Remembering Roger ‘Sailquik’ Jackson

Instructor extraordinaire Roger Jackson just passed away. A great loss for our US windsurfing community, but the angels on that distant shore are finally going to know what to do with their wings. We asked Bill Keitel to tell us a bit about his friend Roger.

By Bill Keitel

There was no better friend of windsurfing than Roger ‘Sailquik’ Jackson.

Many of you knew Roger Jackson. In association with F2 and Starboard and working regularly with US Windsurfing, Roger and his partner in crime Ellen Faller have spent decades crisscrossing the country to teach beginners and showcase our sport. At a rate of 3-5 days per event and 8-14 events every year, they’ve logged hundreds of thousands of miles in service of our wind-addicted community and given thousands of people their first “Taste of Windsurfing.”

From Maryland to Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and California, many of today’s most ardent windsurfers owe their love of the sport to Roger. He was very active in the forums too under the ‘Sailquik’ moniker, always ready to lend advice, comfort and encouragement to fellow wind travelers.

Few of his students though knew of Roger’s life beyond windsurfing. I got a glimpse when Roger and Ellen came to my hometown Worthington, MN for the US Nationals in 2003. He was called away from teaching youngsters on the shores of Lake Okabena by the United States Navy, whisked off from Worthington to a small airport in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and sent directly to a naval aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy, moored somewhere in Florida. Something was amiss with the radar system on the ship, and Roger was the only one who could be relied upon to get it back up to speed.

He was known in the Navy as a ‘radar whisperer’ because of his unique ability to get complex radar systems to work without failure in saltwater environments. At a moment’s notice, he could be on a jet to Djibouti, Thailand, Japan, Spain and many other destinations that may well be classified.

The windsurfing community was lucky and honored to have this man of generous spirit at their disposal, teaching others how to windsurf. Roger and I would be sitting on a beach somewhere, counting our blessings, and I would invariably interrupt the contemplation to say something profound: “Roger, windsurfing is like holding the wind in your hands, you know?” He would look at me with his gentle and knowing smile and just nod. As you stand on the board with the wind in your hands, please remember my friend Roger Sailquik Jackson and his contributions to the sport.

Bill, USW VP Emeritus