Discovering The Mature Lifestyle Make the Great Outdoors great again Column inside
The Great Outdoors
July 20 & 21, 2017
July 2017
Sailing has become obsession, avocation, family sport BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Jack Str othman can tell y ou e xactly w hen he got hook ed on sailing. He w as 11 y ears old, growing up on the north end of Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. “My mom told me and a neighbor w e could watch the [sailboa t] r aces on Lak e Calhoun, ” Strothman said. “Someone invited m y friend to ride on a boa t. I got a ride the ne xt da y, and I was hooked.” The next step, he said, was to con vince his brother and tw o sisters to pool their allo wances until they sa ved enough money to buy a used boat the ne xt y ear. “Our par ents didn’t sail,” he said. “This was a kids’ boat.” “We quickl y got into trying r acing,” said Strothman, a graduate of Yale Uni versity and the University Minnesota Law School. “We had no instruction. We were just kids having fun. “Sailing is a lifelong sport tha t is enjo yable from pleasur e sailing or cruising to competiti ve racing,” Str othman said. “Anyone starting out will learn the basics quickl y and most will be hook ed for life. “In competitive sailing there ar e al ways challenges to win r aces and different ones [challenges] each r ace due to the level of competition and wind conditions.” By the time he w as 16, he’d had lessons , and Strothman e ventually taught sailing on Lak e
(only the winning boa t goes in this sport) and closer y et in 1976 (the Olympics ar e held onl y every four years) and stymied in 1980 b y the US Olympic boycott.” When he’s not competing, Str othman said, he and his wife and two other couples have chartered 51-foot boa ts in e xotic places, such as T onga, Tahiti and Turkey. “We’ve gone to the Caribbean umpteen times with our kids,” he said. Now the Str othmans have se ven gr andchildren, and five of them have started racing, too. He spends time teaching the grandkids, as well as helping to run y outh events, Strothman said.
Sailing for health and fitness
The Strothman family of sailors includes sons David and Peter (from left, in back) and wife Barbara and Jack, in front. (Submitted photo)
Calhoun f or se ven y ears while he w as in college and then la w school a t the Uni versity of Minnesota. Strothman, a r esident of Deepha ven, has been a member of the Minnetonka Y acht Club since 1965. He is an a ttorney with Lindquist & Vennum. Since he began sailing, Strothman has sailed in a C-scow 20-f oot sailboa t, E-scow for 10 y ears, and now a 38-foot A-scow for the last eight years. “I’ve had a lot of fun,” he said. “My tw o sons got into sailing, too . They w on U .S. y outh championships, and
sailed on college teams . Now they’re both national champions.” Son David was captain of his college sailing team and won national championships in thr ee different major sailing classes . Son Peter was a two-time All-American at Harvard and also won three different major national championships. “My sons’ accomplishments pale in comparison [to mine], ” Strothman said. Peter, a Harv ard gr aduate, is a partner in a private equity firm in Chicago. David, a gr aduate of Connecticut College , is an orthopedic spine sur geon in the Twin Cities.
Strothman and his wife, Barb , w ho has sailed and cr ewed with him, o wn a condo on Sanibel Island, Florida, where they spend half the year. “We spend summer months sailing on Lake Minnetonka and traveling to sailing r egattas,” Strothman said. “It’s an obsession, a great avocation, a famil y sport,” Strothman said. “We’ve traveled all over the country ,” Str othman said. “I’ ve spent a lot of time in Eur ope and England, and a t v arious venues in Canada and various world championships. Tha t’s w here the competitions were.”
This y ear, the 2017 Inland Championship Regatta is in A ugust a t the Lak e Gene va Y acht Club in W isconsin, and the 14th ann ual A Sco w National Championship was J une 23-25 a t the Minnetonka Yacht Club, Strothman said. “Each r egatta win has been memorable,” Strothman said. “We have been fortunate. Most memorable to me , however, have been the national regatta victories of my sons, David and Peter.” “Our first Olympic effort was in 1972 and the last in 1980,” he said. “We were close to winning the Olympic trials in 1972
According to Health Fitness R evolution’s website, sailing can be a great acti vity f or health and fitness. “Not only are you controlling a lar ge v essel, but you’re also adjusting constantly to Mother Nature’s elements, which can be a strong force that challenges y our mental and physical fitness,” the website said. It lists the top 10 health benefits of sailing as f ollows: •Muscle strength and endurance: Pulling and hoisting of sails to maneuver a boat or a yacht, adds to y our m uscle strength f or y our shoulders and back. •Cardiovascular fitness
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