Sailing News
Rodney L. TerBeest

Rod TerBeest, age 60 of Madison Lake, MN passed December 21, 2008, after a long battle with cancer.

Rod was born on June 21, 1948, in Wycoff, MN to Russell and Helen (Plumber) TerBeest. He graduated from Harmony high school in 1966 and from Minnesota State University in Mankato. In his earlier years he was employed at KEYC TV in Mankato. Since the 1980's he owned Rod TerBeest Productions.

Rod was an avid sailor who built the Madison Lake Sailing Club where he introduced one design sailing in the Holder 20. After competing for three years, he traveled to Lake Meade in 2000 for the Holder 20 Nationals. Rod won the event with long time friends Tim Carlson and Paul Baumgardt from Mankato.

Rod was a member of the Lake City Yacht Club which then hosted the 2001 Holder 20 Nationals. He was president of the Holder 20 One Design sailing class, and, the Mankato Chamber of Commerce. In addition to sailing, he enjoyed wood working and movies.

Bree Wins West Marine Writer’s Award For Top Boating Article

Marlin Bree, a freelance writer, lecturer and author of several boating books, has won the top award Boating Writer's International gives to a boating writer -- The West Marine Writer's Award. Bree, of St. Paul, MN, received the award, consisting of a $5,000 check and a crystal trophy announced at a formal presentation during the BWI membership meeting at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show. It is the second time he has earned the top honor, having taken the award in 2004, and elicited his comment, "Lightning really does strike twice!"

Bree's story, "The Old Man and the Inland Sea," was published in the January/February 2007 issue of The Ensign. It's a true tale of an attempted rescue of a fishing partner by a 62-year old Norwegian-blooded mariner during a late November storm on Lake Superior. The writer describes the courage and resourcefulness of the "old man" as he battles engine failure, growing waves and declining temperatures - ultimately becoming frozen in place to the floorboards of his tiny 17-foot rescue skiff - yet prevailing to be rescued after 29 hours through day and night in the harsh elements. The article was first recognized in the Seamanship, Rescue & Safety category earlier this year, one of 48 award winners in the 2007 BWI annual Writing Contest. The top three entries in each of 16 writing categories were automatically entered for this grand prize.

Judges said Bree's entry, "Does a superb job of what magazines such as American Heritage and Smithsonian do regularly: Take an event from the past and explicate the circumstances in vivid, gripping detail. Bree does so in such a way as to make the 50-year-old event as real as if we were experiencing it ourselves -- today! He is an excellent writer but this is a particularly captivating story and that's why it wins."

Judges for the West Marine Writer's Award are associated with Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and have had careers in newspapers, magazines, broadcasting and on-line enterprises.

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