started the relationship by proactively choosing him, and I suspect that she is still in control.
In the continued search to discover the magic behind the Wizard I visited Buddy and Gloria in Wisconsin. I arrived a bit early and got some stories from Gloria while sitting at their table, the surrounding room filled with custom-made cabinets bursting with trophies and half-models, the mementos of an amazing career. One of my favourite items was a vertical frame with three photos and an article pre- served behind glass. Photo one shows an A-Scow barrelling downwind, photo two has that A-Scow in a massive wipeout, lying on its side, and the third with the same A-Scow crossing the finish line – still sideways. The newspaper clipping shows the team with a proud Gloria holding the championship trophy. She was onboard and an integral part of the team for the bulk of the sailing.
Remember back when Gloria first met Buddy? Shortly thereafter Buddy was shipped off to Korea for nearly two years. Gloria continued as Buddy Senior’s regular crew.
No one is quite sure if he was more excited about keeping an excellent crew or gaining a daughter-in-law, but he let slip that Buddy was going to ask Gloria to marry him and they promptly went ring shopping. Buddy likes to say he was in Korea to ‘shoot pheasants’ but, consider- ing the Bronze Medal he received for meri- torious and outstanding performance of
duty while in combat, he did much more. Back in Wisconsin, after a few hours of chatting with Gloria, Buddy came bursting through the door all vim and vigour, apol- ogizing for being late and at the same time describing his afternoon of ice boating. He smelled of good crisp icy fresh air and moved at high speed, wearing a bright yellow jacket. I could barely keep up with the 89-year-old champion. Then the stories really began.
I kept circling back to ‘the question’: how did the magic begin?
Evidently when he was six or seven years old he was given a 10ft canvas- covered dinghy with cedar frames and a lateen rig as his summer transportation. A friend a couple of years older had a slightly bigger boat and, naturally, Buddy would chase him around the lake, inadvertently building a foundation that would last a lifetime. That winter he switched to an ice boat, one that he still owns and now lets his grandkids sail.
For those of you who aren’t aware, the Midwest has lakes. Big lakes called the Great Lakes, but also a huge number of smaller bodies of inland water. Lake Geneva near Zenda, Wisconsin – the home of Melges Boat Works – is one of those. There are quaint towns and rolling hills with thunderstorms in the summer and smooth, fast ice in the winter. For many years, before Midwesterners started head- ing south to race in winter, they would just walk out of the back door, get a running start in their ice boat and send it at 60mph.
Ice boating is not just something to do until the ice melts, it is part of learning and understanding what you can do with apparent wind. Also remember there are no ‘ripples on the water’ to call the puffs – instead, it is a combination of using all of your senses to anticipate breeze and super- quick reaction times.
Ice boating certainly influenced the designs of Melges Boat Works, from Scows to the Melges 20, 24 and 32. Buddy noted that it is funny that there are not that many ice boaters who are also soft water sailors. I would add that the ones who are are pretty darn brilliant. The Harken brothers who settled just down the road pop to mind.
Over the next day the stories continued, sometimes with props. At Melges Boat Works Buddy was showing me a few of their Skeeter ice boats that sail with wide 26ft wing masts (they look remarkably like the Sailrocket 2, holder of the outright on- the-water speed record).
Tucked in between was a vintage snow mobile. Buddy hopped on as he told me a story that went something like this: In 1966 he was the last person to swim in Lake Geneva and in 1967 he was the first. How did this happen? It turns out his friend Billy Mattison and Billy’s wife were riding along with Buddy at midnight on 31 December 1966 and they crashed through the ice, achieving both milestones with one splash. The machine was rescued and recently refurbished and, as Buddy announces with enthusiasm, ‘she runs great!’
HOW TO REBO
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BUSINESS & MARKETING
SEAHORSE 47
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