Dockside - Late Summer 2011

Mid-Summer 2011

Wakeboarding Takes Off

PLUS:

Hangin’ with the Shockwaves

Picnic Perfect: Fun food and drink ideas

2 Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011

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Dockside ◆ Mid-Summer 2011 3

DOCKSIDEPublisher: Jennifer Sorenson [email protected]

Editor: Angelo Gentile [email protected]

Designer: Brian Sorenson

Contributors this issue: Richard Crawford, Kristin Holtz, Daniel Huss, Sarah Tieck

Advertising Sales: 952-345-6477

Dockside is published quarterly by South-west Newspapers. For advertising infor-mation, call 952-345-6477. For general comments and questions, send e-mail to [email protected] or call 952-345-6676.

Visit us online at: www.docksidemagazine.mn

All contents copyright © 2011, Southwest Newspapers.

ABOUT DOCKSIDE MAGAZINEWe love our lakes in Minnesota, in every season. Dockside Magazine covers lake life all year round.

Publishing four times a year, the maga-zine 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 Min-netonka, Prior Lake, and all of the scenic lakes in our southwest metro region. Welcome to life on the lake.

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departmentsfeaturesMarina 14

Boat FindsDiscovering those diamonds in the rough.

Recreation 11Wet, Wild, WakeboardingFinding a sport that’s leaving water skiing in its wake. All contents © 2011, Southwest Newspapers

Lake Lifestyles 8Making a SplashHanging out with the Shakopee-Prior Lake Shockwaves.

Visit us online at www.docksidemagazine.mn

Dockside Edibles 6Picnic PerfectNoshing on the deck or the dock.

ON THE COVERWakeboarding? Eden Prairie’s Kevin Brooke has it down, upside down, on Lake Riley. Photo by Daniel Huss.

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Editor’s NoteA 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 Min-

nesota 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 newspa-

pers.

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

[email protected].

Angelo Gentile

Editor, Dockside

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Eating seasonably and local is a trend

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not why blogger Kathy Lewinski and

her husband explore the farmers’ market

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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 sum-

mer 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 fi sh or as a steak

topper.

Hot trends, cool ideas for summer parties.

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Dockside Edibles

By Sarah Tieck

Picnic PerfectPicnic Perfect


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 fi nd the real crowd pleasers to be clas-

sics 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 fl avors 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 cook-

ing 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 sum-

mer it is hard to beat a cold beer,” Lewinski

says.

BLOG RECIPESPasta allo Scoglio: http://iowagirleats.

com/2010/09/26/how-to-make-home-

made-pasta-cook-fresh-seafood/

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com/2011/04/23/the-iowa-burger/

Grilled Strawberry Chicken: http://io-

wagirleats.com/2011/04/06/easy-grilled-

chicken-dinner-how-to-not-stop-mid-run/

Skinny Mojito: http://iowagirleats.

com/2010/07/04/just-relax-and-take-it-

slow/

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Lake Lifestyles

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

Splash!Making a


Standing atop a six-person pyramid while be-

ing 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 daz-

zling audiences with towering pyramids, high-

fl ying 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 Shakopee-

Prior Lake Water Ski Association, performing

its live-action show across Minnesota and the

Midwest each summer.

Behind the scenesMaking 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.

“When you start practice, it all feels disjointed

and you wonder how it’s going to come togeth-

er,” says Michelle Surkamp, a SPLWSA board

member and former show director. “Somehow

when you have that fi rst show it all works.”

PerformersKnowing how to water ski is not a Shock-

waves’ requisite.

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 clam-

bering to the top of a pyramid.

Eleven years later, she still only wears skis

once, for the ballet line.

During practice, skiers rehearse climbing the

pyramid, dock starts, and synchronization. They

also learn how to “bail” safely and wrap knot-

free ropes.

Show team members must be versatile and

team players, says Surkamp, who skied 20 years

with the Shockwaves.

EquipmentTo 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.”

The club has about 50 pairs of water skis of

different lengths and purposes, as well as dozens

of ropes, helmets, costumes, and lifejackets.

Without a permanent show location – future

plans are to make Quarry Lake a public park –

boats, the ski jump, fl oating dock, and equipment

must be transported and set up for each show.

Family affairFor many club members, Shockwaves is a

family affair.

Take the McGinty family of Lakeville, which

has been part of the team for seven years.

Paul and Doreen and their kids – Maggie, 18;

PJ, 20; Donny, 22 – all perform.

“It’s a great way for a family to spend a sum-

mer,” Paul McGinty says.

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.

Show team members say what they love most

are the friendships formed over the years.

Svela, the boat driver, compared it to being

part of a big family.

Yet, beyond the family togetherness and the

forging of friendships, in the end, the skiers are

performers who love the adrenaline of show

time.

“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:The Shakopee-Prior Lake Shockwaves is made up of

skiers from age 8 to mid-40s.

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.

Profi lesFitzgibbons family

Tim, 44; Patrick, 19; Ryan, 16; and Molly, 11

Residence: Shakopee

Acts: The guys perform barefoot, pyra-mids, trick skiing, and jumping. Molly, the girls’ pyramid.

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.

Dani Hennen

Age: 11

Residence: Shakopee

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: Minne-apolis

Shockwaves performer: 8 years

Family involvement: Previously, dad man-aged the dock, mom helped with cos-tumes and sister skied.

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.


Watch the Shockwaves7 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

Beyond the show team Founded in 1957 by Jim Petersen, the 180-plus-member Shakopee-Prior 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.


Recreation

A sport that’s leaving water skiing in its wake

Story and Photos By Daniel Huss


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 ex-

plains 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 fi rst started wakeboard-

ing,” 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 fi rst fl ip,” Larson

explains. He says he’s been wakeboarding for

eight years. “I learned to slalom ski last sum-

mer. 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 Glos-

sary, wakeboarding is a form of waterskiing

where both feet are attached to a board that

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, wakeboard-

ing is like slalom skiing sideways on a short, but

wide slalom ski.

Boats change, tooWakeboarding’s popularity has exploded.

And, as Mueller explains, it has even infl uenced

the type of boat and accessories that people are

buying these days.

“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 fi ve boats without towers, 80 with tow-

ers.” 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 fi ll 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.

Andrew Larson, a soon-to-be Eden Prairie High School senior, spent four years learning how to perform a wakeboard fl ip (invert). Now, he makes it look like child’s play. Lake Riley is his playground.

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.”

What about wakesurfi ng?

Mueller is quick to sing

the praises of wakeboard-

ing. However, that said,

he is also the fi rst to

admit that wakesurfi ng is

quickly becoming the next

big thing.

Similar to wakeboard-

ing, wakesurfers ride a

boat’s wake on a reduced-

fat 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.

“[Wakesurfi ng] is tak-

ing over,” says Mueller. ‘There’s not a boat we sell that goes out the

door without a board.” With wakesurfi ng, “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 surfi ng, but you can still

carry on conversations.”

Another advantage wakesurfi ng has over wakeboarding or water-

skiing is that you can surf in rough or busy water.

As a testament to wakesurfi ng’s rise in popularity, Mueller says

that fi ve years ago, he sold two to three different kinds of wakesurf-

ing boards. “Now,” he adds, “we offer 20 models and we sell some 300

boards a year.”

Beyond wakesurfi ng, wakeskating is still another water sport on

the rise. Its ceiling, however, is limited.

“It’s diffi cult to do,” says Mueller. “I bet there are only fi ve people

in Minnesota who can jump the wake on a skate and I probably know

all fi ve.”

Still committed to wakeboardingFor 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?

“We mow a lot of lawns,” says Brooke.

Whatever it takes.

Wakesurfi ng might be the next big thing. Here, Eden Prairie’s Mitch Lenhard hangs 10 on Lake Minnetonka.

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87


Marina

By Richard Crawford

For more than 30 years, a Spring Park man

kept a classic wood boat under a tarp at his

home. When fi berglass boats came on the mar-

ket, the wooden boat was put under wraps and it

has remained there since this summer.

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.

It was ironic, says Tom Kaul, director of new

business development at Mahogany Bay, that

the boat owner only lives about a mile from Ma-

hogany Bay headquarters on the shores of Lake

Minnetonka.

The Vintage Boat Treasure Hunt was created

to fi nd 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 fi nd 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 fi berglass

became the dominant boat material.

Minnesota was home to 239 boat builders

over the years, Kaul explains. Today, however,

there are only 17 wood boat manufacturers

worldwide.

Many wooden boats were burnt when

fi berglass arrived on the seen in the 1960s. “Our

quest is to fi nd wooden boats in barns, boathous-

es, garages, etc., and transition these lost boats

into the hands of people that will preserve them

for all to enjoy again,” says Kaul.

In recent months, people from all over the

metro area, Iowa, and Wisconsin have surfaced

with wooden boats that have been idle for years.

“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 re-place 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 build-ers saw orders dry up as new players, schooled in the new disciplines of FRP (fi berglass reinforced plastic) and alumi-num construction, brought their products to market.

◆ Today, the material for building boats has evolved over the past three centuries from mostly wood, to wood, fi berglass re-inforced plastic, aluminum, steel, carbon fi ber, Kevlar, polyethylene, polypropylene, even ferrocement. Now only a very small percentage of boats and yachts are wood.

Source: Mahogany Bay

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.”

Boat FindsLocal boat restorer looks for diamonds in the rough

As part of the treasure hunt, a website was

created to list the lost boats with three fi nalists

receiving scale models of classic boats.

Some of the boats listed at www.vintageboat-

treasurehunt.com are for sale.

While the offi cial 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.



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Dockside - Late Summer 2011