American’s Cup champion, commentator to speak at Lakeland, Sheboygan Yacht Club

World class sailor, Emmy Award-winning television commentator and author Gary Jobson will deliver Lakeland College’s commencement address and offer a free evening program on his storied career at the Sheboygan Yacht Club on Sunday, May 5.

Jobson, the author of 18 sailing books and editor at large of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines, will address Lakeland’s 151st commencement at 2 p.m. Details about the ceremony are online at http://lakeland.edu/graduation.

He will also deliver a program entitled “Sailing: Speed and Passion” beginning at 6 p.m. at the Sheboygan Yacht Club, 214 Pennsylvania Ave. The program is free and open to the public.

Gary Jobson Lakeland

Jobson’s yacht club presentation will look back on the history of the America’s Cup and preview the 34th America’s Cup, taking place this summer in San Francisco. Jobson is covering the event for NBC. He’ll also discuss his sailing career, which includes winning the America's Cup in 1977 as tactician for media mogul Ted Turner.

The program will include a question and answer session and a book signing following the presentation. Copies of his latest book, “Gary Jobson, An American Sailing Story,” will be available for $26.95, with proceeds of each sale benefitting maritime education in Sheboygan.

In addition to the America’s Cup title, Jobson has won many championships in one design classes, the infamous Fastnet Race and many of the world’s ocean races. In college, at SUNY Maritime, he was an All-American sailor three times and was twice named College Sailor of the Year. He has led ambitious expeditions to the Arctic, Antarctica and Cape Horn.

Currently the vice president of the International Sailing Federation, Jobson was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame (2011) and the America's Cup Hall of Fame (2003). In 1999, Jobson won the Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy, US SAILING’s most prestigious award.

In addition to his sailing career, Jobson has significant accomplishments in his media work. He won an A.C.E. (Award for Cable Excellence) for the 1987 America's Cup on ESPN. In 1988 Jobson won an Emmy for his production of sailing at the Olympic Games in South Korea, and won an Emmy for the 2006 Volvo Ocean Race on PBS. He recently produced a documentary promoting nuclear energy, “Energy on Trial” (www.energyontrial.com).

An active citizen, Jobson has been the national chairman of The Leukemia Cup Regatta program since 1994. These events have raised more than $40 million to date. In 2012, the University of Maryland Medical School established The Gary Jobson Professorship in Medical Oncology. Jobson was awarded a doctor of letters from the State University of New York Maritime College in 2005.

Over the past 35 years, Jobson has given more than 2,000 lectures throughout the world. He started his career as a sailing coach at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy. He is a past president of US Sailing (2009-2012).

Gary and his wife, Janice, have three grown daughters, Kristi, Ashleigh and Brooke and a grandson, Declan.

Lakeland is a private, applied liberal arts college preparing 4,000 students in seven locations throughout Wisconsin, online and at an international campus in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1862, Lakeland’s main campus is located in a scenic rural location near Lake Michigan in Sheboygan County, Wis.

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