Purcell finds freedom on the waves

The F-Stop crew, including (from left) Glenda Ripkorn, Mary McQuide and Ed Purcell, sails upwind at the start of Louie’s Last Regatta on Lake Michigan last summer. Photos by Chris Gribble

It’s not hard to tell what Edward Purcell does when he’s not at work.

In fact, all it takes is a quick glance in his office. There’s a model of a racing sailboat, charts of Lake Michigan on the walls and a photo of Purcell’s 28-foot boat, F-Stop.

Purcell, the director of business development for health care and senior living for Milwaukee-based CG Schmidt Inc., has been sailing for decades, ever since a neighbor took him out on a boat when he was 14 years old.

“Our next door neighbor needed crew (for a race),” he said. “The first time I went out it was like, ‘Oh, I love this.’”

He said it was a bewildering experience, but the feel of being on the water stuck with him, and he kept looking for ways to get back in a sailboat. He and his wife, Karen, would occasionally sail with friends, he said, but those casual trips weren’t the same as the races he remembered from his teenage years.

“To me, it’s an almost spiritual experience,” he said, “making the boat go with no engine.”

With such a strong affinity for sailing, it was only a matter of time before Purcell bought a boat. In 1997, he and Karen bought F-Stop, and that let Purcell get back into racing.

He races nearly every week, he said, and is very involved with the Milwaukee Yacht Club. He has been on the board of directors there for about four years, and is now the vice commodore, a position he expects to hold for two years.

With Ed Purcell at the helm, his crew of (from left) Mary McQuide, Glenda Ripkorn and Purcell’s son, Dan, jockey for position at the start of Louie’s Last Regatta on Lake Michigan.

Among his duties are promoting national events and races between area clubs.

Purcell is strictly a local sailor. He doesn’t have a trailer to get the boat to other locations, he said, but that’s not a problem.

“Milwaukee is a wonderful area to sail in,” he said. “It’s got some of the best sailing on Lake Michigan.”

During the sailing season he takes the boat out at least twice a week, and at least one of those trips is typically a race.

“I started racing every week,” he said. “I’ve got a competitive streak. I just wanted to get out and race the boat. … I just want to win the race.”

Among the many races he has now been in, he can still pick out the one that stands out.

“The most startling was the first time we won the season championship race,” he said. “We had never won a race before. We’d gotten in as one of the last qualifying boats and ended up beating the rest of the boats by a large margin.”

— Janine Anderson