
P. M. The skating on the Lake In reported to be excellent. Blue & White buses are making regular trips
between Sayville and Ronkonkoma.
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From: The Patchogue Advance, 31 January 1936, Page 5
Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Boating Is Drawing Many Sportsmen Now
The continued cold weather has made plenty of sport on the ice at Luke Ronkonkoma. Tuesday no less
than 12 scooters, owned by many members of the South Buy Scooter club and half a dozen iceboats of
the Lake Ronkonkoma Iceboat club were being tuned up preparatory to the first scooter und iceboat
races on the lake this season. Tomorrow the annual midwinter tilt between iceboats and scooters will
take place. In view of the fact that one of the iceboats, the "Flight," formerly owned and sailed by
President Roosevelt, will be seen in action, together with the fastest scooters of the Great South bay,
including a new one, No. 88, the "Big Scoot," designed, built and recently outfitted by William Harless of
Patchogue, together with the cream of the scooter fleet, a record number of spectators are expected to
witness tomorrow's and Sunday's races.
The "Flight" was purchased by Commodore Walter Gubner of Lake Ronkonkoma at Hyde Park, while
Roosevelt was governor. Gubner later sold it to its present owner, Seth Thayer of Port Washington, who
has it stored in H. L. Terry's pavilion at the lake awaiting the starting signal of the races. Other iceboats
in readiness for sailing are owned by Joseph Kirk, Gubner, Max Greis, Louis Heilman and Jack Miles of
the lake and Jack Ahrens, Thayer, Howard Curry and Robert Frazier of Port Washington.
The scooters on hand and being tuned up for the forthcoming ice frays include: No. 88, Big Scoot,
William Harless; No. 30, Little Scoot, William Harless; No. 1, Jack Basen, "Ike" Ruland; No. 35, Ida A III,
Colson brothers; No. 14, Setting Hen, "Bob" Roe; No. 7, Eloid, Kellogg Dominy; No, 30, Miss Bay Shore,
Charles Reeves; No. 36, Ida II, "Dutch" Ackerly; No. 6, WuzzCliff, McGinnies & Cox; No. 32, Yankee, Frank
Weeks; No. 9, "Wildcat, Howard Norton; No. 71, Evelyn, Tonis Locker; No. 8, Margy II, Gilbert Clark.
Tuesday afternoon while Commodore Gubner was sailing in one of his two iceboats, a 27-footer, that he
had re-rigged in the new fashion of front steerer and while he was perched about six feet off the ice and
his 12-foot runner was partly off the ice, the runner snapped, throwing him into the air and he landed
on the ice about 20 feet away. His right cheekbone was cut so deep that ho had to be assisted to the
home of Dr. Guy McLean who took two stitches in the wound. Shortly afterwards "Zeke" Gerard of
Patchogue, was hurled from a speeding' scooter while it was sailing on one runner and tilted at a sharp
angle and had the skin scraped off his nose. There were plenty of upsets but aside from Gubner’s
iceboat no other craft was damaged.
Ever since the organization of the iceboat club it has held its headquarters in a pavilion-like building on
the Gubner property dose to the water's edge. It is comfortably furnished and heated and at the
disposal of the visiting scooter fans from the South Shore. In addition to the Lake Ronkonkoma and Port
Washington iceboat fans, "ships" from western Long Island clubs are expected to take part in the
weekend races.
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From: The Mid-Island Mail, March 4, 1936, Pages 1 & 3
Start of Scooter Race on Lake Ronkonkoma
It is not the fault of Walter A "Bunny " Gubner, Commodore of the Lake Ronkonkoma- Ice Boat club that
the, frozen surfaces of the lake are not jammed with winter sports fans. On the other hand, due to
Gubner's influence with metropolitan newspapermen and news reel companies, the Lake was
advertised in movie, theatres throughout the nation last week. 'And, a la A Ripley, ''movie' s of ice boat
and scooter races taken at the lake three weeks ago Saturday have been shown on the screens of
Florida and mid-west theatre' s but to date not a single Long Island -theatre. However, this is not
surprising, explained Gubner and Tax Receiver William Colson of Islip. They showed the Inquiring
Reporter clippings from the Bradenton (Fla.) Times, reporting the races at the Lake and others at
Bellport, illustrated by "cuts", similar to those used in this story, from the Universal News Reel movies.
According to the writers of the letters that accompanied the clippings, the movies taken at the frozen
Long Island lake, and its snow covered steep shores were doubly enjoyed by the Long Islanders
“summering” in Florida. '" Not only did they enjoy witnessing the races but took delight in explaining
what an iceboat and a Great South bay scooter are to the “Inlanders” from the mid-west and south who
never saw such craft before. Gubner, who invited the news reelers to the lake as his guests, obtained
eight different pictures from the news reels, two of which accompany this article. The set will be framed
and placed on display in Jack Yerk's hotel for benefit of summer visitors to the lake. "Perhaps we will
induce some of those bathing beauties to come out and see us some time next winter," "Bunny"
remarked. The picture on the front page shows the start of the scooter race with No. 8, the Margie II,
and Gilbert Clark of Bayport, its owner, giving it a push to get it going. The scooter in the background is
the Ida A., owned and being pushed by William Colson. The picture at right shows Gubner at the helm of
his 28-foot ice boat; Nansen, running at a speed of 45 miles an hour for the benefit of the man cranking
the movie camera. That anxious look on "Bunny's" features is due to the unexpected presence on tlie ice
of hundreds of spectators, including many children, during- the "stunt" sailing the ice boat skippers
performed before the camera. Lake Ronkonkoma can boast of the first ice boat club in the county.
Gubner, who was born on the west shore of the lake where he conducts a nursery and resides in a
beautiful home overlooking the lake, is an expert sailor. In the early 20's he took a fancy to ice boats,
read up on them and became well acquainted with such celebrities in the ice boat game as George
Buckout of Poughkeepsie , internationally known ice boat builder, H. Percy Ashley, yachting magazine
writer and authority on ice boating and Charles Byrd of the Red Bank, N. J. ice boat fleet. In 1922 he
purchased from Buckout the Isis, a 24-foot Hudson River type ice boat; It was the first to sail over frozen
Lake Ronkonkoma. It caught the fancy of the following Ronkonkomians who copied the Isis lines and
built duplicates: Joseph Kirk 2, Louis Heilmann 2, Sumner Newton 2, L. Cattanach and Dr. William Lucas,
one each. In 1923 Gubner formed the club. Every winter thereafter when the lake froze over there was
plenty doing. Three mild winters jn succession seemed to dampen the spirits of some of the ice boat
owners for" they moved their boats to Port Washington. However, there are eight boats on the lake
every day the ice is strong enough. The biggest one in commission is the Nansen. Gubner is part owner
with Heilmann in a large boat, the Cold Wave. This "baby" is 38 ft., carries a spread of 500 square feet of
Egyptian cotton sails (four sets) and its frame and spars are hollow throughout except for a solid runner
plank. It was designed and built by William Gardner, famous yacht designer. It cost $1,800 to reconstruct
her. Ice boating took such a hold after the organization of the club the headquarters of which is a
summer house located on the Gubner estate close to the water's edge, that Gubner purchased three
additional Hudson River ice boats. They were the Nansen, the Neva, 28 feet, which he sold to Ray
Duffield and who in turn sold it to George Kenneth and the Noel, 27 feet, which he sold to Thomas Fish,
Jr. The Noel is now owned and sailed by Frank Hugelmeyer. Gubner once owned The Flight, which he -
purchased from President Roosevelt when the latter was Governor of New York. The Flight was found to
be too big for sailing on the lake so "Bunny" sold it to Sid Thayer who sails it out of Port Washington.
Charter members of the club besides Gubner, Kirk, Heilmann , Thayer and Ray Duffield , included the
Newton brothers, Jack Millan , Clarence Duffield, J. Gordon , Howard Curry, Robert W. Frazior, Arthur G.
Archibald and Arthur Turner. The latter, in his prime, was a great booster of the club and the lake and
one winter spent several hundred dollars for cups awarded to winners of ice boat and scooter races.
Turner owned an ice boat, Miss Long Island, that he purchased of Gubner. Every winter the South Bay
Scooter club is the guest of the Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Boat club until the bay freezes over. The scooter
owners make their headquarters in the Gubner summer house where screens have been replaced with
windows and a wood-burning stove erected to make it comfortable between races. Because of the size
of the lake, and the space required by the scooters to tack around a course, it is impossible for more
than six to race at one time. Therefore, as soon as the bay freezes, the scooter skippers load their craft
aboard trailers and cart them back to the south shore, their home ports. While they are at the lake it is
the only spot on Long Island, if not the country, where scooters and ice boats may be soon sailing at one
and the same time. "Here's hoping," declared a member of the Lake Ronkonkoma Business Men's
association at a luncheon meeting held at Yerk's yesterday, "that 'Bunny ' will be able to get hold of
those movies and have them run off in a Suffolk county theatre." So say we.
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Bud Topping
Club History: HAPPY 100th Anniversary LRIBYC in 2023!!! Look for announcements from Commodore Scott Valentine
The Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Boat and Yacht Club, an honorable institution, was founded in 1923. The founders were "Bunny" Gubner, Tom Fish, Joe Kirk, Sumner Newton, J. Eberhardt, Anton Pedisich, Max Greis and Louis C. Heilman (uncle of Charlie Kreeb). Early club records show that Tony Morning was the fleet surgeon. Morning was a male nurse employed by Dr. Lucas. The club became inactive in the thirties. In 1963 surviving members were approached by Reuben Snodgrass and asked to convene a meeting at the Bavarian Inn. At that meeting Reub Snodgrass, Jack Young, Frank Kreutzer and Henri St. Denis were accepted as members and subsequently revitalized the club. Since that time the LRIBYC has steadily grown in membership and is one of the largest ice boat clubs in the nation.
The iceboats used in the early days were almost exclusively stern steerers, gaff or marconi rigged. One such yacht, "Cold Wave," built in 1906, was brought to Ronkonkoma by Lou Heilman. It is a classic Hudson River ice yacht, 40 feet in length, with two cockpits and can carries 450 square feet of Egyptian cotton sails. Reuben Snodgrass purchased the boat from Charlie Kreeb, restored it and owned the yacht for a great while. It has won many a stern steerer championship. In the early 1990's Reuben's boat shed was hit by lightning and the sails burned as well as some of the spars, cockpits and main beam. The boat was handsomely restored by Reuben and by club members David and Brian Weeks of Frank M. Weeks Yacht Yard in Patchogue. Upon Reuben's death, club member and long time friend of Reuben's, Fred Krause purchased "Cold Wave." Another stern steerer, "Zero" dates back to the early club days and was sailed by the late George Neyssen. The late Jon Hix was the proud owner of two other stern steerers, "Phantom" and "Northwest." Joe Cangeleri sails a marconi stern steerer dating to the early club days as well. Zeb Wilson, Bob Valentine, Harry Newman, Tom Halsey, Pete Truesdell and Lucinda Hurley complete the list of stern steerer owners.
Members in the club come from all over the island and number approximately sixty active sailors. Honorary members are Frank Marino, Zeb Wilson Reverend Ed Wisbauer (former fleet chaplain), Jack Young, Erica Baumgartner, Ray Ingersoll, Vespa Crosby, Howie Dietz, Charlotte Hix, Brian, Kevin, and Georgia Weeks, Larry Veprovsky JR and Jan Crucet.
One family has produced three generations to serve as Commodore starting with original member Max Greis, followed by his son Frederick Greis Sr., followed by his son Frederick Greis Jr., who currently serves as Rear Commodore or “Keeper of the Club. Amongst several second generation members actively involved are Warren Darress Jr who won the Eastern DN Championship, his father Warren Sr. being one of the clubs most successful and innovative Skeeter class designer racers, and George Neyssen, past winner of the Long Island Championship whose father George restored, sailed, and raced Zero. Dave Weeks, and sons Brian Weeks and Kevin Weeks from Weeks Boat Yard who host our LRIBYC meetings for 25+ years
The club boasts of two national champions in the DN class. Jack Young of West Islip won the DN National Championships in 1961. In 1962 the feat was repeated by Reuben Snodgrass. Ice boats sailed by club members include DN's, stern steerers, Arrows, Scooters, Yankees, J-14's, skeeters, skimmers and one-of-a-kinds. A club swap meet is held early December each year. Monthly meetings are held at 7:00 pm in the months of January-March each season and an annual dinner is held each year in April to award trophies and induct officers. Visitors are welcome to attend.
The club sponsors numerous permanent trophies. The club sponsors a Long Island DN, J-14 and open skeeter class championship event each year. The Long Island DN trophy is dedicated to "Rock" Hildreth, and Brian Weeks. A "B" fleet trophy is awarded to the winner of the Silver Fleet champion of this event. The skeeter championship award is named in Warren Darress's honor. The club has a speed trophy which used to be measured by means of a timing gate with flags and eventually radar. The speed trophy is awarded in any season where a challenge has been made and is now measured by GPS. Another unique trophy is the "diver's trophy" which is awarded each year to the skipper making the most spectacular break through of the ice. Precedent for the diver's trophy was set by the late Arthur Turner who in the 1920's sailed his stern steerer "Miss Long Island" into the water for the benefit of FOX movietones cameras. Along with this award goes the "Zeb WIlson Rescue Award" for the person or person who make the most heroic or dramatic rescue of the year. The trophy was given to Zeb's father after he helped rescue a grateful crew from a shipwreck in the early 1920's. The David M. Weeks memorial trophy is awarded to the top club skipper at the annual DN North American Championships. Ice safety is very important to the club membership and usually one of the monthly meetings is dedicated to this topic. The late Warren Darress was famous for his emphasis on ice safety. Annually the club gives out Point Trophies in the various classes as well. An agreed upon point scoring system was settled upon in the late 1990's.
Local ice sailing areas used by the club are Lake Ronkonkoma, the Great South Bay, Mecox Bay and Hallock's Bay off of Orient.
Bob Reeves explaining
Right of Way Rules