It is stunning when doctors tell you that you might not have as much time left as you thought you did.
The scary diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that Gary Jobson received two years ago put him into dry-dock. One of the most prominent faces of sailing in the United States, Jobson has traveled just about everywhere there is water, even the Arctic and Antarctic where the water is as much ice as liquid.
Jobson, 55, based in Annapolis, Md., was a member of Ted Turner’s 1977 America’s Cup champion yacht crew. He has covered Olympic sailing for NBC and America’s Cup races for ESPN for years. He has sailed the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Island five times and this week at Navy Pier is making his fifth Strictly Sail Chicago Show appearance.
Jobson loves mingling with the thousands of people who attend the event and Friday and Saturday will give slide presentations and talks on the Olympics, America’s Cup and sailing around Cape Horn, among other adventures. Jobson is pleased he could make it to Chicago this year.
“I’m cancer-free,” he says.
Getting to that point was not easy, however. He says the diagnosis of his illness in April 2003 was frightening and that treating it was no picnic either. Doctors told Jobson that about 50 percent of those found with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma–cancer that attacks the lymphatic system–survive five years or more.
“It’s a sobering thought,” Jobson says.
Jobson, who began sailing when he was 7 years old, always has led an active lifestyle. He decided at age 16 his mission in life was to promote sailing and he has written 14 books about the sport, including his most recent, “Championship Sailing.”
Because of his illness, however, Jobson estimates he probably has spent only 10 days on the water in the last two years. First he endured chemotherapy treatments, but when his tumor doubled in size, Jobson underwent a stem-cell transplant.
He laughs now when he thinks back to doctors noting these treatments might cause “some drowsiness” or “some fatigue.” The understatement cracks him up.
“Are you kidding me?” Jobson says. “You’re flat on your back.”
The truly ironic aspect of Jobson’s illness is that for a dozen years he has been the national regatta chairman of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s sailing program that will promote 50 sailboat races this year. In the years since Jobson became the sailing chairman, the events have raised $12 million for the charity.
Jobson, an Emmy-winning TV commentator, expects the Chicago show will be one of 60 appearances he makes this year. He has his energy back and plans to sail and talk about sailing at a non-stop clip.
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“Now that I have the health issue behind me, I plan to do very diverse things,” Jobson said. “That’s why I’ve got things on my plate to do.”
– Holding down the author’s corner all four days at Strictly Sail is Neal Petersen, who overcame the disability of being born with a partial hip socket, poverty and an upbringing in apartheid South Africa to become the first black man to race solo around the world. Only about 130 sailors have documented solo circumnavigations of the globe.
Petersen, 37, will sign copies of his adventure book, “Journey of a Hope Merchant,” and tell a little bit of his story at various times throughout the show.
– Other Strictly Sail highlights: “A Family Sails Around the World,” is a Pam Wall seminar that discusses cruising with her husband and two small children in a 39-foot boat.
The $328,000 Sun Odyssey 49 on “the cutting edge of sailing design” will be on display.
Strictly Sail hours are 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $12 Thursday-Friday, $15 Saturday-Sunday for adults, $5 for kids 5-15. Children 4 and younger get in free.