Mark Strube has been a professional sailor since 1994. Mark is pictured here receiving the crew trophy and a Rolex Navigator watch after winning the 2006 Rolex Baltic Race Week in the Star Class. The skipper of their two man keel boat was Mark Mendleblatt.

So, where in the world is Mark Strube?  His Olympic Star Class effort was on hold while he was part of the Swedish Victory Challenge America’s Cup Team. He trained in southern Spain the end of 2006 and the team training location prior to the Louis Vuitton Cup in Dubai.  The cup was sailed in Valencia, Spain.  Mark Mendleblatt signed on the New Zealand America’s Cup Team. Following the America’s Cup, Marko sailed in the 5.5 Meter Worlds in Italy (http://www.5.5class.org/).  His team took 2nd place.  Mark then renewed his Olympic Games effort in the Star Fleet.  He and Joe Londrigan raced in the US Sailing Olympic Trials at California Yacht Club.  Their racing efforts were posted on Joe’s Blog at his Web site, www.stargear.com. They finished 9th out of the top 20 Star crews in the country and unfortunately missed their chance to represent the USA in the upcoming Olympic Games in China.  A more complete review of Mark’s activities and schedules and how to contact Mark may be found on his Web site:

http://www.markstrubesailing.com/

Mark Strube Background Information

In 2007 the Northern Michigan Alumni Association magazine “Horizons” requested information from Mark Strube for an article in the February issue. The theme of the issue is stories of people who have found “dream jobs” in sports but who are not sports stars, either because their sport is not typically covered in a big way by mainstream media or because the job is behind the scenes. The following are some of the questions and answers for this article.

Q: What motivates you to sail?  What do you get out of sailing?

A: It’s easy to be motivated when you do something you love, and get a paycheck doing it. I participate in three basic types of sailing: small boat match racing, big boat competition, and Star racing. I enjoy the team aspect of sailing, and I get something different from each of these races. I especially enjoy the team sport aspect. Much like playing football at NMU, sailors take different positions and perform different sequential maneuvers on the boat.  The boat slows down if one person is late.

In small boat races, teams compete two at a time in a one-on-one format. Typically, 10 to 12 teams race in a round robin, which leads to a semifinal, and a final race determines the winner. Prize money is usually involved.  Tens of thousands of dollars may be awarded per boat with crew sharing in the prize money.  The amount each sailor receives depends on the importance of crew position.  Owners and skippers generally receive the largest share just as in the old days of the privateers and pirates.

Big boat handicap racing uses a time allowance scoring system where the faster boats owe the slower boats time.  Many paid professional sailors participate with non-paid volunteer crew.  Major races in the United States are the Bermuda Race, Key West Race Week, and the Miami Acura Race Week (http://www.premiere-racing.com/). Major events are also held in Europe. The most widely known big boat match race is the America’s Cup (http://www.americascup.com/en/). No prize money is offered, but the crews are well paid.

Finally, I race Star boats.  The Star is an Olympic class one-design boat with a 90-year history (http://www.starclass.org/). I am currently ranked in the top ten crews in the world. I am fourth with George Szabo and seventh with Mark Mendelblatt as skippers.  My goal is to get to the Olympic games in 2008 in this boat. Sailing the one design Star is fun for me because all boats are on a level playing field.  The Star is a very uniform class at the top levels where the skipper and crew’s skill and tactical decisions make the difference in finishing position.

Q: What’s the coolest thing about sailing?  What’s the most challenging thing about sailing?

A: Sailing in big breezes and big waves is very cool. I’ve also been able to travel around the world and to meet a lot of very interesting people. Some of the interesting people I’ve met through sailing are Bill Clinton, James Caan, and the King and Queen of Norway.

The most challenging thing is sailing in light air.  You need to have a lot of patience and be able to focus for long periods of time.

Q: How did you get into sailing?

A: My Dad is an avid sailor who sailed on his first boat when he was 15.  I basically grew up on the water at the South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee, WI. I started taking private sailing lessons when I was about eight years old and moved into the SSYC Junior sailing program as soon as I was able. When I was older, I became an instructor for the same program.

Q: How did it become a career, rather than a hobby, for you?

A: After earning a Master’s Degree in Business Management from the University of Miami, I was working as a stockbroker in West Palm Beach, Florida and taking a lot of time off to sail. My boss wasn’t happy with that and called me in his office one day. He said I needed to make a decision: stop sailing and make more cold calls or go sailing and stop working with the firm.  I had to follow my dream. In 1997, I quit the firm to go sailing.  That summer while I was racing in Wisconsin, I met one of the best sailors of all time, Buddy Melges.  I told him that I was interested in getting involved with the America’s Cup.  He had ties with a team and told me to get him my resume, which he forwarded to the America True team with his recommendation.  Not long after that, I went to San Francisco to try out and made the team.  Since then, I have been involved with three other Cup teams: Aloha Challenge in 2000, One World Challenge in 2003, and, currently, the Victory Challenge (http://www.victorychallenge.com/).

Q: What is involved in your training for the Beijing Games? How does one qualify for the Games in sailing?

A: To win, it’s important to do significant homework. There is no substitute for time on the water. You need to study the sails and the rig, and you need to get the best possible equipment to give your team a chance.  In addition to knowing the boat inside and out, we study the wind and current information for each racing location. In addition, physical training is intense. I lift weights and do a lot of aerobic exercise. The approach to training and discipline I experienced as part of the NMU Football Team has served me well in sailing.

The US sends one team for each qualified Olympic Class.  One 16-race regatta will be held in LA next fall to determine the Star Class representative for the USA. Only the top team will go to Beijing.  In 2000 I was ranked fourth and in 2004 I was ranked third in the USA. I am hoping that in 2008, I skip second and get right to the top. Although small grants are awarded to defray the costs of the campaign, the Olympic Sailing Team is not paid.  I will need to make a serious fund-raising effort to support my quest for the Olympics.

Q: What have been a couple of your biggest sailing accomplishments? What has been your scariest sailing situation?

A: Participating in three America’s Cup races has to be the most satisfying of all my accomplishments because of the prestige of the event. In addition, I’m most proud of the big races I’ve won. In the Star Class for which I was crew, my team won the 1997 North American Championships, the 2005 Bacardi Cup, the 2006 Kiel Week, and the 2006 European Championships. In Match Racing, I won the 1998 New Zealand Match Racing Championships, the 1999 Australia Cup, and the 2006 Ficker Cup. Big Boat sailing includes many first-place finishes and a few race records for the fastest to finish.

The scariest sailing situation I experienced occurred during a race from St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres Mexico.  We were off the coast of Cuba and a white squall came through.  It was blowing over 40 knots and the seas were building to over 14 feet.  I was sailing on a 70-footer and, after the squall blew over, the boat crashed through the huge seas that remained. About 30 feet of the bow—nearly half the boat—was coming off the front side of the waves and then crashing down the backside. I thought the boat was going to break in two because it was banging against the waves so hard.

Q: We also need the basics – your NMU grad year, degree, majors/minors, any activities you were very involved in at NMU, any examples of how NMU impacted your chosen career (if any), your hometown before NMU, your current hometown.

A: I played football at NMU from 1987 to 1991 and I was voted MVP of Special Teams in my Senior Year. I graduated from NMU in May of 1992 with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration/Management. Although NMU was too cold to impact my sailing career directly, the education NMU provided and the discipline and values fostered by my NMU coaches influenced how I live my life today.

I grew up in South Milwaukee WI and attended high school in Green Bay WI prior to attending NMU.  After I graduated, I moved to Florida and received an MBA in Business Management from the University of Miami in 1995. I was also a backup Arena Football League Quarterback for the Orlando Predators in 1994.

I am now living in Dubai for a few months as I train for the next America’s Cup challenge, but West Palm Beach, FL is my home when I’m home.  In January, I will travel to Dubai, the training base for the Swedish Victory Challenge, where I will live for several months leading up to the next America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain.  After that I will be intensely training and racing in the Olympic Star Class Fleet towards our bid for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

To view any picture below click on the frame then use the right and left arrows to scroll through the series.  Use the up arrow to return to this page. More information and pictures are available on Mark’s Web site:

http://www.markstrubesailing.com/

[Roger & Kathy Strube's Stuff] [The Dragon For Sale] [Bahama Cruise] [My Book] [Belize 2008 Cruise] [VMG & GPS] [Favorite Boating Topics] [Trimarans] [Disabled & Senior Sailing] [Projects & Photo Gallery] [The Ideal Motorsailer] [A Place to Work] [Living Green in PGI] [B.I.M.B.O.s] [Kathy's Korner] [Links] [Mark Strube] [Mark Strube]