When John Muhlhausen of Marietta climbed aboard his Snipe class sailboat on Lake Allatoona last month, he marked a journey that began in 1946 on Long Island Sound, Connecticut.
This year, the 81-year-old is celebrating 75 years of sailing, and he took a victory lap with his son David Muhlhausen, 45, of Decatur.
“It’s amazing that you have a hobby you’ve enjoyed for that long, and you pass that passion down as well,” said David, who learned the sport from his father and has been racing since age 5.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
The elder Muhlhausen has sailed the one-design racing dinghy his entire time on the water, and has become an expert in that class of sailboat.
“John is an icon in the Snipe class of sailing,” said fellow sailor and friend Greg Kibler. “He’s an elite sailor, always in the upper echelon in the top competitions.”
Snipe sailor Don Hackbarth said Muhlhausen’s longevity in the sport, while admirable, is not surprising.
“I’ve never encountered a person who stuck with anything that long, but John is persistent and meticulous. He does things in a very determined way,” Hackbarth said.
Muhlhausen came from a family of sailors and got his first taste of the sport at age 6 when his older sister took him out on her Snipe on July 4, 1946. He remembers being a little scared watching his parents get smaller and smaller on the shore. “I had never been out in the water that far in my life,” he said.
It didn’t take long to get past those fears, and he quickly discovered his knack for racing and teaching others.
Muhlhausen and his wife Kitza have been members of the Atlanta Yacht Club on Lake Allatoona for 52 years, joining shortly after moving to metro Atlanta in 1968. They would drive up from Marietta, traveling on dirt roads with a dinner bucket of chicken, and be the only ones on the lake.
They both enjoyed racing in regattas and Snipe sailing competitions worldwide and have helped organize events on Allatoona. One of them is the World Snipe Masters, a competition that has been held continuously since 1986 on alternating years.
Muhlhausen taught his wife and son to sail and is now teaching his 7-year-old granddaughter, Ellen. She will be the sixth generation of sailors in the Muhlhausen family.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
“I just enjoy the pleasures of sailing,” Muhlhausen said. “It’s like three-dimensional chess. There’s an infinite number of moves you can make out there.”
He also enjoys introducing others the sport, especially kids and those coming to it for the first time as adults.
As a young man, he created a simple teaching method and wrote a book so others could follow step-by-step sailing instructions.
In 1973, he started a junior racing program at the AYC and saw a need to develop a week-long summer program where kids could learn the sport and have fun with their friends. In its 47th year, Junior Week has become a significant pillar of AYC’s successful junior sailing program.
Muhlhausen processes and thinks through decisions, good qualities for sailing, said his friend Hackbarth, 75, a long-standing member of the AYC. “Kids and new sailors try to emulate him,” he said.
“John has mentored a lot of young pre-teens through high school, teaching them sailing. He is a great man for a teenager to learn from, to learn to be responsible,” Hackbarth said.
Reaching his 75-year milestone is meaningful to Muhlhausen in a more profound way. He battled esophageal cancer in the early 2000s, and treatments resulted in vision loss in his left eye. The impairment makes it difficult to know when to pass a boat or go behind, and he had to relearn how to navigate.
Despite those obstacles, he won the Snipe club championship in 2008. He was not expected to do well, and his one-dimensional vision was a real challenge racing five times during the two-day regatta.
The victory is the highlight of his sailing career, more precious to him than any of his other championships or trophies.
“It became a spiritual thing for me,” said Mulhausen, remembering his races. “I was in a zone. Almost like someone was telling me what to do, everything slowed down for me.
“When I finished in the last race, I cried. It wasn’t so much winning the regatta, but I beat cancer. I was back. Anybody who doesn’t believe that God listens to our prayers, I’m an example of that. That’s what made it so meaningful for me.”
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
WHAT INSPIRES ABOUT JOHN MUHLHAUSEN
When he isn’t in his Snipe, Muhlhausen competes with his radio-controlled yacht . This is how he gets his “sailing fix” now, says his son, David.
Muhlhausen once taught his son to sail blindfolded to develop his senses while sailing – the feel of the boat, the movement of the water and sound of the waves.
“Sailing is not a difficult task to learn,” said Muhlhausen, “racing a sailboat is a difficult task. It’s a whole other level.”
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