Powerboat Magazine Publisher Jerry Nordskog Remembered

Until I became a publisher 16 years ago, I never fully appreciated Powerboat magazine publisher Jerry Nordskog. The son of the late Bob Nordskog, a Southern California-based industrialist and the legendary longtime publisher of Powerboat, Jerry Nordskog was honorable, generous and loyal.

Nordskog died last week at his residence in Ventura, Calif. He was 86 years old.

Captured here with his wife, Gail, Jerry Nordskog brought the Ventura Offshore Grand Prix to Southern California.

Nordskog picked up the publishing reins of the magazine following his father’s passing in July 1992. Brought on board by then editor-in-chief Eric Colby, I joined the Ventura Harbor-headquartered magazine the following year as its managing editor. I worked on and off for the publication—mostly freelance and with Nordskog as publisher until he sold the magazine 2005—through 2010.

“Like so many second-generation businessmen, Jerry had the unenviable task of following in the enormous footsteps of a larger-than-life father,” recalled Colby, a multi-time award-winning writer who covers offshore racing for speedonthewater.com. “The smartest thing he ever did was not try to fill them. He ran Powerboat magazine as a passionate supporter of his team and the advertisers who supported the publication.

“Jerry took a big chance on me as a 30-something-year-old editor-in-chief and we had an amazing team made up of people I still consider friends today,” he continued. “I wish his wife, Gail, and sons, Mike and Erik, sincere condolences.”

Colby was one of several outstanding editors who led the publication under Nordskog. The man and the magazine he produced were magnets for editorial talent including Doug Thompson, who followed Colby as editor-in-chief in the mid-1990s.

Yet another award-winning journalist, Thompson left his role as the outdoors section editor at the Ventura County Star, a daily newspaper, to join Powerboat.

“An example of Jerry’s dedication to offshore powerboating showed during the 1996 Ventura Offshore Grand Prix,” Thompson said “Jerry. worked hard to pull together the boat racers, city officials, manufacturers and many more to hold the two-day weekend event off the coast. But that event took up a lot of time and energy for more than a year leading up to it, and Jerry never wavered. He made that event happen.”

Worth noting? The Ventura Offshore Grand Prix was the last event of its kind on the West Coast. With help from Powerboat Test Team leader Bob Teague, then the current head of the Pacific Offshore Powerboat Racing Association and the founder of Teague Custom Marine in Valencia, Calif., Nordskog pushed hard for months to see it through.

A Philadelphia gentleman who made his way to Winter Park, Fla., to edit a boating publication, Brett Becker followed Thompson. Becker was among the finest editors—the absolute best for me as a writer, though Colby’s editorial vision was unmatched—Nordskog ever hired for the leading role.

“The first time I met Jerry Nordskog was over breakfast in Ventura when I interviewed for a position at Powerboat magazine,” he recalled. “I had the usual butterflies, but Jerry’s warm demeanor helped put me at ease, and the interview went well enough that I got the job. What I fully understood at that time was that job was my ticket to Southern California, a place I had always wanted to live.

“What I didn’t know at the time is that Powerboat would be the last magazine I would ever work for,” he continued. “The creative freedom Jerry gave us was one of the highlights of my career, and I will always be grateful to him for that opportunity. It literally changed my life for the better.”

Jerry Nordskog led Powerboat magazine through some of its finest years.

Though speedonthewater.com co-publisher Jason Johnson, yet another consummate professional, was the last editor the magazine would ever have as then-new publisher Bonnier Corporation shuttered it in 2011, he was not a Jerry Nordskog hire. But based on his next-level talent, he easily could have been.

Securing top editorial talent and allowing it to flourish is an essential element for any magazine worth reading, but it’s far from the only one. During Nordskog’s tenure, remarkable photographers including the late Tom Newby, Robert Brown and F. Pierce Williams delivered thousands of fine images to art directors Robbie DeStocki and Ricky Damien. Their combined efforts made Powerboat the most consistently beautiful magazine of its kind.

Nordskog also had a keen eye for advertising sales talent. Vicki Newton, who joined the magazine the same week I did as a sale representative, rose to become Powerboat’s associate publisher. Nordskog and Newton, in turn, brought on then-24-year-old Jeff Johnston to sell advertising, first to the West Coast segment of the performance-boating industry and later to the entire national market. Johnston went on to become the general manager of Washington-based Hering Propellers and president/part owner of DCB Performance Marine in Phoenix.

On Nordskog’s watch, Johnston and Newton became members of the Powerboat magazine Test Team. So, too, did test-drivers John Tomlinson and Steven David, a pair of world champions from the offshore and hydroplane racing worlds.

“Jerry was an incredibly kind soul and he will be missed,” said Johnston, who recently joined Octane Marine as the Phoenix-based company’s sales and marketing manager. “I’ll never forget him. I don’t think anyone who worked for him will.”

Nor will this publisher, whose professional luck changed forever—and for the good—when a kind, soft-spoken man named Jerry Nordskog hired him 32 years ago.

Devout in his Christian faith, Nordskog made everyone he worked with feel valued. Even when the magazine couldn’t really afford them, generous salary increases every year were the norm. As it was for his father, the integrity of the Powerboat Performance Trials was sacred to him, as was his commitment to publishing the highest-quality print magazine possible.

Jerry Nordskog truly was a man to admire. As Johnston noted, he’ll never be forgotten by anyone blessed to work with him.

May he rest in peace.

Editor’s note: Matt Trulio is the founder and co-publisher of speedonthewater.com, a daily online news site covering the high-performance powerboating world.

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