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Self-described "water rat" Joe Silverberg teaches sailing at the Memorial Union. - Michelle Stocker/The Capital Times

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Since 1939, sailing enthusiasts have tooled around Madison lakes with the Hoofers sailing club. In that time, the club has grown to be the second-largest inland sailing club in the country.

New members -- the only requirement is membership in the Memorial Union -- can take lessons from 78-year-old Joe Silverberg. Once a member has a rating on a particular boat, they have unlimited access to go sailing during regular club hours.

Silverberg was born in Milwaukee but came to Madison when he was two years old and never left. He graduated from Madison East and earned a law degree from UW-Madison. But after practicing law for a year, he decided the law wasn't for him "because I sometimes judged the clients, and lawyers aren't suppose to judge the clients."

Silverberg later founded the QTI Group, an employment agency, and worked there for nearly 30 years. He sold the business in the mid-1980s.

Silverberg talked with 77 Square about his life on the water and teaching a physical activity at 78.

How did you start in sailing?

I lived on Sherman Avenue as a kid. A friend of mine got an old, used wooden snipe sailboat and his brother, who was a teacher at Central High, had a part-time job as a lifesaver with the University Lifesaving Service. And he taught his brother and I to sail. I was 11. And I got an old, second-hand, wooden snipe sailboat. These snipe sailboats now are real fancy and they're made out of fiberglass and real light. They used to be very high with very few adjustments.

So you've had essentially a lifelong love of sailing?

I am what they call a water rat.

Why do you love sailing so much?

It's very environmentally friendly. We borrow the wind but for an instant and return it to nature untethered. And it's always problem solving -- the wind comes up from a different direction and you've got a problem and you've gotta adjust to it. So you're always making adjustments. It's not like motorboating where you set the throttle and away you go.

Where has sailing taken you?

Mostly on inland lakes on Wisconsin. But I have sailed in the Caribbean and the islands off of Vancouver, British Columbia.

What all do you do as an instructor with the Hoofers?

I give a ground (on land) school a week. That's the indoctrination to how the Hoofers operates. I give usually at least one beginning six-hour sailing lesson a week. I give a lecture on the adjustments you have to make in heavy weather once or twice a week. I give lessons on the Badger Sloop several times a week.

Is there a typical student you teach?

No. They're from all ages. I'm 78 and I think I'm the oldest active member. But we've had guys up in their 80s still sailing and participating.

Sailing is not like riding in a motorboat -- it's something you need physical strength and dexterity for, isn't it?

That's an understatement. I went to a physical therapist today and she said for guys my age I'm in the 99th percentile.

What's your secret?

Being active. I went out for boxing as a kid but I was so lousy they made me the manager. I used to run and I used to run in all of these fun runs. I went in 25 consecutive Portage and Paddles, but I gave that up at 75 because the Hamilton Street hill got too steep and the canoe got too heavy.

What do your pupils say when they see their instructor is 78?

We have evaluations after each lesson and I get very good evaluations. I kind of con them into thinking they're getting lessons from an old salt. I'm a pseudo-salt.

How long do you intend to keep doing this?

Oh, as long as I'm vertical.

Is this a job or volunteer work?

It's how I support my personal sailboat. I get paid and it's the only account I have that is a separate account for my wife and I.

How much do you sail recreationally?

I own a nice sailboat and I got out on Sundays. It's a 26-foot boat. I need one other person. If the other person can follow instructions we can go out.

What would you do if you weren't sailing?

I'd probably cut the grass and the ivy at my house and my house would be in better repair than it is.