Fearsome patriarch of prominent musical family
ice bath for her swollen feet.
She and her paddleboard came ashore at the Southernmost Beach Resort in Key West about 11 a.m. Wednesday, after approximately 27 hours riding swells in the Straits.
She has to download data from a GPS tracker from the catamaran to have the exact time it took and the miles she traveled, she said.
Family and friends from Fort Lauderdale awaited her arrival in the Conch Republic.
“I was stoked to see everybody there,” Burgess said. “It was a really welcoming feeling. They were cheering.”
Though she was sleep deprived by Wednesday afternoon, Burgess said she didn’t want to risk a nap, fearing she’d sleep through the night and miss dinner and celebrating with her friends.
“The whole thing is a blur,” Burgess said when asked what was most memorable about the ride. “I haven’t really processed it yet.”
Burgess’ adventure began at Hemingway International Yacht Club of Havana on Tuesday when she launched her stand-up board about 7:15 a.m.
Kam said Burgess had been challenged by side winds, choppy seas and wide patches of seaweed that threatened to snare the fins of her board.
She had to stay focused because the wind “was throwing me around a lot,” Burgess said. “My legs are what’s sore. I was in a squat the entire time.”
At night, she followed the moonlight and a 44-foot catamaran called Sunluver that carried her crew and Capt. Bob Olin.
And she was motivated by memories of her late Godmother, Lori Kelley, and “best friend,” Mufasa, a 17-year-old Yorkie who both passed away recently.
“Victoria promised her dog that she’d be successful at this before he died,” Olin said.
Burgess had hoped to use a personal, satellite-based navigation system so supporters could follow her ride, but the sea had other plans.
“My GPS tracker fell off of my board after the second hour and sunk into the deep blue, and nobody knew where we were for a while,” Burgess said. “But we made it.”
A Pompano Beach Fire Rescue Inspector and former firefighter/paramedic, Burgess said before the crossing that she wished to inspire women and young girls to strive toward their “wildest ideas, no matter what obstacles get in the way.”
She powered through tests presented by the sea and left some of the men in her team in her wake, including Kam.
“Three of us were out there with her, doing relays of an hour each,” Kam said. “After about 70 miles, it got too rough for us.”
She documented some of her trip preparations and journey on a Facebook page. Burgess has applied to Guinness World Records for speed and distance records and the organization will review it all.
After her accomplishment, Burgess said she would not attempt another long, solo row across the ocean. “I’d be up for another challenge, but nothing specific with paddle crossings at the moment,” she said.
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel .com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta
NEW YORK — Joseph Jackson, the strong, fearsome patriarch of the musical Jackson family, has died, according to a person close to the family.
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss the topic publicly, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Jackson had died but had no additional information. He was 89.
Jackson was a guitarist who put his own musical ambitions aside to work in the steel mills to support his wife and nine children in Gary, Ind. But he far surpassed his own dreams through his children, particularly his exceptionally gifted seventh child, Michael. Fronted by the then-pint-sized wonder and brothers Jermaine, Marlon, Tito and Jackie, the Jackson 5 was an instant sensation in 1969 and became the first phase of superstardom for the Jackson family.
“Papa Joe,” as he would become known, ruled through his stern, intimidating and unflinching presence, which became so indelible it was part of black popular culture, even referenced in song and on TV.
“This is bad, real bad Michael Jackson, Now I’m mad, real mad Joe Jackson,” Kanye West rhymed in Keri Hilson’s 2009 hit, “Knock You Down.”
Michael and other siblings would allege physical abuse at their father’s hands.
LaToya Jackson would go as far as to accuse him of sexual abuse in the early 1990s, when she was estranged from her entire family, but she later recanted, saying her former husband had coerced her to make such claims. She and her father later reconciled.
By the time they were adults, most of the Jackson siblings had dismissed him as their manager; Michael and Joseph’s relationship was famously fractured; Michael Jackson revered his mother Katherine but kept his distance from Joseph.
Joseph Walter Jackson was born in Fountain Hill, Ark., on July 26, 1928, the eldest of four children. His father, Samuel Jackson, was a high school teacher, and his mother, Crystal Lee King, was a housewife.
The couple split up when Jackson was 12. He moved with his father to Oakland, Calif., while his mother moved to East Chicago, Ind. When he turned 18, he moved to Indiana to live near his mother. It was there that he met and married Katherine Scruse.
In the 1950s, he had tried to launch his own music career as a guitarist, but he came to realize the truly gifted musicians in his family were his children.
He launched a group in 1962 that featured his three eldest sons — Jackie, Tito and Jermaine — and two neighbors.
He eventually replaced the neighbors with brothers Michael and Marlon, and the Jackson Five went professional in 1966.
Michael, who joined the group at age 8, was its showstopper from the beginning. Joe Jackson literally drove his kids to success, taking them around the country looking for singing engagements and recording opportunities.
Randy, the youngest Jackson brother, replaced Jermaine in the mid-1970s when the group left Motown and became The Jacksons.
While Michael’s success as a solo performer would eventually dwarf that of the rest of his family, Janet would become another multiplatinum superstar; Joe Jackson initially managed her career too. But after she put out “Control,” her breakthrough album at 19, she too would sever managerial ties with her father.
By 2005, no longer involved in his children’s careers, Joseph Jackson had launched a boot camp for aspiring hiphop artists, promoting lyrics without vulgarity and sponsoring competitions for young artists from across the country. He spent most of his time at a home in Las Vegas and traveled the country auditioning talent for the competition.
Joe Jackson is survived by his wife, his children and more than two dozen grandchildren.