“It’s an activity that’s as arcaying and silly as Civil War reenacting.”
Sailing: The sport that relies on the wind aerodynamics of a large, 3,000-pound lead boat and the Lischers — a family that’s been in the sailing world for generations — have their name written all over it.
In a community of nearly a thousand sailors in the Kansas City area, East parent,Ted Lischer knows them all.
And they most definitely know Ted.
As the pioneer of the KU sailing team, team, founder of the Kansas Sailing Foundation, former president of Thistles Nationals — and always captain of the ship, Ted is the third generation of Lischers to make a name for themselves in the sailing world.
In the early 2000’s, Ted Lischer created the next fleet of family sailors: East Alum Jack, senior Olivia and sophomore Paige Lischer. At only three-years-old, each kid was plopped on a boat with Ted, watching their dad maneuver the family legacy. By the age of five, they were driving the boat themselves.
It started as a father-son activity. After creating East’s sailing club back in 2017, Jack and Ted now sponsor KU’s sailing team through the well-funded nonprofit Kansas Sailing Foundation. Jack originally sailed with the college team in high school since they needed more members, and has continued into his junior year at KU. But the girls weren’t immune to the sailing plague.
Throughout the year of COVID-19, the Lischer family spent a few days each week at the Perry Lake Yacht Club. They made it their goal for the next sailing season to attend Thistle Nationals in Cleveland and hopefully Worlds in Corpus Christi, Texas this past summer.
“It was our rally point,” Ted said.
For the next nine months, they spent Sundays polishing the J22 model boat, practicing putting up the large parachute-like sail — the spinnaker — and prepping strategies based on wind direction. It was all a little over their heads. But they were “shooting for the fence,” as Ted would say.
Under the Lischer name, the family sailed at both Nationals and Worlds this summer. They led the back third of the pack — right where they wanted to be.
“Most people there were either paid to sail by sponsors or sailing was their job,” Ted said. “And they look to their right and [say,] ‘Hey, look it’s the Lischers’ from Kansas,’ which is always pretty comical.”
While racing with Olympic gold medalists, world champions and sponsored sailors, the Lischers’ goal was simply to come out of the competition with their boat — and family — still intact.
During the Worlds competition in Corpus Christi this past June, Paige took a fall that could’ve been fatal. She was holding onto the bow side of the boat with a single hand and foot, so Jack jumped from the tail end of the boat to pull her out of the ice cold Gulf of Mexico. During the 1.3 nautical miles, the Lischer kids were most certainly testing their limits.
“Yeah, we bicker. Actually, we bicker a lot,” Olivia said. “I always get on Paige because I am the older sister and that’s my job. But most of the time she isn’t really doing anything wrong.”
The Sunday trip to Perry Lake is anything but bland when Ted’s around. The ‘Ted song,’ Taylor Swift or any German-inspired music to remember their roots blares for the one-and-a-half hour ride to the Yacht Club.
“You can tell my dad loves it,” Olivia said. “It is kinda what makes Ted Ted, and I know he loves sharing it with us.”
On Labor Day weekend, the Lischers will compete in the Commodore’s Cup on Perry Lake. In their favorite boat of their fleet, ‘Humbucker’ — the J22 that has the signature Lischer Jayhawk spinnaker — Ted and the girls hope to end Labor Day weekend with a win.
They don’t ever expect to win the higher-level sailing events, but when it’s on their home lake, there’s no excuse for not placing in the top three.
If you see the Jayhawk flying high out on Perry Lake or the Gulf of Mexico, you’ll know it’s the Lischer family legacy roaring through the water.