Mid-Summer 2011
Picnic Perfect: Fun food and drink ideas
Wakeboarding
Takes Off
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Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011
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Contributors this issue: Richard Crawford, Kristin Holtz, Daniel Huss, Sarah Tieck Advertising Sales: 952-345-6477 Dockside is published quarterly by Southwest Newspapers. For advertising information, call 952-345-6477. For general comments and questions, send e-mail to agentile@swpub.com or call 952-345-6676.
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We love our lakes in Minnesota, in every season. Dockside Magazine covers lake life all year round. Publishing four times a year, the magazine invites readers to enjoy an engaging mix of features covering lifestyle-related stories and recreational-oriented topics, capturing the passion we have for playing and living on our gorgeous Minnesota lakes. We focus our attention on Lake Minnetonka, Prior Lake, and all of the scenic lakes in our southwest metro region. Welcome to life on the lake. To advertise, contact Jennifer Sorenson, 952-345-6477, jsorenson@swpub.com.
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departments
features
Marina
14 Boat Finds Discovering those diamonds in the rough.
Lake Lifestyles
8
Making a Splash Hanging out with the Shakopee-Prior Lake Shockwaves.
Dockside Edibles
6 Recreation
Picnic Perfect Noshing on the deck or the dock.
ON THE COVER Wakeboarding? Eden Prairie’s Kevin Brooke has it down, upside down, on Lake Riley. Photo by Daniel Huss.
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Wet, Wild, Wakeboarding Finding a sport that’s leaving water skiing in its wake.
All contents © 2011, Southwest Newspapers
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Editor’s Note A mix of contributors
This issue of Dockside features a mix of writers. Sarah Tieck, who wrote our Dockside Edibles story on cool food ideas for picnics, is just one of several talented freelance writers who contribute to the magazine. She regularly writes for Dockside and her work has appeared in a number of other magazines, such as Minnesota Monthly. Additionally, because Dockside is a part of Southwest Newspapers, Inc., we also call on the creativity of writers, reporters, and editors who work for our seven community newspapers.
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Dan Huss wrote the feature in this issue on the wet and wild sport of wakeboarding (those are his photos, too). Huss has worked for the Eden Prairie News for nearly 15 years. He’s an award-winning sports writer and editor and also has received the Eden Prairie High School Distinguished Service Award, which is presented by the school’s coaches. Kristin Holtz wrote the story on the Shockwaves and shot the photos. She is a staff writer for the Shakopee Valley News. In addition to producing an impressive variety of news and feature stories for that paper’s print and online editions, she also works as an assistant editor for our company’s magazines Dockside and Savvy.mn. Richard Crawford regularly produces the boat-related pieces for our magazine’s Marina department, including the story in this issue. Crawford, who lives in Deephaven, has worked for more than 25 years in the newspaper business. He is the publisher and editor of the Chanhassen Villager and publisher of the Chaska Herald. As always, we welcome your ideas and thoughts about this magazine. Contact me at agentile@swpub.com.
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Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011
Hot trends, cool ideas for summer parties. Eating seasonably and local is a trend that never goes out of style. But that’s not why blogger Kathy Lewinski and her husband explore the farmers’ market in the summer months. They are there in search of food inspiration. “We walk around and see what is available then create our week’s menu based on what looks good,” she says. “Talking to the farmers about what they are growing is a great place to get ideas too.” Get Out of the Kitchen: There’s nothing like the scent of a grill on a summer night. “In the summer for us it’s all about the grill and the smoker,” Lewinski says. “We love to throw a pork butt or some ribs on the smoker in the morning and have a bunch of people over to eat it in the evening.” You don’t have to cook anything in your house, says Tessa Leung, owner of the award-winning Söntés restaurant in Rochester. She makes use of the grill and fresh herbs from the garden by creating compound butters and then using them to panfry fresh-caught fish or as a steak topper.
It never hurts to have a favorite food that friends and family can anticipate. Leung’s friends devour the “Magic Onion” — a cross between French onion soup and fried onions, while Lewinski likes her dad’s Memphis ribs. “I find the real crowd pleasers to be classics with a twist, like my Iowa Burgers and Grilled Strawberry Chicken, with plenty of freshly shucked corn-on-the-cob and cold watermelon on the side,” says Kristin Porter, blogger behind the popular Iowa Girl Eats. Food Adventures: Fusion foods and global flavors are always popular. “I adore recreating meals that I’ve eaten while traveling, like Homemade Pasta allo Scoglio inspired from a trip to Southern Italy, or spicy Shrimp and Sweet Corn Maque Choux that I thought about for days after a trip to New Orleans,” Porter says. Food inspiration is everywhere for Lewinski, too. “I like to recreate or reinvent dishes from restaurants where we’ve eaten,”
she says. “Food blogs are also a great resource, especially those from people in an area similar to yours as they are often cooking what is in season for you.” Cocktail Hour: Summer drinks are bright and savory, making use of what’s fresh and in season, Leung says. “Fruit and herbs are huge in drinks right now.” Slimmed-down drinks are hot. Porter’s summertime staple is her Skinny Mojito. “A sprinkle of sugar is muddled with fresh mint leaves and a fresh lime wedge, before ice, light rum, and diet lemon-lime soda join the party,” she says. More restaurateurs are offering wine dinners — Lewinski puts an at-home twist on it by pairing beers with food in summer. And, she’s been serving beer from Harriet Brewing when entertaining. “For the summer it is hard to beat a cold beer,” Lewinski says.
BLOG RECIPES Pasta allo Scoglio: http://iowagirleats.
com/2010/09/26/how-to-make-homemade-pasta-cook-fresh-seafood/ Iowa Burger: http://iowagirleats. com/2011/04/23/the-iowa-burger/ Grilled Strawberry Chicken: http://iowagirleats.com/2011/04/06/easy-grilledchicken-dinner-how-to-not-stop-mid-run/ Skinny Mojito: http://iowagirleats. com/2010/07/04/just-relax-and-take-itslow/ Dad’s Memphis Ribs: http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/2008/06/dads-memphis-ribs.html
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Lake Lifestyles
Making a
Splash! Every summer, the Shakopee-Prior Lake Shockwaves perform an impressive array of crowd-pleasing tricks and acts on the water. Story and Photos By Kristin Holtz 8
Dockside â—† Mid-Summer 2011
Standing atop a six-person pyramid while being pulled across a lake at 18 miles an hour isn’t exactly for the faint of heart. But it sure makes spectacular entertainment. The human water-skiing pyramid is just one of a large number of stunning tricks and acts performed every summer by the Shakopee-Prior Lake Shockwaves. The show team has been dazzling audiences with towering pyramids, highflying jumps, and uncommon barefoot water skiing for more than 50 years. With about 50 performers, the group is the largest and most visible facet of the ShakopeePrior Lake Water Ski Association, performing its live-action show across Minnesota and the Midwest each summer.
Behind the scenes Making those daredevil tricks look effortless requires months of work. Show director Tyler Pickney of St. Paul began designing this year’s show, “Prime Time Ski V,” back in January. It features acts inspired by television shows such as “Laverne and Shirley,” “Baywatch” and ESPN. A new trick, the one-act show, will include a pyramid, barefooter, and jumper all at once. The oldest water ski association in the state is also bringing back the barefoot pyramid. By April, skiers begin dry-land practice and are on the water May 1. They meet two evenings a week at the private Quarry Lake in Shakopee.
pyramid, dock starts, and synchronization. They also learn how to “bail” safely and wrap knotfree ropes. Show team members must be versatile and team players, says Surkamp, who skied 20 years with the Shockwaves.
To pull those skiers on a lake or river, the club’s custom boats use twin 225-horsepower engines. “You need the power to pull this amount of people off the dock,” explains boat driver Nat Svela, who began skiing with the club at age 6. Svela, of Prior Lake, followed the footsteps of his dad, Dean, who drove towboat for 20 years. Having skied the acts, Svela knows the show patterns. The secret to multi-skier dock starts is the timing, he says. “It’s a feel, and you sure get it after driving for awhile.”
Family skiing: Mom Melissa helps with sound and Ella, 4, attends every show. “What better way to spend your summer than being out at the water with your family,” Tim says.
Residence: Shakopee
Family affair For many club members, Shockwaves is a family affair.
Paul and Doreen and their kids – Maggie, 18; PJ, 20; Donny, 22 – all perform.
Patrick Fitzgibbons, 19, was just a toddler when his parents joined the club. “We were all pretty much born into it,” he says about his siblings.
Age: 11
How she started: Her grandparents live on a lake. Shockwaves performer: 4 years Family involvement: Mom, Denise, is a former show director; sister, Shelby, 8, also skis. Favorite act: Doubles because it’s the most challenging. “It’s just you and another guy and you don’t have anybody else,” she says. Erik Gorsuch Age: 23 Residence: Minneapolis
Show team members say what they love most are the friendships formed over the years.
Shockwaves performer: 8 years
Svela, the boat driver, compared it to being part of a big family.
Family involvement: Previously, dad managed the dock, mom helped with costumes and sister skied.
The Shakopee-Prior Lake Shockwaves is made up of skiers from age 8 to mid-40s.
Yet, beyond the family togetherness and the forging of friendships, in the end, the skiers are performers who love the adrenaline of show time.
Skiers perform the inverted pyramid, clockwise from top left, Denise Hennen of Shakopee, Jenny Bushek of Plymouth, Sara Bahnsen of St. Paul, Charlie Woodson of Minnetonka and Mike Aretz of New Hope.
“It’s really cool when you build that big pyramid and you’re skiing by and the crowd’s cheering,” Tim Fitzgibbons says.
Facing page:
Acts: The guys perform barefoot, pyramids, trick skiing, and jumping. Molly, the girls’ pyramid.
Without a permanent show location – future plans are to make Quarry Lake a public park – boats, the ski jump, floating dock, and equipment must be transported and set up for each show.
“It’s a great way for a family to spend a summer,” Paul McGinty says.
During practice, skiers rehearse climbing the
Residence: Shakopee
Dani Hennen
Performers
Eleven years later, she still only wears skis once, for the ballet line.
Tim, 44; Patrick, 19; Ryan, 16; and Molly, 11
The club has about 50 pairs of water skis of different lengths and purposes, as well as dozens of ropes, helmets, costumes, and lifejackets.
Take the McGinty family of Lakeville, which has been part of the team for seven years.
Sara Bahnsen, 16, had never skied when she joined the club. Like many girls, she started as a climber on the shoulders of a male skier clambering to the top of a pyramid.
Fitzgibbons family
Equipment
“When you start practice, it all feels disjointed and you wonder how it’s going to come together,” says Michelle Surkamp, a SPLWSA board member and former show director. “Somehow when you have that first show it all works.”
Knowing how to water ski is not a Shockwaves’ requisite.
Profiles
Favorite act: Barefoot skiing. When he started at age 8, he was the top of the barefoot pyramid. “Now I base it. It’s a cool progression,” he says.
Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011
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Beyond the show team Founded in 1957 by Jim Petersen, the 180-plus-member ShakopeePrior Lake Water Ski Association is more than a show team. Club members compete in state, regional, and national tournaments in three traditional disciplines of slalom, jump, and trick skiing. The club also offers general public ski and wakeboard lessons, as well as clinics and open ski nights. They have a junior development team for ages 8 to 16. Learn more at splwsa.org.
Watch the Shockwaves 7 p.m. July 20 – Plymouth Parker’s Lake 6 p.m. July 23 and 1 p.m. July 24 – Hoyt Lakes, Minn. 1 p.m. Aug. 7 – Prior Lake TBA Aug. 10 – Plymouth Parker’s Lake
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Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011
Recreation
A sport that’s leaving water skiing in its wake
Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011 11 Story and Photos By Daniel Huss
resembles something in between a water ski and a kneeboard. The rider stands on the board with the feet pointing off to the side of the board. Riders like wakeboarding because wakeboards allow lift off the wake, making a multitude of tricks in the air possible. In short, wakeboarding is like slalom skiing sideways on a short, but wide slalom ski.
Boats change, too Wakeboarding’s popularity has exploded. And, as Mueller explains, it has even influenced the type of boat and accessories that people are buying these days.
Andrew Larson, a soon-to-be Eden Prairie High School senior, spent four years learning how to perform a wakeboard flip (invert). Now, he makes it look like child’s play. Lake Riley is his playground.
In his younger days, Rob Mueller had been a kneeboarder, and a pretty good one, too, before setting foot (feet?) on a wakeboard. “I’ve never been on a kneeboard since,” says Mueller, a salesman for the Mueller family-owned Minnesota Inboard Water Sports inboard dealer in Excelsior. With a nod to the Y generation and its preference for wilder and more extreme forms of recreation, the 24-year-old wakeboarder explains the sports popularity—both on area lakes and nationally—by lauding its boundless creative side. “It’s pretty tough to hit the limit,” he says, “so there’s always room for progression. Besides, kids don’t like to do the same things their parents did.” Is he taking a shot at waterskiing? “There’s still a following,” he says of the crowd that prefers waterskiing to wakeboarding. Like Mueller, Andrew Larson, a soon-to-be Eden Prairie High School senior, gets it. “It was a blast when I first started wakeboarding,” he says, “and it’s a blast today. It’s fun no matter what.” He’s just saying that because he can do fancy tricks like raleys, inverts, grabs, and who knows what else, right? “It took four years before I could do my first flip,” Larson explains. He says he’s been wakeboarding for eight years. “I learned to slalom ski last summer. I guess I wanted to see if I could do it… Wakeboarding is more fun.” So, just what exactly is wakeboarding? According to the Boat-Towed Sports Glossary, wakeboarding is a form of waterskiing where both feet are attached to a board that
12
Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011
“Used to be that, when people bought boats, they’d say, ‘oh, I don’t want one with a tower. Now, they have to, if just for resale. This year, we sold five boats without towers, 80 with towers.” The towers are needed for water sports like wakeboarding. The same goes, Mueller says, for boats with ballast systems.
Ballast? Ballast, in terms of water sports, is the act of adding weight to a boat in order to create a bigger wake. A bigger wake, in turn, means bigger air for wakeboarders and bigger air means more time and opportunity to do tricks. Although there are all kinds of ways to add weight, the Fat Sac brand is considered the “water bladder” standard. With the aid of a pump, you can fill and empty 400-500 pounds of water within minutes. A new wakeboard boat can cost upwards of $80,000, Mueller says. On occasion, Larson, the high schooler, gets to ride behind one of these tricked-out boats. Most of the time, however; he rides behind an older boat.
Larson performs a trick called a raley--body extended back with board above your head. Larson landed this raley. If he didn’t, they’d call that a faceplant.
“A Larson ski boat,” he says. “It has a tower and two fat sacs.”
A Great Day on the Lake starts with…
What about wakesurfing? Mueller is quick to sing the praises of wakeboarding. However, that said, he is also the first to admit that wakesurfing is quickly becoming the next big thing. Similar to wakeboarding, wakesurfers ride a boat’s wake on a reducedfat sized surfboard. You start like you’d start on a wakeboard. Once you get going, however, you can surf without being attached to the boat. It’s like riding an ocean wave, only not.
Wakesurfing might be the next big thing. Here, Eden Prairie’s Mitch Lenhard hangs 10 on Lake Minnetonka.
“[Wakesurfing] is taking over,” says Mueller. ‘There’s not a boat we sell that goes out the door without a board.” With wakesurfing, “There’s not the risk of getting injured and it’s more social. Even though you’re behind the boat, you still feel involved. You might be surfing, but you can still carry on conversations.” Another advantage wakesurfing has over wakeboarding or waterskiing is that you can surf in rough or busy water. As a testament to wakesurfing’s rise in popularity, Mueller says that five years ago, he sold two to three different kinds of wakesurfing boards. “Now,” he adds, “we offer 20 models and we sell some 300 boards a year.” Beyond wakesurfing, wakeskating is still another water sport on the rise. Its ceiling, however, is limited.
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“It’s difficult to do,” says Mueller. “I bet there are only five people in Minnesota who can jump the wake on a skate and I probably know all five.”
Still committed to wakeboarding For now, wakeboarding’s popularity continues to be strong. Indeed Mueller and Larson and other similarly inclined thrill-seekers can be found frequently this summer on area lakes, doing whatever it takes to get out and enjoy that big air. For example, at the end of May, Larson and classmate Kevin Brooke were already heading out to Chanhassen’s Lake Riley on three different nights. “We come out at 7:30 on weekdays,” he says. “We’ll each take a couple turns and then we’ll go home.” Question: Who pays for the gas?
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“We mow a lot of lawns,” says Brooke.
13
Marina
Boat Finds
Local boat restorer looks for diamonds in the rough A 1964 Chris Craft Super Sport was discovered as part of Mahogany Bay’s vintage boat treasure hunt. It had 240 hours on the hour gauge and had been in mini storage since 1988. The engine was serviced and ran “perfectly.”
As part of the treasure hunt, a website was created to list the lost boats with three finalists receiving scale models of classic boats. Some of the boats listed at www.vintageboattreasurehunt.com are for sale. While the official treasure hunt ended in June, Mahogany Bay continues to look for “lost” boats and will be adding them to the website during the course of the summer.
By Richard Crawford
became the dominant boat material.
For more than 30 years, a Spring Park man kept a classic wood boat under a tarp at his home. When fiberglass boats came on the market, the wooden boat was put under wraps and it has remained there since this summer.
Minnesota was home to 239 boat builders over the years, Kaul explains. Today, however, there are only 17 wood boat manufacturers worldwide.
After hearing about a vintage boat treasure hunt, the brainchild of Mahogany Bay classic boat company, it was time for the boat to come out of the closet.
Many wooden boats were burnt when fiberglass arrived on the seen in the 1960s. “Our quest is to find wooden boats in barns, boathouses, garages, etc., and transition these lost boats into the hands of people that will preserve them for all to enjoy again,” says Kaul.
It was ironic, says Tom Kaul, director of new business development at Mahogany Bay, that the boat owner only lives about a mile from Mahogany Bay headquarters on the shores of Lake Minnetonka.
In recent months, people from all over the metro area, Iowa, and Wisconsin have surfaced with wooden boats that have been idle for years.
The Vintage Boat Treasure Hunt was created to find lost wooden boats that haven’t been used in many years, preserve them and get them back on the water for all to enjoy, Kaul explains. “The idea was to find lost boats, and we found a bunch of them,” he says. Salvaging existing wood boats is important to the classic wood boat enthusiast because the number of boats manufactured has dropped substantially in recent decades, since fiberglass
14
Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011
“A lot of people have them in storage and just forgot about them,” he says. “Now they can do something about them before they are no good anymore.” The contest allows Mahogany Bay to share its expertise and show owners their options to restore the boat to its original condition either by themselves or through a professional restorer and also to have owners better understand the historic value the era of classic wooden boats, Kaul says.
Using wood for boats (a brief history) ◆ Most boat manufacturers did not survive World War II. Despite this, many other manufacturers came along to replace them, using the revolutionary new material, plywood, as their lumber. ◆ By 1960, many of the venerable names in traditional wooden boats were gone: Hacker-Craft, Dodge, Gar Wood, Ventnor. Hundreds of smaller wood boat builders saw orders dry up as new players, schooled in the new disciplines of FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) and aluminum construction, brought their products to market. ◆ Today, the material for building boats has evolved over the past three centuries from mostly wood, to wood, fiberglass reinforced plastic, aluminum, steel, carbon fiber, Kevlar, polyethylene, polypropylene, even ferrocement. Now only a very small percentage of boats and yachts are wood. Source: Mahogany Bay
Dockside â—† Mid-Summer 2011
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