Mark Lindor Johnson, a longstanding fixture in the Olympia sailing community, died suddenly on April 16, 2010. Judith and I had recently attended his 60th birthday party. I had met Mark in 1972, down at Skis and Yachts on 4th Avenue, where he worked for Howard Witkin. That was the gathering place for Olympia sailors in the 70’s, and I had found it about a week after moving to town. Mark got me into my first big racing boat, the Yankee 30 Renegade. We campaigned that boat pretty hard in the 70’s, and it always went faster with Mark on board.
Mark could build, restore, or fix anything. When Renegade got T-boned by a port tacker in a breezy race in Dana Pass, fortunately being saved by our primary winch being the point of impact, Mark was the go-to guy to repair and re-glass the cockpit coaming. After Yankee Yachts went out of business, Mark acquired the molds for the YY30, and built several boats in his shop, Mark Johnson Marine, now home to Olympia Seafood.
Mark’s obituary, written by Jane Boone, can be found at the Olympian.
What follows are remembrances I have gathered, of just a few of Mark’s sailing exploits and accomplishments, enough to give you the flavor of the man, if you had not had the pleasure of having him as a friend:
From Howard Witkin: Mark came into our store, Skis & Yachts, shortly after we had opened it, knowing nothing about sailing, but very eager to learn. Within a short period of time, Mark became an employee, a very close friend, and the linch-pin of our sailing crew. Mark could do anything, and was generally fearless.I credit him with saving us during a very bad Straits of Georgia Race, when we lost our jib halyard. He got us safely into Nanaimo, in the middle of the night. Conditions were so bad that another Olympia boat, Harold Sargent’s Bridget, had to drop out with a bent rudder shaft, after surfing down a huge wave, and hitting a submerged log. In the morning, Mark climbed the mast without assistance, swearing that in the future we would never have to bow out of a race for the lack of a halyard.
Many sailors were unaware that Mark had a tendency for seasickness. I only found out accidentally when I watched him bring on board a couple of cases of Coca Cola before a long race. When asked why, he told me his secret. To this day whenever I am out on the water with people who become queasy, I always offer them a can of coke, which I keep on the boat for said purpose. Also works well with rum, but not for seasickness.
We will always miss Mark, and the little green sports car that he drove the same way that he helmed a boat. Our entire family was very fond of him; my two daughters always looked up to him as an older brother. His passing has left a very large void in our lives.
from Eric Egge: Mark actually started junior sailing in South Puget Sound. He had gathered several Lasers at the old city dock and allowed local kids to race around the nav buoys in the harbor. One summer in the mid-70’s Mark convinced Lakefair to sponsor a regatta. He matched kids to boats, set marks, provided and manned the committee boat, scored and awarded actual trophies. This was the first hint of a youth program in Olympia, and I’ve always appreciated that.
from David Elliott: Mark was an important person to sailors who were in their teens in the 1970’s. As Eric has mentioned, he singlehandedly created dinghy sailing in Olympia. He built docks and recruited people to participate in racing at a time when there was no salt water dinghy sailing. Percival Landing had not yet been built, and the waterfront was largely industrial, except for large boat marina moorage. He organized Lakefair dinghy races in 1976 and 1977, getting people to bring their boats, and finding kids to sail them. I went just to watch; Mark found a Laser for me to sail, and I ended up with my first trophy.Thanks, Mark! He also showed films at his office about how to sail, would find you a ride on the big boats, or take you with him sailing, and help you to improve. His office, now the wine loft, was a good place to hang out after school.
The best Johnson story is that of the McCurdy Cup. SYC held an annual event at Port Madison for junior sailors to compete in four two-person dinghies in team racing. Other clubs included Royal Vic and Royal Van from Canada, CYC Seattle, and several others. Mark, who was 25 years old, found a crew of nine of us ranging in age from 13 to 17: myself, Jim Geer, Rafe and Ian Beswick, Dave Gruver, Dave Russell, Scott Schoch, Tim O’Reilly, and Don MacInnes,. We loaded into a borrowed van and headed north. I don’t know how he got permission from all the parents etc., but off we went for the weekend, life jackets and sleeping bags in hand.
We learned the unusual rules of team racing in the van on the way up, and then we went out on the water, and raced; we didn’t do all that well, but we had a blast. Then came the evening. There was a dance of sorts, and someone from Royal Vic was having a birthday, and had stashed a keg in the woods. One of our group quickly found himself in Technicolor yawn mode, providing a repeat appearance of the evening’s spaghetti dinner on the dance floor. He ended up spending the night in a tent outside. Since he is still a member of SSSS, I will leave it to him to self-identify.
The next day, more racing, and a special award for “the kid from Oly”. Even though we finished last in the event, we learned a bunch. For some reason we didn’t get a repeat invite. There was no conversation about what to tell our parents; the answer was known to all of us. Mark hung it out for us; we would never burn a guy that cool. I am pretty sure this is the first my parents have heard about it, and it was 35 years ago. Kids need people in their lives to stretch the envelope. We were in no danger, just getting a little life experience. Mark was a cool guy who took an interest in us, a very important player in our lives, one of a kind.
from Willy Stiggelbout: I need to offer thanks to Mark for teaching me the value of a very small bunk. Mark was kind enough to introduce me, a snot-nosed 17 year-old, to John Graham, in 1975. John was fixing to take delivery of his 76' Orcella and was in need of delivery crew for the trip across the Atlantic. I was assigned to share a stateroom with Mark, who had arrived at the boat a few days ahead of me. Of course, Mark, older and wiser, and with more in-port need for a double berth, claimed the large bunk. I was left with the slender berth against the hull. I’m skinny; no worries. When we encountered some weather at sea, the boat became quite uncomfortable. Under reduced sail, we snap-rolled in the troughs, with no wind pressure to steady the motion. Poor Mark had a hell-of-a time staying in, let alone sleeping in, his expansive berth. Meanwhile, I tucked a pillow here and there and slept like the proverbial bug in a rug.
Mark was a fine and patient teacher at a time when I didn’t yet realize how little I knew … fond memories.
from Ernie Shaughnessy: Mark got acquainted with John Graham, architect of the Space Needle, Lloyd Center and all the area’s Malls, in the early 70’s, and he helped him sail his new 76' ketch, Orcella back from Holland. Lovely, high-performance pilothouse ketch painted a pale yellow, and sometimes called the Yellow Submarine as the fine entry was quite wet forward, in a breeze. In 1980 we sailed Orcella to Hawaii in 13 days from Cabo, rarely falling below 10 knots, and surfing at 13. I remember Mark going up the mast to retrieve the halyard, after we blew the chute; conditions dark and lumpy, with our steering impaired by the spinnaker we had just run over, fouling the rudder. The halyard was the priority, as the end pennant was a 6-foot length of chain which was banging around at the top of the mast, threatening other gear. Mark jumped in the bosun’s chair barefoot, and with a hand on his head to protect it, and an outstretched arm, retrieved the flailing halyard, and we set about with a grappling hook to clear the rudder.
Mark sailed again with Mr. Graham when he took delivery of Aspasia, an 87' Ron Holland aluminum sloop in the late 80’s. This time they departed the Med and stopped in the Azores to haul out and repair a rudder problem. I recall that Mark got off in Florida, and returned home.
He sailed a few San Francisco Big Boat Series regattas in the 70-80’s on Equation, and also did a SORC in the late 70’s, I believe, on John Buchan’s Assault.
Mark bought the Standfast 40 Charmer in the 80’s and modified the flush deck to a Doug Peterson style cabin top. He also trailered the 29' sloop Heidi Elizabeth to Baja in the middle 80’s, then sailed it south through the Sea of Cortez, then north up the Pacific to San Diego, trailering it home at the end of the winter.
from Margaret Sibold:
Gene taught me how to sail,
Mark taught me the details.
Gene instructed on the water
Mark didn’t have a need for sails
To explain time and time again
How to tie a knot,
Even tho’ I soon forgot.
His dashing ways on land or sea
Will forever be lodged in my memory.
Thank you to the aforementioned contributors for supplying/clarifying many of the anecdotes; there are hundreds more, fondly recalled at the passing of this unique man.
Sherwood Smith