Podcasts about Windsurfing

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Best podcasts about Windsurfing

Latest podcast episodes about Windsurfing

Good Jibes with Latitude 38
Cal Sailing Club on Volunteer-Run Community Sailing

Good Jibes with Latitude 38

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2025 52:19


This week's host, Ryan Foland, is joined by the Executive Committee aka ExComm of the Cal Sailing Club to chat providing safe, cheap, and fun sailing & windsurfing for all! In this jam-packed episode, you'll hear Commodore Nicho Waton, Vice Commodore Isha Mishra, Third Vice Commodore Shreyas Chand, and Secretary Sara Zimmerman. Hear the moments that made them fall in love with sailing in the Bay Area, their unique membership & volunteering model, why you don't need to have your own boat, how to learn to windsurf, and the famous alumni of the club. Learn more about the Cal Sailing Club at Cal-Sailing.org and on Instagram @CalSailingClub, and connect with Ryan at Ryan.Online

Rozmowy w RMF FM
Windsurfing wg. Mai Dziarnowskiej. "Nie spodziewałam się, że zostanę sportowcem"

Rozmowy w RMF FM

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2025 9:39


Gdy pytamy sportowców o początki ich kariery i o to, dlaczego obrali w życiu właśnie taką drogę, zazwyczaj słyszymy o: wsparciu bliskich, treningach od bardzo młodego wieku i żelaznej konsekwencji w dążeniu do celu. Cezary Dziwiszek z redakcji sportowej RMF FM od naszej windsurferki, olimpijki z Paryża Mai Dziarnowskiej, usłyszał trochę inną historię. Taką, która wcale nie musiała zaprowadzić sportsmenki do miejsca, w którym jest teraz.

My First Season
Steve Riely

My First Season

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2024 66:17


My guest today had an impressive career at Club Med, spanning from 1985 to 2000. His journey began as a 20-year-old Texas A&M university student on summer break, visiting Club Med Paradise Island as a G.M. and inspired by his uncle who worked for Club Med for seven years. His first season as a G.O. was at Club Med Paradise Island, where he specialized in Sailing and Windsurfing. Over the years, he took on roles including Chief of Sports, Public Relations, Annex Restaurant Manager, and ultimately, Chief of Village. His career led him to stunning destinations like Tahiti, Greece, Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, and France. Who else could I be talking about?! Please help me welcome, from Texas, the one and only, Steve Riely! With someone like Steve, whose Club Med career spanned an impressive 15 years, it was impossible to cover everything—but we still managed to dive into some fascinating highlights. Steve shares unforgettable stories, including the evacuation of guests and G.O.s from Club Med Haiti to Montreal during the 1986 overthrow of the Duvalier regime, his time as Public Relations aboard the Club Med 1 in 1991, and the opening of Club Med Columbus Isle in 1992. We also touch on a mischievous golf buggy escapade in Sandpiper and Steve's passion for everything Elvis. Prepare for an action-packed hour of incredible tales from a true master storyteller. Enjoy the episode! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available to download on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review on Apple podcasts.  If you'd like to check out RunSedona 2025 which we spoke about, see the link below: https://www.runsedona.com/    

My First Season
Dan Bittle

My First Season

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2024 56:53


My guest today worked for Club Med from 1994 to 1998. His first season was in Club Med Ixtapa as a Petit Club G.O. During his time in Club Med, he was also a Circus, Sailing, Windsurfing, Waterski, and Ski Instructor. He was a pole vaulter and nationally ranked springboard diver in high school, and he has a very famous cousin. From Fort Collins, Colorado but now living in Florida, please help me welcome, Dan Bittle! Dan graduated from Arizona State University with a BS in Exercise Science/Physical Education, and it was a postcard from Club Med sent to him by a friend that started Dan on his Club Med journey. Dan worked in the Club Med resorts of Sandpiper, Copper Mountain, Sonora Bay, Punta Cana, Eleuthera, and Cancun. Dan is a 90s G.O., so he comes with a lot of stories and I hope you are ready! Please enjoy this episode with Dan! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available to download on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review on Apple podcasts. 

Bar Karate - The Sailing Podcast
Bar Karate - the Sailing Podcast Ep279, Emma Wilson Windsurfing Bronze Medallist

Bar Karate - The Sailing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2024 92:12


Published 20 October 2024This is an interview we have wanted to do for a while. Watching the Paris Olympic Windsurfing, we saw a dominant performance from Emma Wilson, but then come the final where one race decides all, we saw heartbreak. Emma is such a cool person, so much fun to hang out with, so when she was ready to chat we were ready and waiting. Have a listen and hear from a champion. We loved this chat and we know you will as well. Enjoy!#emmawilson_gbr7 #paris2024 #britishsailing #iqfoilclass #olympicsailing #vaikobi #vaikobisail #radixnutrition #barkarate #sailingpodcast #barkarateconversations #worldsailingofficial #sailing #boat #ocean #sport #voile #sail #sea #offshore #sailors #sailingworld #extremesailing #foils #yacht #yachts #saillife #instayacht #sailingblog #instasail

The History of Video Games
1982 - Mermaid

The History of Video Games

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2024 77:57


With a name like Mermaid, a game can be so many things! Is it a scramble type game? Pac-Man or Dig-Dug? Is it a mini-golf game where you play as an octopus like in Marine-Date? Actually it is WindSurfing....I don't know how that is related but that's what it is, and it's pretty good too! We review Mermaid as well as Chopper Command from Dan Gorlin, Pro Tennis from Data East, and The Pit by Zilec on todays episode, check it out!Website -https://historyofvideogamespodcast.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/HistoryofVideo1Email - historyvgpodcast@gmail.comHosts - Ben & WesMusic - Arranged and recorded by BenTransition Music - Arrangement from Viewtiful Joe

Todd For Breakfast - Triple M 98.1 Geraldton
Everything Geraldton: Paul, Windsurfing and the Wave Rally World Championships

Todd For Breakfast - Triple M 98.1 Geraldton

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2024 4:26


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journey with Jake
From Snowkiting to Polar Bears: Jennie Milton's Unforgettable Journey

Journey with Jake

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2024 59:13 Transcription Available


#121 - Jennie Milton's story is a thrilling ride through the world of extreme sports, from her vibrant upbringing in her parents' sports store to becoming a pioneer in kite surfing and snow kiting. Jennie's early exposure to activities like windsurfing, sailing, and skiing laid the foundation for her adventurous spirit and resilience. Her journey is a testament to how embracing adventure can shape a positive outlook on life, even when faced with personal health challenges.Listen as Jennie, also known as Adrenajen, shares her seamless transition from working in her parents' ski store to opening her own shop, Adrenaline Sports, catering to the growing demand for extreme sports gear. She recounts her first exhilarating encounter with kitesurfing in Hawaii, the trials of learning the sport, and an unforgettable heli-skiing adventure in Alaska with guide Steve. Jennie's narrative is a thrilling testament to breaking barriers in male-dominated sports and pushing the limits of what's possible.From mastering the delicate balance of finesse and strength in kiteboarding to navigating the extreme conditions of snow kiting, Jennie's experiences are both exhilarating and inspiring. Hear about her heart-pounding polar bear encounter in Arctic Village and her journey of resilience after a serious health diagnosis. Jennie's story is a powerful reminder of the joy and empowerment that come from pushing beyond our comfort zones and cherishing the small moments of happiness, no matter the circumstances. Join us for an incredible conversation that will inspire you to embrace your own daring pursuits and find joy in life's adventures.Visit geneticinsights.co and use the code "DISCOVER25" to enjoy a sweet 25% off your first purchase. Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind. Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.

On The Runs
On The Runs 121 - Olympic EXTRAVAGANZA

On The Runs

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2024 86:07


In this episode, Six Star Erika and Ptara recap their favorite moments from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. They discuss their summer experiences and how they watched the Olympics. They talk about the unique opening ceremony and the controversy surrounding it. They also highlight some notable athletes who are breaking stereotypes and inspiring others. They share their favorite sports to watch, such as rugby sevens, skateboarding, and table tennis. They also mention the intense steeplechase race and the hilarious commentary by Snoop Dogg. The conversation in this part of the recording focused on the presence of celebrities at the Olympics, the experiences of athletes in the Olympic Village, and the gold, silver, and bronze athletes of the 2024 Olympic Games. The main takeaways include the entertainment value of celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Flava Flav at the Olympics, the financial challenges faced by some athletes, the provision of 300,000 condoms in the Olympic Village, and the impressive performances of athletes like Safan Hassan, Simone Biles, and Sha'Carri Richardson. The conversation covers various topics related to the Olympics, including the backgrounds of athletes, the impact of certain athletes on social media, and the controversy surrounding certain events. The hosts discuss the showboating behavior of some athletes and the importance of sportsmanship. They also mention standout performances in diving, track and field, and relay races. The conversation concludes with a humorous discussion about the potential inclusion of new sports in future Olympics. The conversation in this part of the podcast revolves around the hosts discussing which sports they would compete in if they were in the Olympics. They mention rugby, soccer, windsurfing, table tennis, and high jump. They also talk about the closing ceremony of the Olympics and their plans to attend the 2028 Olympics in LA. They express their admiration for the athletes and their achievements, and discuss the importance of supporting and sponsoring athletes. They also mention some heartwarming stories from the Olympics, such as the last finisher in the women's marathon and a young boy who ran alongside a marathon runner.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Summer Recap12:53 Favorite Sports: Rugby Sevens, Skateboarding, BMX Biking17:28 Other Sports: Table Tennis, Swimming, Gymnastics24:14 Track and Field Events: False Starts, Steeplechase25:14 Snoop Dogg's Commentary and Presence26:35 Unforgettable Performances and Inspiring Stories31:28 Inside the Olympic Village35:43 Favorite Athletes and Memorable Moments43:37 Field Events: Showcasing Talent and Skill47:07 Heartwarming Stories of Athletes Overcoming Adversity50:52 BTS Enlistment and Anticipation52:41 Debate on Olympic Sports53:44 Controversy Surrounding a French Pole Vaulter54:34 Unsportsmanlike Showboating in Spor01:01:57 Favorite Events from the Olympics01:04:40 Windsurfing and Table Tennis01:05:06 Face Slapping as a Sport01:05:26 Closing Ceremony and LA 202801:10:07 Admiring Athletes and Their Performances01:14:38 Gender Parity in Sports01:17:49 Looking Forward to the Paralympics01:23:10 Appreciating the Dedication of Olympic AthletesStrava GroupLinktree - Find everything hereInstagram - Follow us on the gram YouTube - Subscribe to our channel Patreon - Support usThreadsEmail us at OnTheRunsPod@gmail.com

Must Have Seen TV
New Gidget, "Windsurfing Lesson"

Must Have Seen TV

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2024 69:46


SUMMER SPECIAL! This week on Must Have Seen TV, Brett and Ethan talk about the New Gidget episode "Windsurfing Lesson." Move over Sally Field! Moondoggie can get it! And who knew a windsurfing instructor could be part of a floral shop dynasty?!Subscribe to our Patreon for new episodes every other weekSubscribe to Must Have Seen TV on YouTube, Acast, iTunes, Deezer, and moreFollow Brett, Ethan, and Must Have Seen TV on InstagramPodcast art by Dyna MoeTheme song: "I'm in Favor of Friendship" by The Five Smith BrothersShow less Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Word in Season with Doug Stringer
DIVINE WARNINGS: Are you tethered and connected for the coming storms ahead?

A Word in Season with Doug Stringer

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2024 21:50


God wants His church to prepare for the days ahead and be an ark of refuge in times of trouble. By preparing and getting in alignment to God's kingdom principles, both individually and corporately, we can be ready to be a help to others.Windsurfing and speedboating in life may be fun and exciting, but when major storms come, we'd better be rooted and grounded in the Lord. We need stability in relationship to God and His Church. We need more than excitement and hype, we need His Word, His Wisdom, His Presence, His Divine Guidance and Direction.There is such need in the world around us today. So many are shipwrecked in the sea of despair. God is calling His people, you and me, to be rise up in these stormy days and be an ark of refuge. Noah is a man who heeded God's divine warning and prepared. Hebrews 11:7 tells us that “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear [and] prepared an ark for the saving of his household.” Noah lived in dark days full of corruption and immorality. But he heeded God's warning that judgment was coming and prepared accordingly. As a result, his household was saved, as were all the living things that came with him on the ark. (Also see Genesis 6–9)This is where we are today- what will you do? Tune in as Doug shares how to stay tethered to God in the days ahead.

The Wing Life Podcast
Episode #59 - Laura Rudolph & Michael Näf

The Wing Life Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2024 64:17


Laure Rudolph and Michael Näf join us on the show to talk about:- Their intro into wind sports (from Windsurfing to Wing Foiling) - Living in Switzerland and the many lakes to explore - Product development at Ensis- Helping youth access the sport- Wing Foil Camping adventures in their family van - And much more. Visit: https://www.instagram.com/_lau_ritaa_  & https://www.instagram.com/rawham.mcl (00:00) - - Introduction and Glimpse into Switzerland's Windy Waters (03:01) - - From Windsurfing to Wing Foiling: A Journey of Progression (10:11) - - Competitions and the Exciting Evolution of Wing Foiling (25:13) - - Overcoming Barriers: Making Wing Foiling More Accessible (34:41) - - Feedback in Product Development (37:53) - - Diverse Team in Gear Development (40:15) - - Growing Popularity of Wing Foiling (43:00) - - Exploring Unique Water Sports in Switzerland (57:36) - - Camping in a Van for Easy Access to Water Sports This episode is brought to you by the Wing Foil Expedition in La Ventana, Baja California Sur. Are you looking for an all-inclusive wing foiling adventure this January with oceanfront accommodations? Visit https://winglifepodcast.com/wing-foil-trips to learn more. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Wing Life Podcast
Episode #52 - Kylie Belloeuvre

The Wing Life Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2024 97:06


Kylie joins us on the show from her home in France to talk about:- Her intro into wind sports- Her early days of windsurf racing- Her entry into wing foiling- Working with the team at JP & Neilpryde- Her favourite spots around the world- And more.Visit: https://www.instagram.com/kylie.blv/ (00:00) - - Introduction and Home Spot in France (03:02) - - Challenging Conditions and Progression (10:02) - - Transitioning from Windsurfing to Wing Foiling (17:49) - - Competing in Different Disciplines (36:38) - - Prioritizing Safety in Wing Foiling (47:18) - - Strategies for Retrieving a Lost Board During a Race (49:16) - - Mastering Body Dragging and Techniques (51:15) - - Exploring New Spots and Cultures Through Competitions (52:44) - - Balancing Engineering Studies with Wing Foiling (55:38) - - Gratitude for Sponsors and Support (01:10:56) - - Favourite Gear Setups for Windsurfing and Wing Foiling This episode is brought to you by the Wing Foil Expedition in La Ventana, Baja California Sur. Are you looking for an all-inclusive wing foiling adventure this January with oceanfront accommodations? Visit https://winglifepodcast.com/wing-foil-trips to learn more. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Windsurfing Podcast
What is the Perfect Windsurfing Event? - Ben & Paul Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2024 122:51


Lets talk about the perfect windsurfing event.. what makes it? What elements are needed? Party? Pros vs Amateurs? Brands? Media?

The Wing Life Podcast
Episode # 49 - Erwan Jauffroy

The Wing Life Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2024 71:11


Erwan Jauffroy, creator of the Watersports Zone on Youtube, joins us from his home in France to talk about:- His passion for Windsurfing, Wingfoil, Kitesurfing and more. - How he found wind and his early days of windsurfing- How he started working in the wind industry- Why he started the Watersports Zone- Cool travel destinations he's enjoyed- Where he thinks the industry is going Visit: https://www.youtube.com/@watersportszone This episode is brought to you by the Wing Foil Expedition in La Ventana, Baja California Sur. Are you looking for an all-inclusive wing foiling adventure this January with oceanfront accommodations? Visit https://winglifepodcast.com/wing-foil-trips to learn more. ★ Support this podcast ★

RNZ: Nights
New book marks 50 years of windsurfing in New Zealand

RNZ: Nights

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2024 11:15


The history of windsurfing has been captured in a new book, In the Footstraps of Giants. Author and former grandmaster windsurfing world champion Bruce Trotter speaks to Emile Donovan.

FCC Review Preview
Episode 71: Windsurfing Edomites

FCC Review Preview

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2024 13:45


The Windsurfing Podcast
What_s going on in the Windsurfing world_ _ Paul and Ben Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2024 108:58


What is going on in the windsurfing world....

The Windsurfing Podcast
Best Windsurfing Brand - - Ben & Paul Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2024 71:00


I know i know... it's impossible to say but intrested to hear your thoughts. As the PWA/IWT release the Constructors rankings from the tour

Everyday Badassery
How to ADVENTURE HARD on Bonaire WITHOUT scuba diving (ep.49)

Everyday Badassery

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2023 46:37


My boyfriend sucks at snorkeling and I took him to a scuba diving island and he adventured like a badass. From night time snorkeling to see one of the coolest things in the water (ostracods) to landsailing, wind surfing and beach clubbing - in this episode, Meatball talks about moving past fear (and embarrassment) to try new adventures.

The Windsurfing Podcast
Antoine Albeau - Luderitz Speed Update

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2023 90:24


The Legend that is Antoine Albeau is joining us in the LIVE studio from Luderitz. So any questions on Speed, Luderitz or Windsurfing in general tune in!

Creative Destruction Podcast
DCOMS - Stepsister From Planet Weird

Creative Destruction Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2023 57:13


Is Cosmo Cola a red flag or a green flag? What kind of life does a gasbag live? How would you go about attaining a body if you were a gasbag? Windsurfing is cool. 

The Windsurfing Podcast
Winners & Losers - Aloha Classic Recap - 2023 - IWT_PWA

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2023 186:36


We look back over the Aloha Classic and work out the Winners and losers! ...plus go into Windsurfing scene and competition scene in general

Fitzy & Wippa
We Speak To The Man Who Survived Colliding With A Whale While Windsurfing In Sydney

Fitzy & Wippa

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2023 42:18


In the craziest what are the chances moment ever, a man has collided with a whale on a Sydney beach and has lived to tell us the tail.

The Principles of Performance
Podcast 065 – An Integrative Approach to Rehab and Training with Michael Mullin

The Principles of Performance

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2023 76:00


Michael Mullin is a clinically-based athletic trainer with over 30 years of experience in training and rehabilitation. He is the Owner/Clinician of Integrative Rehab Training LLC and sees clients out of a studio at his home in Cumberland Center, ME. He is an NATA Certified Athletic Trainer and a registered Physical Therapy Assistant in California. He is on the adjunct faculty at the University of New England teaching in the Master's Program for Athletic Training and is a Certified Clinician through the Postural Restoration Institute. Michael specializes in the treatment, rehabilitation and training of individuals and has worked with all levels of athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL teams, the US Ski Team, Top Ten PGA golfers and gold medal Olympic athletes. Michael has also co-authored a book titled Comprehensive Approach to Sports Injury Management, a chapter in Knee Ligament Rehabilitation called “New Techniques in Cartilage Repair and Replacement” and published articles in multiple professional journals and mainstream publications such as Training & Conditioning, Shape, Women's Sports & Fitness, Women's Sports Connection, Men's Fitness, Skiing, and Windsurfing magazines.   Links: https://www.mjmatc.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjmatc Facebook: https://www.mjmatc.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmatc/

The Windsurfing Podcast
11 Windsurfing Questions - Ep 2 - The Big Windsurfing Quiz

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2023 94:22


11 Windsurfing Questions some are visual... so i apolagise for the audio only! Paul Dunn from Boom windsurfing is the Quiz guest!

Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

Ephesians 5:18 commands us: "Be being filled with the Holy Spirit." Pastor Derek explains what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and how we can be filled with the Spirit of God, and the difference it will make in our lives.

Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

Ephesians 5:18 commands us: "Be being filled with the Holy Spirit." Pastor Derek explains what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and how we can be filled with the Spirit of God, and the difference it will make in our lives.

The Windsurfing Podcast
Windsurfing Legends.. - Ep 2 - Paul & Ben - Weekly Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2023 126:50


It's Legends Week... let's discuss who makes the Windsurfing 'HALL OF FAME' Special guess.. Quiz.. plus chat!! :)

The Windsurfing Podcast
They Killed Fanatic! - Ep.1 - NEW Weekly Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2023 113:48


Ben Proffitt and Paul VB teaming up for a weekly podcast (every Thursday) Featuring: Industry News Beach Rumours/Gossip Windsurfings Biggest Brain Plus loads more.. Tune in...

W cieniu sportu
Maciej Rutkowski: jestem gościem, który stopniowo przesuwa barierę #OnetAudio

W cieniu sportu

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2023 17:59


Całość bezpłatnie TYLKO w aplikacji Onet Audio.  Ile trzeba poświęcić, żeby zostać windsurfingowym mistrzem świata? Ile potrzeba determinacji, pieniędzy, pokory? Ile odwagi? Maciek Rutkowski o swojej drodze do sukcesu opowiada Łukaszowi Kadziewiczowi. – Tata kiedyś mnie posadził i mówi: tak średnio ci idzie, może byś przejął biznes? – wspomina z uśmiechem. Bo chociaż wszyscy pytają go o trudności i wyrzeczenia, on przekonuje, że jego sportowa kariera to po prostu… dobra zabawa.

Bar Karate - The Sailing Podcast
Bar Karate - the Sailing Podcast, Ep208 Björn Dunkerbeck!!!!!!!

Bar Karate - The Sailing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2023 93:31


Published 7 May 2023We chat to Björn Dunkerbeck! Possibly the greatest athlete of all time. A man who dominated Windsurfing and is still passionate about it today. This is a discussion not to be missed. We may have been fan boys a little bit, but who can blame us.42 World Championship Titles:7 × PWA Wave World Champion 1990, 1992–1995, 1999, 200112 × PWA Overall World Champion 1988–19995 × PWA Course Racing World Champion 1990–19945 × PWA Racing World Champion 1995–19999 × PWA Slalom World Champion 1988–1994, 2005, 20111 × PWA Freestyle World Champion 19982 × ISA Speed World Champion 1994, 20051 × ISWC Speed World Champion 20163 × European Champion#bjorndunkerbeck #redbull #surfschool #interview #windsurf #barkarate #sailingpodcast #barkaratesailorslarger #barkarateconversations #worldsailingofficial #sailing #boat #ocean #sport #voile #sail #sea #offshore #sailors #sailingworld #extremesailing #foils #yacht #yachts #saillife #instayacht #sailingblog #instasail@redbull

Unstoppable Mindset
Episode 122 – Unstoppable Reverent and Adaptive Sports Innovator with Ross W. Lilley

Unstoppable Mindset

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2023 67:25


Ross W. Lilley grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Later he received his Masteries in Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. He moved to Massachusetts to accept the Senior minister role at South Acton Congregational Church for nearly 20 years. However, he was always feeling a different call. Ross grew up with an interest in persons with disabilities and always felt and saw around him the lack of understand and discrimination these people experienced. When he graduated high school in New Jersey he took up the sport of windsurfing. While serving in his ministerial role, Ross began think about and eventually forming AdccesSport America, a company to help teach windsurfing and other sports to persons with disability. When his son was born with a disability Ross felt that he was destoned to help his son and others through his dream. In 2001 Ross left the church and officially took on the full-time position of leading his company. Now, he works with thousands of persons with disability teaching them a number of sports and showing them that no matter their disability they can do more than they thought. He and his staff teaches soccer, tennis, baseball, basketball and, of course, windsurfing as well as other sports. Ross' story is much more than an inspirational one. You will see how he is even developing new technologies that he hopes will greatly assist even more persons whose mobility skills are seemingly limited. You will, I think, love what Ross is doing. I hope what you hear on this episode will show you that all of us are more unstoppable than we think especially when we have a team to help. About the Guest: Rev. Ross W. Lilley grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, graduating from high school in 1975. That same year, he began windsurfing on the Jersey shore. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1978 and Masters in Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School in 1983. He was the Senior Minister of South Acton Congregational Church for close to 20 years. In that time the seeds for founding AccesSportAmerica began to grow. In 1983, Ross began developing windsurf adaptations to make that sport more accessible. The endeavor to adapt the sport was part of a greater interest in creating places and activities to overcome disparity and discrimination in the disabled community. Since that time Ross has been adapting and teaching sports and training for people with disabilities. In 1986 the Lilley's son Joshua was born with cerebral palsy and resulting spastic quadriplegia. Although Joshua uses an electric wheelchair and can walk with assistance, Josh and Ross began windsurfing together when Josh was four years old. Eventually the two sailed in their own windsurf marathons. Because of their efforts, the Lilleys have appeared in over twenty publications and televised programs including Good Morning America, Inside Edition, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald and American Windsurfer Ross and his family have received several awards including being a two time recipient of the Heroes Among Us Award from the Boston Celtics, honoring "people who have made an overwhelming impact on the lives of others…" and presented to individuals who, "…through their unique commitment and humanitarian spirit, have made exceptional and lasting contributions to our community". Ross is known for creating adaptations and game systems to truly include all people in sport and training. Most recently the TheraTrek, gait training system was patented after more than a decade of research and development. Rev. Ross Lilley lives in Acton, MA with his wife Jean and their son Joshua. Their daughter, Hanna, lives in Maui but still works camps and runs clinics with Ross and AccesSportAmerica. Social Media Links: Our website is www.goaccess.org Instagram is AccesSport Facebook AccesSportAmerica About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:16 Hi there once again, it is time for another episode of unstoppable mindset today, we get to meet Ross Lilley, we're actually Reverend Ross, Lilley Ross has got a story to tell. He is not a person directly as I recall with a disability, but he has a son who is and he has had a long time interest in that. And there's a lot more to his story than that. And I'm not going to give it away. So Ross, welcome to unstoppable mindset. How are you?   Ross Lilley  01:49 Thank you, Mike. Oh, great. Thank you. We are in our mid we got here just in time.   Michael Hingson  01:56 Right. And I was just gonna say, if people haven't figured it out by now we record these podcasts. And sometimes there's a little bit of a delay before they get up just because we do have some backlogs. And in Ross's case, we are taping or taping my gosh, you can tell how old I am. We are recording this episode on January 23 2023. And for us the temperature got down to 26 degrees here in Victorville and you have a snowstorm.   Ross Lilley  02:25 Oh my, wow. Yeah. I work with people that are all younger than me, pretty much. So I say tape all the time. We put out a lot of videos for our training sessions. And they're all wondering what to tape is.   Michael Hingson  02:41 I remember when we lived in New Jersey and I worked in New York at the World Trade Center. We often and saw among other things, one or wolf on I think it was channel two in New York. And he always said let's go to the videotape. Well, they weren't videotaping back by that time. Well, let's let's learn a little bit about you tell me about you kind of growing up and just sort of how things got started and all that.   Ross Lilley  03:07 Sure. I I grew up in New Jersey, and I remember Warner well. Yeah, I'm, I'm old too now. But like, let me see I was a if we're going back that far. I I always had an interest in in inclusion, I guess I would say and I used to coach and and create things where people could get involved a lot more a lot of sports stuff. I remember even growing up and always was kind of the one who was like, let's get a game going and getting people going and and so one of the sports I really loved was windsurfing. I got to do that when I was high school and I you know it's first paycheck I ever got actually was to buy a wind surfer and anyways fast forward a little bit I went to for for no good reason I went to seminary to become a minister   Michael Hingson  04:06 and there must have been a reason yeah there is you   Ross Lilley  04:09 when you when you go to seminary they all everybody you sit with your classmates in a circle and they all talk about their call the so called call and and in some of these stories go on and on and on and people tugging and God pulling and all that kind of stuff. And my was just, it just sort of hit me that I probably should go to everybody told me I'd be a good minister and I should go and I just somehow said okay, I gave into this process, but there was no no hit on the head kind of experience like a lot of these other folks. But anyways, my mentors all taught me that good, good religion, like good life was inclusive, and that if everybody couldn't come it wasn't maybe worth taking the ride.   Michael Hingson  04:54 Since you started down that road of the whole concept of inclusion. Well   Ross Lilley  05:00 I think it was just something in me and then I, in a resonated when when I had these mentors who were similarly minded, like minded and especially, you know when I could make it so some of the whole market ministry it seemed like I was in the right place. And when so ministry was going that way in at the same time, I was windsurfing, and that was kind of at odds with what I believe because it's a pretty exclusive sport. And so I, I devoted all my spare time to try and make the sport of windsurfing accessible to people of all abilities. You look like have something to say, no, no. Okay. So so I started just going up to people on the beach and saying, You look like I have a disability, you want to go windsurfing, which is really nice. No, no, no under a slapped me, but there you go, they should have. So I used to take people with kind of just will say light ambulation issues out windsurfing and figure out ways to make it more accessible. And even, I made some adaptations, which it turned out I was pretty good at and then I was my son was born in 1986 with cerebral palsy, and spastic quadriplegia tetraplegia. And he became kind of a you know, that's where the rubber would hit the road, I guess is if, if I really believe this about inclusion, I would make a choice there i My wife and I made a choice that everything that we would do, we were going to believe that he could do as well. All the things that we thought were good in our lives, we're going to make a choice that we're going to ram it down his throat that these things were going to be good for him too. So So for good or for bad. He was born into the right or wrong fam family and he became this test pilot for a lot of the things we do. And anyways, we started to to do wind surf marathons. And I found that based on the fact that I found that this sport really excited him to stand where he couldn't stand in a standard for more than 10 minutes, he could stand leaning against me. And we could go for really long distances. And some of these wind surf marathons we did he was seven, eight years old. And we're going a mile out into Cape Cod Bay and back. You know, we did one which was memorable over three hours was 10 Miles net that caught the attention of like the globe and Good Morning America and things like this. And that's how we started our program and proper.   Michael Hingson  07:39 So you, you talk about inclusion. And my note here, are you using the word diversity? How come?   Ross Lilley  07:49 How come I go again?   Michael Hingson  07:52 You call it inclusion? And I don't hear you using the word diversity. Why inclusion and not diversity?   Ross Lilley  08:00 Oh, gosh. I guess they're pretty similar to me. Is there? I don't know if there's a huge difference in my mind.   Michael Hingson  08:09 Well, there shouldn't be. Yeah, but typically, diversity doesn't include disabilities in the discussion, which is why I react well to inclusion because some of us who talk about it, don't let people ever get by with saying, Well, we're in. We're inclusive, but we don't deal with disabilities yet. Well, then you're not inclusive. You can't the word just diversity has been warped, it seems to me and I've said that a number of times on the podcast. So I love it when you are using the word inclusion and inclusive because that's really what it should be about and diversity should be as well, but it's not very rarely do you ever hear disabilities is included in that?   Ross Lilley  08:55 I strongly agree. Yeah, in our program, we have a lot of the when we're going for grants, a lot of people are talking about diversity and how diverse we are. And it and when they when they want that to go along racial lines or whatever I'm I'm always surprised that like we're you know, we're sort of inclusive all it just doesn't occur to me that that that would be our main criteria compared to how we're including so many people have so many abilities. So yeah, I yeah, I always think about inclusion. It's funny.   Michael Hingson  09:33 So how did you end up in Massachusetts from New Jersey although it's not that far of a ride it is still another state and it's a little ways away?   Ross Lilley  09:45 Wow, it's funny I figured my story so boring. I'm I was like I got I got out of college. And I I wanted to be a musician. Although my degree was in economics in mind. or music. And my brother was selling stereos up in Boston. And I came up here just to get a job. And that's how I got up here. And I thought I'd also find it and I thought there was a pretty good musical community up in Boston, I thought I'd get into that. I was a I studied for 10 years with the principal percussionist in the New York Philharmonic, and I thought I could make a go of it as a drummer as a jazz drummer, but I was wrong. Work out on now.   Michael Hingson  10:33 Well, then you ended up in the ministry along the way. Yeah. I guess, actually going into the ministry.   Ross Lilley  10:39 Yeah, we I was, I guess that back to that story there. The when I was selling stereos, and when dreaming about music people, the people who said, everybody knows you should be a minister, but you Ross were people who were also in ministry. And that was they were great to steer me into it. It was it was good idea.   Michael Hingson  11:02 So are you at a church now?   Ross Lilley  11:05 No, I, I left in 2001. To do this full time. Before the pandemic, we had 2000 People coming to the program, each year to do adaptive sport and training. And even before that, when we were you know, 400 is, it was pretty much a full time job while I'm trying to, you know, be at a church as well. So I had to make a choice, that church, church life is a good one, but it's tough. And when I was at a great church, but it's, it's tough. And you know, if you do it, some people do it. So they're, they taken a professional approach more professional than I would take in the strict sense of the world. So they could, they could put it aside at night and, and, you know, kind of decompress and be away from the church. I couldn't I took everything in and and felt it for like everybody, and it just kind of wears on you after a while.   Michael Hingson  11:59 Yeah. Well, and you've kind of gone in a different direction and do sort of the same thing. But you're applying all of it to sports, adaptive sports and disabilities, and so on. So how do you do take your son windsurfing? How does all that work?   Ross Lilley  12:16 Well, now he's is, is 36, and is a pretty big guy. So what I used to do, where I could just pick up with one hand doesn't necessarily work. So when we go in serve now, I'll use a standard or a railing standard, and things like that on the board. And I might have someone on a board with me, we have lots of different rigs that we've created. And, you know, well, my focus won't be necessarily on on the distances we did before, but more of him being able to hold a sail on his own, with me just holding the mass to the sail and things like that. So it's   Michael Hingson  12:52 once again, the same you're on the same board. Yeah.   Ross Lilley  12:55 Right. If, if you and I were to go I windsurfing I would put you on a similar board with to sales, you could be standard or seated to get comfortable with the sale, and I could be in front of you on a second sale. And I could help control your sale. And then as you as you got better, I would go to less stable boards, and you would focus on you know, you could then focus on balance as you had mastered your sales technique. Right?   Michael Hingson  13:25 The whole idea is that you have boards, they have sales, and that's how you move, right?   Ross Lilley  13:31 Faster. In all of our sports, anything we do. The general rule is the faster you move, the more stable you are, when you get going. When you're stable, then you can do a lot more if you're just sitting there getting ready to go. It's pretty wobbly.   Michael Hingson  13:45 You know, I bet sort of like the whole well, a little different sort of like the whole concept of a gyroscope when you spin it fast. It keeps you stable.   Ross Lilley  13:54 Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I like that.   Michael Hingson  13:58 Well, that's that's pretty cool. So you are you're able to do it well. And so do you do you still do a lot of wind surfing with him?   Ross Lilley  14:09 I do more wind surfing with our it's funny you would think I would do a lot but I do more teaching have other folks in our program. Is he doing? So again? What does he do? Josh? On those days, he might come to beach and help us out or might go to a program. But Josh does a lot in your sports in the summer. The way we operate as a sports in the summer are designed for you or your family member to see themselves as athletes as viable athletes, and then to use that as an incentive to train for higher function. And the sports in the summer we have or or windsurfing and Hawaiian Hawaiian outrigger canoeing, stand up paddling, kayaking, and we also have traditional sports like tennis and and soccer and In football that we also apply these inclusive game systems to. And Josh, more times than not, if Josh is at our site and working, Josh will be a part of a crew in an outrigger canoe. He has a fairly functional right hand. So we have all sorts of adaptations where we might, you know, use a Ace wrap to keep his left hand on his bent paddle or something like that. You get a sense of two hands going. But he'll, if he comes down, he's usually paddling more than anything now.   Michael Hingson  15:34 Does he work? Does he have a job? Or is the program kind of what he does? It's kind of a day   Ross Lilley  15:39 program. But they have program. He lives with us though. And yeah, and well, no.   Michael Hingson  15:46 Does your wife wins? Does your wife win serve?   Ross Lilley  15:50 She did. And she doesn't really now. She, we do a sports camp in Florida every year and she comes out and and comes out and help and she's actually pretty skilled at it. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  16:04 That's pretty cool. Maybe she, what does she What does she do? Oh, go ahead.   Ross Lilley  16:08 Where does she she's, she actually works with us right now. She's, she's an interior designer. And, but she left that to work for us. And we also it takes, it takes a lot to you know, raise a kid with a disability and yeah, and to keep me going. I know which side my bread is buttered on.   Michael Hingson  16:34 Good move on your part. Yeah,   Ross Lilley  16:37 she does a lot that she helps teach with us. And she helps train with us as well whenever she can.   Michael Hingson  16:42 We were a two disabilities family. My wife was a chair and a chair her whole life was a T three para, but she passed away in November. So now it is me and a dog and a cat. And, you know, it's it's fun. I miss her and and so on. But at the same time, we we do have a lot of fun. And the dog and the cat keep me honest.   Ross Lilley  17:10 Wow, it's still fresh. That is every day and I'm sure for the rest of your life. Right?   Michael Hingson  17:15 Oh, we'll be we were 15 days shy of being married for two years. Oh, my. Yeah. So it is. It is one of those things, it will be with us. But as I tell people, the Spirit just goes faster than the body sometimes. And that's what happened here.   Ross Lilley  17:30 The spirit goes faster than the body. Yeah, the   Michael Hingson  17:33 spirit moves faster.   Ross Lilley  17:35 Oh, I wish I wish I was preaching now I would use this. Well, there's some good explication of it for me. Wow.   Michael Hingson  17:43 There you go. That's terrific. Well, we we, we function we continue. But tell me, do you do sports in the winter as well? Or what do you do in the winter.   Ross Lilley  17:53 So today we have a special. So we're good at adaptations and inventions. And we've discovered a lot of our athletes who are training more than anything wanted to could walk on a treadmill with assistance. And so we've invented a device, it's a it's a gait training device that will probably sell for like $5,000. And we have a gym when which we specialize in doing gait training with people. So we do a lot of that. And we also go to schools and we train people in Boston public schools and some other schools. And we do a it's a sport based program. And it's also one that we can do online. So and we do tennis, we do tennis and cycling when the weather it's good for cycling, but tennis all year as well.   Michael Hingson  18:43 Yep, cycling, probably not right now.   Ross Lilley  18:46 Well, if it's above 45 degrees, we go out. Well, yeah, but not today.   Michael Hingson  18:52 Not today. That's what I mean. The snow, the snow falling off. And so as a result, not a good time, but yeah, I hear you. So do you have any distinctions or differences regarding kinds of disabilities? Or do you care and or as a disability as a disability as far as it goes?   Ross Lilley  19:15 It certainly is we would take we'll take anyone of any ability disability from ages like five up to 100. And if we can accommodate them, we'll create something so we can so we build arm braces, airplane braces, sort of for people with limb differences. We've created a lot of seating particular for particular people to do any of our sports, a lot of stuff. And our you know our intent is to is to include anybody, especially people who have no other place where they can, where they can participate in these kinds of sports.   Michael Hingson  19:52 So that probably gets to be I won't say a challenge, because it is but but it does get to be a An issue that you get to be able to deal with people with neurodivergent issues as well. So you can deal with autistic or, or people who have Down Syndrome and so on. And you're just as welcoming to do that as, as you do people with physical disabilities, like you're talking about.   Ross Lilley  20:15 Exactly, yeah. Well, and the variety really makes it interesting. And that we love that challenge, especially if, if you know, everybody's different in their own way. And so no rule, no generalizations apply. And if we don't expect something miraculous to happen, a session, we're, we're missing the point. You know, every every session, we find something that's different in every session, we find something where people surprise us.   Michael Hingson  20:44 So I assume things sort of dropped off a little bit when the pandemic hit.   Ross Lilley  20:48 Big time. Yeah, well, we, we never stopped, we created an online program for our year round program, year round athletes and for school program. And that was, that was kind of cool. Because we made this unique system, where we have six variations of high intensity interval training exercises. And it was like in the can ready to go. And and we put it right in within a week of the pandemic and the onset of that and people being in shutdown. We had that online and going with people.   Michael Hingson  21:22 It's really cool. how that worked out quite well. We're   Ross Lilley  21:25 using it now. It's still we have over close to 80 exercises with these progressions, and then we we put together combinations, the exercises and put it live for a lot of our classes. And I   Michael Hingson  21:37 for for adults as well. Do you find that people who participate in the summer, continue to stay with the program and will work in the winter or? Yes, same same clients and so on? Right, which is cool. How many people are part of the program now?   Ross Lilley  21:57 Well, last summer, I think we had, again, our high point was about 2000. Now we're about 1200, I think. And so we you know, in the summer, we have a camp for we're including kids into a camp of, of junior high aged kids. And then we have a program with the Flutie foundation for kids on the autism spectrum. And then we have our own site, where we have anybody in any any one who wants to come out. So there's a bunch of teams on several sites in the summer. And then from those, they participate in our year round programs. Let me see, probably about half participate in year round programs. We have a soccer and conditioning program as wellness in in a winter.   Michael Hingson  22:39 Boys, girls, men, women, everyone. Yeah, which is so cool. Oh, how do you do soccer? How does that work?   Ross Lilley  22:48 Let me see when we have when, let me see for we let me we created these these game systems where everybody is vital to the system. And you have anybody have any ability has to meet certain requirements of in the game for people to go on. So if you know lice would say if you score and then you can't score again until the rest of our team scores or for our team to fray our points to count everybody on a team has to at least have an assist or a block. So there's all these and then there's certain goals that they shoot at, there's some that are easier to get than others. So there's there's all these accommodations we make depending on who's playing so that everybody can be vital to their team and everybody's working towards that. And it's designed so everybody have every ability is challenged to their utmost as well.   Michael Hingson  23:48 May not be using the right word. But soccer is sort of a ferocious or certainly a hard hitting fast sport. And in general, how does that work when you're dealing with people with disabilities and a lot of different skill sets and so on? Do they do the people still tend to play as ferociously as they can?   Ross Lilley  24:11 They do and they don't. So there's, there's things we have an inappropriate challenge rule where we try to put like abilities against each other. And, you know, the people that the best so called Able bodied players are working really hard to get balls to people to make assist or to involve them. And then people maybe who have ambulation issues are doing their their best to get into a position even if it makes them going you know for five minutes getting down the length of the field to get there. That's their goal to get in a position where they might have a chance at a goal or to get back to defense. So there's there's things we invent for everybody that make them slow this game down for them without without Making anybody really slow down that much?   Michael Hingson  25:02 So, do you find challenges of getting totally ambulatory people, for example, to play and play well with people who may not be as ambulatory or work as well? Moving around?   Ross Lilley  25:17 Yeah, it's a that's a challenge, you know. And so when we call is trying to find the perfect game, and it is a challenge, but you know, it's a skill to play to is a skill to learn how to play with varying abilities at once. And, you know, we do when we do this camp in Florida, that's our, our proving ground for this, and you live with this for a week, and people get very good at the game by about the second day.   Michael Hingson  25:42 So people grow accustomed to it and grow into it. And at all. Yeah,   Ross Lilley  25:47 yeah. Our whole community is about getting out of the way of yourself. And so if and trying to let something bigger come through yourself and something bigger come through each of these games.   Michael Hingson  26:00 Are you teaching people to be competitive? Or is it more teaching people to, to work together and have fun together? Or is it kind of a combination? Because a lot of the sports, like soccer, like tennis, football, and so on, are more competitive sports, and they're usually viewed as being very competitive. But is that the same way it comes out for you? Or is it a little bit different in terms of mindsets?   Ross Lilley  26:29 It's funny, I don't, you know, like, in popular sport, I think great competitors aren't necessarily great people, right? They're just insecure about losing. And I think it's, we all need to learn how to lose so we can learn to live with something that's bigger. But in ours, we do teach to can be competitive, but in the end, Ron, we want people also to have perspective about it. And I saw like, the worst thing that could happen is where you have people come in, who don't care. So it's nice to care. And but it's even better if they compete with themselves more than anything else, right and drive with strive for more function drive for some, something that they they've accomplished on their own. And even farther than that, it's great to be a part of a team and to feel like, maybe for the first time in your life, you're valued on a team. Right, and that, that you're not just a throw away, and that there are people aren't condescending to you, and you're on the field of play. We have an example we have a friend of ours, one of our athletes, was on ESPN for playing a cerebral palsy, and some, you know, ambulation was a little a little slower than most folks, and they put them into a high school football game, right. And so one play they gave, you know, the other team was in it, they gave him the ball, and they let him run and eventually ran out of bounds. And I almost think that that kid should have been tackled, that maybe there's an art to tackling and but people deserve the dignity of failure they deserve to be treated with with some seriousness, and that their accomplishments aren't something where, you know, there's all these videos of, of Little League games, where people are some kid hits with cerebral palsy, and is going around the bases, while people fun falling down for the ball and all this stuff. You know, throw a kid out every now and then make them work for accomplishment, make, make them understand what it's like that that you know what they truly appreciate what they've done. If I went even further, it's like races. We like we like we have sometimes we have races, and we like people in the races to do something that they have to train for if someone doesn't train for it. It's just, you know, it's not that compelling. And people on the outside need to see people with disabilities training, and being really true athletes. So we like things where people train for it. And people accomplish something. That makes sense.   Michael Hingson  29:03 It does. It absolutely makes sense. Because we we find so many people who behave exactly as you're describing, oh, it's great that he was able to run 20 or 30 yards. Wasn't that wonderful that he had the ball. But by the same token, we're not really dealing with, with what's going on and who's the one that really comes out feeling good about that? Well, I suppose that there is some truth to the fact that the person involved is excited that they had the ball, but the people are really doing it for themselves so that they can feel good that they can feel superior, rather than as you said, tackling somebody after a while, by the way, there's nothing wrong with tackling somebody rather than them running out of bounds. Even if they go 15 yards and then you tackle them. That that says something to and you're right there's an art to tackling that. it. It's all about changing in a sense, the definition of winning. Hmm.   Ross Lilley  30:05 I love that. Yeah. I never heard that. But I think that's a great concept too about the defining redefining winning.   Michael Hingson  30:16 There's, there's nothing wrong with winning and being competitive. But if you have to win, then are you really winning?   Ross Lilley  30:27 Oh, that's even better. Yes. We are very much on the same page. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  30:33 And the the fact is that, I realized that with most modern sports, it's all about winning. But is it really or should it really be something to think about? Hmm, that's   Ross Lilley  30:49 Yeah. So you you have thought about this. You are into it? Are you Are you a big sports fan yourself?   Michael Hingson  30:55 I listened to, to sports more than anything else. But I, I grew up with some really great sports announcers to be my teachers as it were listening to them and just their philosophies of dealing with the game. I mean, you know, baseball, you can't do better than having Vin Scully describe the games and just all the things that he talked about, and I know that he understood, winning and, and he always wanted the, I'm sure the Dodgers to be the victorious team. But the way he announced the games, no matter who won, it was really all about the game, which is what it ought to be. Hmm.   Ross Lilley  31:32 Wow. Is he still alive? Really?   Michael Hingson  31:36 Did he now he passed away last year? This year? Yeah. Yeah, he retired at the end of I think 2016 and then passed away last year.   Ross Lilley  31:48 That's well put, and I'm glad I'm glad you've put time to think about that. I I think about it all the time as well. And I always wonder if I'm the only one. Sailor staff thinks about it. And especially when you're putting game systems together.   Michael Hingson  32:03 What's your favorites? Which Oh, go ahead.   Ross Lilley  32:06 Go now my favorite, your favorite sport to teach? I guess, all of them because, like our game systems, you know, if it's team sport, our game systems work across all the main team sports, football, basketball, and soccer and even floor hockey. We work with some Boston Bruins on floor hockey and we work with some of the New England Patriots on our on our training systems. And as long as people are moving, and we work with the Red Sox as well, but the as long as they're moving for a prolonged period of time, if this sport gets them going like that I like anything that drives that it's not so much the sport is is to me as much as people participating in it and getting into shape and belonging to something   Michael Hingson  32:57 the professional athletes been in terms of working with him and so on. And how does all that work out?   Ross Lilley  33:04 Pretty good. Let me you know, it's good. Somebody from your area, Jimmy Garoppolo. injured, San Francisco 40 Niners quarterback. He came to about three of our clinics when he was with the with the Patriots. He and some other players really got it. They didn't they didn't come with any condescending condescension. And they didn't settle for you know, they held the bar high for our athletes. It was pretty good. So I'm surprised at this. We've had other guys like Andrew Ray Croft from the from the Bruins came out, and Terry Rozier who's now with the Charlotte Hornets. He was with the Celtics they came out in and within minutes, I thought they pretty felt pretty comfortable that population, I thought they will be talking down to him. But they were always really good.   Michael Hingson  33:55 That's really pretty cool. And nothing like having some of those folks coming out and teaching because you're getting taught by the best in the business.   Ross Lilley  34:05 Right. Yeah. And also, it's nice when they're sort of humbled by what we do. That's a nice, that's always a nice gesture when they are when they have done football clinics before and run them. And they defer to us. I think that's really that's a nice, that's a nice recognition for us.   Michael Hingson  34:27 So how large is your staff?   Ross Lilley  34:30 We have in the summer, just about 20 of us. But during the year we have just three of us full time who are trainers, and we have other support staff staff. We have actually we also during the year have interns who are terrific. We use a lot from local universities.   Michael Hingson  34:48 Do you have or ever have any people with disabilities on the teaching staff?   Ross Lilley  34:53 That's a really good one. And if it was during the year yes, you You know, but under water, we, we don't, mainly because of safety and needing to, if we need to jump in the water and rescue somebody, and we can only afford, you know, three or four people on a team, we can't we can't go rescue one somebody with a disability. It's a really, it's something we agonize with all the time because we're on the water. But we are not good in that regard. Only because we, you know, we have to decide who we're going to pay. We have limited resources, and we need everybody to be, quote unquote able bodied, to help with rescues if need be.   Michael Hingson  35:37 Right? Well, I think of the possibility of people like people who happen to be blind, who might very well be able to help and rescuing there are several centers around the country that have blind teachers teaching in a variety of environments. Including taking students out to lakes and doing various things in the summer. And again, it's it's all a matter of looking and learning. But there you have someone who's a lot more ambulatory, if they learned to listen and really are aware of what's going on around them.   Ross Lilley  36:17 Ya know, that that's probably a good point yet, I just don't have anybody in front of me, like, like that. But, you know, in a way, I probably should be more proactive and seeking people like this in in the least bit, because they can, they can have other folks. I don't wanna use the word inspire, lightly, but they could help inspire other folks with a similar abilities to come out. Right, right. I guess we're all role wary of using the word inspire. But I still love the word. Well, there's nothing   Michael Hingson  36:51 wrong with inspire, again, if you're doing it for the right reason. And this is, as we were talking about earlier, with the whole issue of running 30 yards, and then running out of bounds, but not being willing to tackle someone who is at this really being inspired as opposed to just feeling good. And there's nothing wrong with true inspiration, something that motivates someone to do more and feel better about themselves than they did and shoot for higher goals. So that's okay. I think, I think that's what in part has to come from inspiration.   Ross Lilley  37:29 Well, well said,   Michael Hingson  37:32 and it's a, it's a process, but for you, what's the most rewarding part of what you do, you're certainly doing something that has to do a lot of things that I don't want to use the word make you feel good, but inspire you. But for you, what's the most rewarding part of what you do?   Ross Lilley  37:52 When, when, when it works? When when we do works. And again, if I can, you know, there's, there's something that bigger that bigger than me that kind of is in this organization, even though we my wife, and I, my son and my daughter are founders of this, we we've found that there's a there's a culture that's developed in this that that goes behind us and I love it to see when when people remind me of some of the original tenets of how we started, you know, and like, or if I see some protocol or device or technique work with somebody, when it shouldn't, I'm really I love that. Like, instead of like we've worked for 12 years plus on this gait trainer. And when I see people's gait, improve after a half hour on the machine, and just it's incredible to me, or when I see you know why I'm not a really confident person outside of this, but I'm really confident what we can do with people on a windsurfer on a stand up paddleboard and a canoe and I know, when even when families say this won't work, I know that I can make certain things work and to see that is really something or to see someone surprised me and show what they can do. beyond what I ever expected, I love that.   Michael Hingson  39:16 Tell me about a real surprise something that happened or a person that came to the program and you didn't think necessarily they could do all that they ended up doing and they really surprised you. I'd love to hear a story about that.   Ross Lilley  39:33 I got a bunch but they all start with my son, right he's you know, by all rights he should be. He would be without what we do. He would be in a power chair with contractures all day long, and now he can because we have trained so much I can walk with him just holding one hand is rigorous but I can hold one hand and walk with Him. So that's that's somebody you know, by definition no functional use of his, either of his legs or his arms and I can hold one hand walk. So he, and you know, the way that he did some of those marathons, some of that was the greatest athletic feats I've ever been a part of in my life. Other than that, we have people who are running now who had hemiparesis and you know, we're in coma, and then came out of this and work with us and train with us and now can run and play in some of our games. Those guys are amazing. And there's other people still who were up and using some our equipment and training in keeping you know, in like this, like somebody I work with today's that he has MS. Cannot wait bear. But in our in our machine, he was up and standing in propelling this machine on a treadmill today all by himself. That's kind of incredible.   Michael Hingson  41:02 How does the machine work? What does it do?   Ross Lilley  41:05 We've, what we've done is we without a motor, but yes, using pressure on a treadmill. And and this unit that we've built off the back where we grab, this device grabs people at their lower leg. And as a piston is connected to essentially a rebuilt, spin cycle. And we can determine how long their length of stride is going to be how much hip and knee flexion or bend they're going to have. And then you put it for in a uniform fashion on a treadmill for, you know, half hour to an hour at a time. And we can pedal people through to weaken, we can slow people's rate down or increase it and it's it's emulating what a $400,000 device can do. And it works really well.   Michael Hingson  41:55 Have you ever looked into? Or Has anyone ever taken any of these and manufactured them and maybe did more mass producing of them?   Ross Lilley  42:04 We're on were doing that now. Actually, we're working with a manufacturer on on that. Except the process is long. And there's lots of parts to this. But yeah,   Michael Hingson  42:14 and you got to go through approvals to get the whole legal aspect of it addressed as well.   Ross Lilley  42:21 Well, we have our patent down, and lots of other patents associated with it. And now we need to get FDA approval.   Michael Hingson  42:28 That was what I was going to ask you about how the FDA figures into it all.   Ross Lilley  42:34 Where it's semi medical exercise. So we're trying to navigate those waters and I, I'm relying on one of our board members to do it to work with me on it. Well,   Michael Hingson  42:45 it does. It does sound really exciting to to do and to see the things that are happening. And again, I think one of the most significant parts about this is that you're welcoming to everyone. Do you have any? What we would call able bodied people come to the program? Or do they just come to staff? Or do you ever welcome people without disabilities into the program as well?   Ross Lilley  43:10 All the time? Yeah. Mostly into our games. So if someone wants to volunteer or if they want to play, we'll put into like a Thursday night soccer program or or have played tennis with us something like that. Yeah. You I know we decided I think told me early you you're not you're not actively playing a sport now. But if you could, what would it be?   Michael Hingson  43:39 Oh, gosh. There are several I'd love to play even if it's just to learn more about them. I've always been a baseball fan. So I'd love to. To do more with baseball. I'd love to learn more about football. I enjoy listening to football, although baseball is still always been my number one interest but I'm spoiled as I said before by Vince Skelly. But, you know, I, I think that sports in general would would be fun to experience no matter what it is because there's so much of it that I don't know a lot about and for me playing it would be as much as anything a way to and a reason for learning about the sport.   Ross Lilley  44:26 So I mean, you never day with a beep ball or anything like that.   Michael Hingson  44:30 never really did anything with a beat ball. There wasn't a group around to do it with for me.   Ross Lilley  44:36 Wow. It's a ride. I've tried to it's a riot. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I thought it's a genius and,   Michael Hingson  44:46 and then there's the new one talking about soccer and so on dodgeball. Oh, yeah. And I don't know whether I want to be up Be a person who just has to run around drop on the ground might get kicked in the head and going after a ball. So Oh, no.   Ross Lilley  45:10 Soccer is amazing, right? directly on the sides like three versus three. Yeah. That is an amazingly well developed sport is incredible.   Michael Hingson  45:21 And Basketball is fun. What else? Again? I'm spoiled. We had Chick Hearn out there out here and when I lived in the east, the first time I lived in the east, I lived in Winthrop, Massachusetts. And of course we had Johnny most.   Ross Lilley  45:37 Yep. Yeah. All right. Let's stop settling down which   Michael Hingson  45:42 will check stole the ball. I have that record.   Ross Lilley  45:50 Wow. Winthrop, we it's a good surfing beach or Winthrop.   Michael Hingson  45:54 Yeah, yeah. And Winthrop and Revere Beach and so on. Sure.   Ross Lilley  45:58 One of our programs looks at Revere. Winthrop, by the way, one of the islands where we have a program. Uh   Michael Hingson  46:03 huh. Wow, wait. So I keep up with sports. I've just never been very active in that regard. I was in the boy scouts, but we didn't do sports stuff other than hiking and camping. Which, which I did. So that was that was okay. You're a scout? Yeah, I was an Eagle Scout.   Ross Lilley  46:25 Holy smokes. Really?   Michael Hingson  46:29 Well, you know, you got to do something to to keep functioning and active.   Ross Lilley  46:34 So being on the bestseller list are Eagle Scout, they're about the same, aren't they?   Michael Hingson  46:41 They're fun to do.   Ross Lilley  46:43 Holy smokes. And what was your What was your project as an Eagle Scout?   Michael Hingson  46:48 Oh, gosh, I was involved in doing some radio stuff and doing some things relating to publicity in Palmdale where I grew up.   Ross Lilley  47:02 I used to, I used to be familiar with that. Because we would have you know, kids would come by the church, and we're our program and they need to find a project, right inevitably would be us building more times than not, it was let's create a ramp for somebody in town, you know, wheelchair ramp.   Michael Hingson  47:21 I'm on the board of an organization that works with scouts up in Santa Rosa. And they've built benches for the the center and done a number of things. It's been a favorite place for Eagle projects,   Ross Lilley  47:33 benches, benches, that's a big one. Right? Those are good.   Michael Hingson  47:36 Those are always good. What's the biggest challenge that you tend to face from the community are in the community? In   Ross Lilley  47:45 the mean, as I was running in running the program here or in my life, which to both? Oh, gosh, I was hoping you take the first one.   Michael Hingson  47:57 You get both.   Ross Lilley  47:58 I mean, I think more than that I you know, we're always rubbing two nickels together to make it by right. We're we're in the black all the time. But it's funding for programs like this, I spend more time doing programming than I do on fundraising. And I always grateful for donors who free me up so I can free us up so we can focus more on programming than anything else. So that tends to be a kind of a worry that goes with with our work. I I guess but I also worry that I'm I won't live long enough to see some of what we have come to fruition or perfection, I guess, especially with in regards to our gait training. I think what we do well, we've, we've come up with a system that I think is a true game changer. But it needs to be perfected. And it needs to be something that we universally have out there that that makes everybody improve their gait. And then this other thing are big challenges. How do we how do we train people, kids in schools with disabilities, where the resources they are, they're underserved, and his resources are slim, and they need to build habits that will stick with them after age 22. And so those are things that kind of gnaw at me that I you know, we just got to get it done gotta get done, and I don't know how to do it on a broad scale. So sad that   Michael Hingson  49:35 at the same time, um, how, what are what are some stories about people and how they have improved because of what you've done from an attitudinal standpoint, because it must be for people who really internalize it. People who go through the program, whether it's just dealing with gait training, or who are going off and playing sports, and we talked about winning and all that but just playing Seeing should be a lot for people, but how have you truly helped people and their attitudes and their outlook on life really improves.   Ross Lilley  50:12 I can tell how they've helped me that what the best part of this is a community that we have a community that claims people for life, you know, if you're if you're part of this community, you're with us, and we'll never let you go. And so I, I am part of that as well, these the my friends, all my friends, and the closest people I have here are those with whom I work and those and the athletes in the program so that you buy you on a Sunday morning. I so as far as athletes go, I hear all the time, people who say, you know, you, you've shown us a different side to our son, or I'm so grateful. One guy you wrote literally said you, you helped us be brave with the wind. I love that one. I was I was teaching on Martha's Vineyard in in someone who just couldn't believe they were out in the water doing this. So I hear that kind of all the time where people come to program and they expect to do something, you know, they they've heard that people could kayak and then and then we try to steer them to something that might be a little bit tougher. And then we know we can have success with and then when we do that, they just can't believe it. They're blown away. Yeah. And so lots of people like that. Which is tougher when surfing or kayaking. Windsurfing, ah. That's why I mean, I guess you can say there are as tough as you want to make them and to go high level on something, but to get involved in independent I think is tougher. But you know, it's also when we can have more success with I'm not as huge a fan of kayaking as I am as the other sports we do them. But the seating alone, because you're long sitting it, it makes your posterior chain really tight, your hamstrings are tight and it and it pulls your pelvis back. So you're kind of in a tough position, and people aren't necessarily as loose as they were if they could sit more upright.   Michael Hingson  52:23 Right? Well, and well, I don't know, I was gonna say, I would think that there are probably more balance issues also, with the board and interacting with the board with windsurfing than there are with kayaking,   Ross Lilley  52:40 right? Where we can, we have all sorts of boards that we've designed where we can be very stable. And you know, we've had people on events on our boards before because we were so confident they weren't gonna fall in, you know, so you can get as stable as you want, and then graduate to less and less stable as you go on. Less, less stable is faster,   Michael Hingson  53:02 yours. Right? Right. Well, for you and all that you've done. Have you ever thought of writing this story, creating a book or anything like that, to help educate more people about what you do and get them to realize that people with disabilities are just the same as everyone else? As I like to say, we need to change the definition because disability does not mean lack of ability.   Ross Lilley  53:31 Yeah. Well, I was hoping I'd meet a best seller author. I did at one point, and then I think it's like an invention that gnaws at you, I gave out, I gave up on it. You know, and I'm not that gifted a writer. So I, when I was in seminary, I took a course at Harvard. And it was on writing in the teacher that, of course, was a friend of mine, who's an editor at The Atlantic Monthly Michael Curtis. And so over the course of 12 weeks, I had one sentence in one paragraph where he said, Good job. But then again, I started writing a book, Cory, more to the point of what you're saying, I started writing a book about our experiences. And he loved it, which really just blew me away that I gotten to the point where this guy would like it, but the process and to come up with stuff would be tough. I think people want you to my advice was a one a more personal stuff than I wanted to give. They want to know about the struggles and how it plays itself out in your marriage and things like that. And I wasn't gonna go that deep into that. I mean, so if they want a little bit of any controversy I could have as well, which I didn't have a ton of.   Michael Hingson  54:55 Yeah, yeah. Everybody seems to like to have controversy and that doesn't necessarily help all I think that the personal aspects telling personal stories can be done without jeopardizing individuals, but the stories and the accomplishments I would think would be very meaningful and make a book like that really be something people would value. Yeah, exactly.   Ross Lilley  55:19 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I mean, and I haven't been that specific with the stories, I think I, I would be better if I had given you some stories of some of these folks. And I was, I was just thinking that there was one guy who had it who had a stroke in his by his late 40s, and came to the program. And, and he used to run, he was a middle distance runner. And we have been working with him on his gait. And we we put him into our sports camp in our Florida sports camp. And he started, he started just blocking things. And by the end of the camp, he was he was running for balls, and even sending balls, he developed a pretty good kick, which was really remarkable. So he's planting with this, this almost straight leg, almost less functional, very less functional than the right leg and his planning on that and kicking and shooting. And so by the end of the camp, he was just so surprised with himself and so grateful for this. Yeah, have you had   Michael Hingson  56:33 people who you worked with, who felt well enough about themselves and who could do it, who went off and maybe found a job or got a job or went back to working because they suddenly realized they could do that?   Ross Lilley  56:49 I wish that were true. But more times than not, it's just it's such a tough nut to crack, right? We've had people go off, we have had people go off and get jobs, and then over time, gave up the jobs because even as they wanted to work, the job was somewhat beneath their skill set. Right that before the before their accident or their injury, they you know, some of these people had pretty high level jobs managers or, or writing code. And then, you know, the focus wasn't thereafter and they were doing things that are overtime seem what menial to him. So, yeah, we haven't had, I mean, we've had success in that people wanted to dream for that kind of thing. And people have more function, and they brought more to the relationships. But as far as jobs goes, I haven't seen a lot of sustainable kind of improvement there. I'm sure you've seen the same thing, right?   Michael Hingson  57:48 Well, I see a lot of it when you know, in the case of blindness, specifically your loss of vision. The fact is that, for the most part, losing eyesight doesn't mean you can't go back and do what you were doing. There are so many people in so many different kinds of jobs, that the proof is really there that you can go back to doing what you did. You've got to learn skills, but you can still do it. There are very few jobs where that really isn't the case. Unfortunately, there are all too many people who think it's not the case. That's what makes the big difference. Yeah, it's still mindset.   Ross Lilley  58:29 And if you were in the workplace, I mean, I I work with people, you know, especially when we have kids on the autism spectrum, we'll work with people until if they will keep coming, we will work with them until they succeed in some form. And I think that Sure, I wish that I wish that were the same in the workplace is to that the upside for this population is so enormous you just are you wish you had that kind of patience in the work in the workplace? Well, I   Michael Hingson  58:54 might be another dimension where you have to involve some other organizations or some other entities to make that happen. Yeah, it isn't like you have to do it all but at the same token you at least start the process so in in the camp in the program obviously you want people to have fun Where does I've got to ask because I always always think about these things where does humor fit into all this   Ross Lilley  59:21 I'm I'm humorless and always appropriate. So I know I'm   Michael Hingson  59:29 it's always one in every crowd   Ross Lilley  59:31 that I know I'm, I'm I'm I guess I would say hi effect. I've been rich, rich asset kind of person. And always looking for the gleam in people's eyes and always requiring that evolve the people that work for us that they they look for the gleam in people's eyes and connect. Yeah, and for me to do that, almost nine times out of 10 takes humor and not in and on the border of appropriateness, whatever it takes to reach people. is part of it. So yeah. And we also don't like to take ourselves too seriously. And so you need humor to help people not take themselves too seriously. And to help people. You know, in our program, there's no tragedy. No one comes in here leave are leaves this place thinking that their lives are tragic. No one allows anybody to feel like that. It's not as it's not overt, but it's just a kind of a sense you have and part of that is laughing at ourselves all the time. You know, I'm, I kind of like the king of self deprecation, and I'm fine with it. If people want to poke fun at me to, to laugh at and to laugh a little bit at the situation. I love it. So   Michael Hingson  1:00:45 which gets us back to our whole issue of winning, right? You're you you can be self deprecating, you can have fun. And as you said, not take yourself too seriously. No, seriously, maybe sort of kind of, but not too seriously, which is really important. Well, I have to say to you, sir, contrary to what you believe, and believed, it has now been an hour that we've been doing this and you didn't think you had a story to tell?   Ross Lilley  1:01:18 I had a story. I didn't know if it's gonna be that interesting. So I'm glad. I'm glad we've made it is 10. Very easy. And you're you're so engaging is great.   Michael Hingson  1:01:26 Well, thank you. Tell me about the name of the program, how people can reach out to learn more about the program. And, of course, being prejudiced about these kinds of things, make donations to the program.   Ross Lilley  1:01:37 So we're Access Sport America and it's our website is access. Access sport America, sport America. Okay. Yeah, so just just two s's in it, but you go, our website is goaccess.org, G O A C C E S S dot org. And you can learn more about us there. And also, if you want to make a donation, you can as well and we're primarily bait boss, Boston based or northeast based in Northeast Ohio, our our programs for schools are, you know, becoming national, we're hoping that we can expand that program and help people in different school systems with that system. And as far as our gait training, go, glad to handle anybody who may be want to come out in the area and work for a little while. Although that takes that takes weeks and weeks. If they had they need to have the wherewithal to do that. But if our fire device is manufacturable that will be on our website and in probably about a year and how to get that.   Michael Hingson  1:02:39 That'll be exciting. Yeah, and again, it's access sport America. ACCE SS p o r t.   Ross Lilley  1:02:47 E S S P O R T. Yes. Yes. Well done.   Michael Hingson  1:02:51 Cool. Well, and if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that? Do they best do that through LinkedIn or?   Ross Lilley  1:02:58 I can write me a Ross at Goaccess.org R O S S at Go. access.org   Michael Hingson  1:03:04 There you go. Well, Ross, Lilly, it has been absolutely fun. And I've learned a lot I am looking forward to somehow getting back that way from out here and getting a chance to meet you and shake your hand in person and go windsurfing.   Ross Lilley  1:03:20 We might do some clinics in California, and if we do we will now   Michael Hingson  1:03:23 we're talking Okay, well, that would be fun. And I'll bring my dog. Yes, please. Of course, cat won't come the dog will. I don't know whether he'll want to windsurf, but you never know. But I want to. I want to really thank you for being here today. And being with us. I think this has been absolutely enjoyable, inspirational and fun. And that's as good as it gets.   Ross Lilley  1:03:52 Thank you. Same here. I wish I had asked you more questions to learn more about you   Michael Hingson  1:03:56 will see now you'd have to start a podcast so you can do that. Pretty sure.   Michael Hingson  1:04:03 Well, I hope you've liked listening to us today. Please reach out. I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at MichaelHI at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. Visit our podcast page www dot Michael Hingson H i n g s o n.com/podcast. Where you can listen to the podcast or as you may have found us elsewhere. That's okay too. Please give us a five star rating. Like go to apple and iTunes and give us a five star rating. We really appreciate the ratings you give us and any comments and thoughts that you have in Ross, for you and for everyone listening. If you know of anyone else that we ought to have on this podcast, please let us know reach out, let us know or give us an introduction. I would appreciate it we're always looking for interesting, new and fun guests. So please let us know and we'd love to hear hear from you about that. But again, Ross, thank you very much. We really appreciate you being here and anything we can do to make the program successful. We're in. We're wanting to do it. So thank you very much. And we will hopefully do this again, huh? Oh, yes.   Ross Lilley  1:05:14 Oh gosh. Yes.   Michael Hingson  1:05:16 Well, great. Well, thanks again and we hope that you'll continue to listen to podcasts for us.   Ross Lilley  1:05:22 Thank you.   Michael Hingson  1:05:27 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upco

The Blue Planet Show
Jimmy Lewis interview-surf, windsurf, kite, foil and wingfoil shaper on the Blue Planet Show #26

The Blue Planet Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2023 195:54


Aloha friends,  it's Robert Stehlik. Welcome to another episode of the Blue Planet Show. Today's interview is with none other than Jimmy Lewis, who is a legendary shaper. He got started at a young age shaping surfboards and then moved to Maui where he got into making windsurf boards. And at one point he was making windsurf speed needles for some of the fastest world record breaking sailors in the world at speed sailing events. And then he got into kite surfing and kite boards, and then standup paddle boards, and now foil boards. So he's a very versatile shaper. Some great stories to tell, and really interesting interview and entertaining as well. So you'll learn more about his design philosophy, board construction, and lots of good stories. So it's a longer interview, so take your time, re kick back and relax. Watch it here on YouTube with some visuals, or you can also listen to it as a podcast on your favorite podcast app. So without it further ado, here is Jimmy.  Okay, Jimmy Lewis, it's a real honor to have you on the show. Thanks so much for making the time to talk to me and the guests. So I'm just stoked to be able to talk to you for extended period of time and ask you all the questions I have. And so yeah, thank you for coming to the show. Oh, I'm happy to be here finally. I've seen the other ones. I go, why doesn't he call me? I appreciate that. Thanks. So yeah, so we'll get into all this stuff that's currently going on, at eventually I want to talk about your board shapes and your foil boards and equipment and all that kind of stuff. But I, first of all, I wanna start with just going into some background, I know you have a long history in the sports of water sports Tell us a little bit about, start at the very beginning, like how you grew up, where, where were you born, how did you grow up and how did you get into water sports and how did you start shaping boards and all that stuff. Yeah. My dad was in the Air Force, so I was born in Canada, I think after World War ii. My mom and my dad moved around a lot. My dad met my mom after World War ii. My mom's brother was a Air Force buddy of his, and they he brought my dad over to their house after the war. And then he met my mom, and I guess we moved around. They moved around quite a few years. Eventually we moved to Redlands, California. I believe it was in 1956. So I was I was born in 51, so that would make me five years old. And went into kindergarten there, went to grade school and stuff. And then in I don't know if you're old enough to remember the sixties, but that's when the surfing craze really was going crazy in the early sixties and we lived inland. But my older brother, I have two older brothers, two years apart. So my older brother I think was, if I was like 11 or 12, he was 15 or 16. And he he had a transistor radio that my dad had brought back from Germany. And I remember listening to all the rock music and the surf music on the radio coming outta his room. And he started getting interested in surfing and so he bought a surfboard. And so naturally me and my other brother wanted to do what he did. So we all started surfing and I think I bought my first surfboard. It was a pop out vessy and it was like a pig board, that vessie pig shape. And started surfing, I think. In the summer of my sixth grade, and I remember my mom took us down, took me and a friend of mine, just us two, down to Cardiff, which was quite a ways from, we, like Newport Beach was 60 miles in away. Redlands was like 60 miles directly inland from Newport. And anyway, when we really started getting into surfing a lot, we would drive down to Cardiff, but I don't know why my mom brought us down to Cardiff that day. Me and a friend of mine, Hanson Surfboards, was across the street, not directly from Carter Reef, but just a little south of that. There was a restaurant on the beach there called Sea Barn. It was like a little old diner of those sixties type diners Okay. Where all the surfers would go in there and eat sometimes. And there was a, they called that beach break right across, right out from sea Barn, right across the street from there was Hanon Surfboards the shop. And me and my friend went and snooping around behind there. And there was this sha, this little shack, I think it was just a single standing shape room. But we went in there and this guy, John Price was in there. He was later on to own Surfboards Hawaii. He bought the franchise from Dick Brewer on in the Man On in California. But he was in there shaping. And I had forgotten. But this friend of mine from Redlands, who was at the beach with me that day, reminded me about a year or two ago that I had gotten a couple pieces of the rail cutoffs. And that's, I took 'em home and made two little surfboards. I think they were about a foot long. I shaped some longboards, glassed 'em, I can't remember where I even got the glass and resin, but I shaped them, glassed them, got some logos out of the magazine. I remember one was at Jacobs and one was at Dewey Weber. And I glassed them for boards. And I remember bringing 'em to school and showing people. And then this other friend of mine was so impressed. So just like small model shapes, model pieces threw away from, okay. Yeah. I remember this friend of mine was so impressed with one of 'em. I just gave it to 'em. I don't know why I did that. I wish I still had one of those, or both of 'em. But I think that's been a thing all my life. I like to give stuff away to people that like it, especially something I've made. Anyway, that's how I started surfing. And then we would, I remember my mom used to give us 50 cents a day for lunch to buy the lunch at school. And the guys that went surfing who had cars, I was still like 13, 14, and 15 years old in those junior high and high school years. Fortunately I was for some reason, guys that are 16 and 17 don't want to hang around with 13 and 14 year old kids, and but I was able to go with those guys surfing and we had to pay gas money to get down to the beach with these guys that had cars. So I'd save my 50 cents all week long to have $2 and 50 cents for the weekend to go surfing. And I'd starve at school for all week long, not having lunch. And then would go to the beach, pay a dollar 50 for gas, and then I'd have another dollar or a dollar 50 depending on who charged what for a bag of Dale Donuts from Speedy Mart, which was like a precursor to seven-eleven. Down in Cardiff and then whatever else food we'd get and would just, all I cared about was surfing. I didn't do very well in school. I didn't fail, but I got like seas, but I was naturally good at math, algebra, and geometry, so I didn't, that was, I hated reading. I hated reading history. I hated reading any of that stuff. Just couldn't concentrate. I'd read it, I'd re, when I'd be doing my homework, I'd be reading a paragraph over and over again thinking about surfing or something. And finally I just put the book away how I even passed. I can't, I don't remember how I could do that because I didn't really study. And like I said, na, the math stuff was semi-natural, so I got pretty good grades in algebra, geometry, math, stuff like that. And then my mom moved to Berkeley in 67. She wanted, she was working at the library in Redlands and then she wanted to become a librarian, so she needed to go to the university, moved up to Berkeley. And I remember my older brother was already in college and my other brother just graduated in 67, so it was just me and my mom and my sister. And I was thinking, shoot up in San Francisco area, there's icebergs in the water up there. I just had this impression. It's it's so cold. What a pi. I just hated moving up there because that was the end of my surfing career, and then once I got up there, after a little while, I think my oldest brother came and visited and we decided to drive down to Santa Cruz and Reali and found that it wasn't as cold as we thought and it was doable. And then I made a couple surfers there and we started going over to Belinas, which is north of the Golden Gate Bridge. And surfing over there. And then one day, it was probably in the late, it was like late 68 maybe. And we went to Belinas and I saw this homemade surfboard. And this is the time when short boards first started being made. And there were, there weren't, it wasn't longboard surfing anymore. Nat Young and Dick Brewer were making short boards, the first short boards in the late sixties there. And I saw this homemade surfboard there that this guy made on the beach. And I go, shoot, I could do that. And so I drove down to Santa Cruz to the O'Neill shop. They used to make surfboards, they, they had a surfboard brand as well as their wetsuit thing. And I bought a blank, a gallon of residence, some glass, and came back and turned one of the rooms in our apartment into the shaping room and shaped that board. And then out on the out on the, what do you call it? The roof of the house. I started glassing boards up there, and that's how I started making boards. And then we chopped down all our old classic long, long boards, stripped them, and I reshaped those and then started making boards. Okay. So that was like late sixties or early 1968 was the first full size board I made. Okay. I actually forgot to mention that when I got into seventh grade, I wanted to make a belly board, which is like a boogie board, but we used to call them belly boards and it was shaped like a surfboard, uhhuh, and a longboard. And so when I got into seventh grade wood shop, I told the teacher I wanted to, you could make, they give you assignments of what you have to make to teach you how to work with wood. But I had I wanted to make this belly board. It was four feet long, glued up, shaped with rocker and stuff, and. He said that's way too big of a project for a seventh grader. So for the, I had to wait till ninth grade. So the next two years, all I thought about was making that belly board. So when I got into ninth grade wood shop, I did it. I bought some balsa wood from the hot, we called 'em hobby shops back then with model airplanes and stuff. But they had these pieces of balsa wood that were three feet long. And I think I bought two of em and then glued on cuz they weren't long enough. I wanted it to be four feet long. So they were, I remember having to, to but 'em end on end to make it long enough. And I couldn't afford to buy all four pieces to make it wide enough. So the rails were solid pine. So the thing weighed a lot. But the, I remember the two pieces of wood that I bought were eight bucks, which was a fortune back then for me. And so that's why I couldn't make the whole thing balsa. And I shaped it and my plan was to take, and back then it was like we'd have wood shop Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the next week it was Tuesday and Wednesday. And so I made the board and I got it done shaped just before Christmas vacation. Back then we had two weeks off for Christmas vacation. My plan was to take it home, last it, and take it to the beach to ride over Christmas vacation. And the shop teacher said, oh, I want you to glass it. I want you to do it here and show the kids how you do that. And I go, this ain't a glass shop, it's a wood shop. And if I do it, if I had to wait till after Christmas, it would take two months to do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then Tuesday and Thursday. And it's I was so pissed, and so what I did on the very last day before the Christmas vacation on Friday, I stuck it behind the shop door, leaning up behind the shop door. And then as I got outta school, I just went and grabbed it and took it home. The lead teacher was pissed. He failed me for that quarter. So I had an for the first quarter f for the next quarter. So my the semester grade was a c the average. And he was pissed, but that's what I did. So anyway, I glassed that and then it wasn't until I saw that board in Bess that I wanted to make real surfboards. Okay. And then other than your shop teacher which shop teacher, did you have any, anybody like showing you, like mentoring you or did you talk to any other shapers or watch anybody else? I didn't know what a shaper was. Yeah. Except that first experience when I was in summer of sixth grade looking at John Price and that shaping room. And then you just shaped it with like a surf form rasp or did you have a power cleaner or the blank? The first surfboard I made. Yeah. Yeah. It was they got, the surf forms are the 10 inch surf forms. Yeah. I don't know if they have a seven inch one, a small one, or six or seven inch one. Shaped the first 17 boards with that small surf form. Oh, wow. Big one existed. And I certainly didn't know what a planer was, I don't think, or had access to one. And have you ever tried to skin a blank with a Sure. Formm, the crust on the blank? I, yeah. I actually, the first board I shaped was the same way. I didn't have a planer or anything. I had to do it all by hand. But yeah it's very hard to get that the skin off right now. Yeah, it was, that was a nightmare. But for some reason though, I remember the boards. I've got one of my old board. One of the first surfboards I made down in my shop, this friend of mine from Berkeley Yeah. Told me he had it several years ago. And so I said send it to me and I'll send your son a new surfboard that I shaped him. But yeah, they're pretty clean, nice. Yeah. So that's how I started. I wasn't a very good Glasser until I saw somebody do it or shaping. I came to Hawaii in 69 right after high school. This friend, my brother had already moved to Maui in 68, I believe. So at, I graduated in 69 and a friend of mine got a job painting a friend of his family's house over the summer. So me and him painted that house to earn money to come to Hawaii. So we came to Maui in, in the fall of 69. And there was this sh guy that had a little shape and room in PA down here. And I was gonna shape a board and so he had a planer. And so I got the blank and I had no idea how to do, to walk around the board shaping it like you're mowing a lawn, right? I was making crazy s cuts down the middle of the blank and I did a few cuts and then I go, Jesus Christ, this is terrible. And then I asked him, Hey, can you come and show me how to, how you hold the plane or, so he did a few passes and I didn't really get it. And after I, I mean it used to take me like the 17 boards I had done with the Sure Form, it would take me a week to shape those cuz I would do a little bit every day after school or something. And you've shaped a board with the Sure. Form yourself so you know how long it takes. And doing it with this planner, I was done in a couple hours and I just felt. I'm never gonna learn this. This is terrible. I just was depressed and, what's it called? Dis disen, non en disenchanted, but what's the word? Yeah, discouraged. I just felt discouraged of ever learning to shape. But then I got a planner anyway I only stayed in Santa Cruz, sorry, Maui for three months cuz it was the first time I was away from home and it wasn't as easy living in Hawaii as I thought. I just imagine. Yeah, I'd find a house, a really cool house right near the beach or something for $50 a month and it wasn't like that, and so anyway, I moved back to Berkeley, stayed at my mom's house for a couple months, I think I shaped a surfboard there and then moved to Santa Cruz and I lived in Santa Cruz for a year. And in the house we lived in, there was this guy that had this back bedroom when he moved out, I turned that bedroom into a sh a shaping room, and then I was glassing up on the front porch. And I O'Neill, like I said, they had a shop where they made boards too, and they also had a showroom there. And so they had, they were gonna stop their making surfboards. They were gonna close down their shop. So I went over there and Mike O'Neill, who's Pat's brother, had this box with a planter in a bunch of pieces and he sold it to me for 10 bucks. So I hitchhiked up to San Francisco to the Skill factory and gave it to him and told 'em, put it together and fix it. So for 75 bucks, they put it all together and made it almost like brand new. And so now I had a planner for 85 bucks basically. And then I started shaping and learning how to use it, but my glassing wasn't very good. Every, the thing is I've gotten good at glassing because every board I shaped, I glance. So I'm just as good at glassing as I am at shaping still to this day. You glassed all the boards yourself? There's been long periods where I didn't glass 'em all right. But now I do everything. I glass 'em, sand 'em, everything. But yeah, so I wasn't a very good Glasser. I didn't know, I was okay. The finished product was okay sometimes, but sometimes the resident would go off on me because I didn't have a technique. And anyway, I went up to, to house surfboards and there was this guy Bob Kates, I think is his name. He was a super good Glasser, and I saw him, how he would squeegee nose detail. I was going middle out from the stringer out, and that just takes so much time. And I just saw how he did it. I go, man, that's so much different. And that's as soon as I just saw his technique, I could glass, I started glassing a lot better. And then but nobody ever sat with me and taught me anything. But I could definitely say watching Bob Kate's glass aboard was how I learned how to really, squeegee in the right directions and stuff. And then after it was just, sorry. Oh, I just wanted to ask you about using a, the planer cuz I mean I found that, yeah, going from the little hand tool to the planer, it's like easy to take off too much material and make, keeping it even and you can't hold it. You don't wanna hold it exactly square. You'll wanna hold it slightly diagonally. Can you give us, just give some pointers on like how, what your technique is with the planer when you're shaping? That's exactly, over the period of time you just, sometimes over the years I've showed people how to shape, a lot of people and when they get the planer, I mean it's I don't know how much shaping you've done, but to me it's just so natural. I can be walking down the board with the planter and I can trip, but it doesn't, the trip of my feet and the the movement of my body doesn't change my hands. I can trip almost fall down, but it doesn't my hands are still even, yeah, it's just something you get. It's like unbelievable surfers who never fall off. Whereas I'd fall off on a certain little soup hitting me or something, or kiting, windsurfing, whatever. It's just something from after shaping hundreds and hundreds of boards. But yeah, at first it wasn't easy, but watching people do it. And then a few people over my, mainly I would think Steve Licey showed me a couple things and I'm watching him in the early seventies when he came to Maui. Do you know who he ever heard of? Steve Scheyer? No, I don't think so. He was a super good surfer. He was, I think he rode for Bing back in the, in longboard days. And then he was still I think When short boards came out. He was a super good surfer, super good shaper, but he was always really open with me about techniques on shaping and stuff. He showed me some things to modify the front of my, where the depth adjuster is? He's got that slot. Do you have a scale? I don't have a anymore, but I used a planter before. Yeah. But anyway, the skill 100 planter is the best planter there is. It's got a depth adjuster in the front with a little lever that goes back and forth in this slot. When you're shaping boards, foam gets stuffed up into that shoe part. And then at the either end, the depth adjuster has a range of motion where it's a zero cut and it goes up to an eighth inch cut. Steve taught me to drill a big hole on the either end of that little slot so foam doesn't get packed in there. Cuz over the while, while you're shaping a board foam will get packed into either end and it won't allow the depth adjuster to come to zero. And it also doesn't allow it to get to an eighth inch because it's getting stuffed up. So he taught me, like on the open end where you wanna make it deeper, I drill a really big hole. So you can actually make the planer cut even deeper than a eighth inch, which was good. And then you put a cut, drill a hole in the other end so the foam doesn't get built up there, so you can actually close it onto a zero cut. And he also taught me one thing I don't know what the dynamics of this is. When you use, when you skin a blank, usually you skin it with a full cut on both sides. You go down one side. Working over to the stringer and then you plane the stringer down in a real clean cut and then you go to the other side with the exact same depth cut and work your way to the center again. And don't ask me why the cuts don't come out perfectly level. They're like this when you finally reach the center. And I used to always, and then I asked Steve, why is it like that? And he goes, I don't know, but all you do is back the planer off on your final cut instead of doing the full cut on the other side. And so ever since I learned that from Steve, the blank comes out perfectly flat after I've skinned it. Interesting. It's just little things like that Steve Licey showed me when I was, and I remember, you know how to, you, you change the depth of the cut as you're walking because like in the tail, when you're doing, when you're beveling your first cut on the rail, for example, you started a zero cut and then you increase the cut in the middle cuz the blank is usually thin in the tail, thicker in the middle and thinner in the nose. So you need to take more foam outta the middle. So you adjust the cut as you're walking. And so Steve, I saw how well he did that and I just copied it and then like shaping the v you don't start with an eighth inch cut and just start whacking away. You want a tapered cut. So you start with zero and then increase the cut as you go toward the tail that makes the V bottom cause you want more V in the back. Just little things like that. And then over and over you the shape it more and more. But anyway, like I, I was saying when I was showing other people, it's so natural for me to, and then also on the. You have the planter like this and the blades are right here. So you get a feel about where those blades are. So where you're gonna cut, it's not right in the middle, it's not in the front where it's like on a sure form you can go like that and shape what the front, the blades are here you have to learn where that cutting part is cuz you can't see it, it's underneath. And I would teach people how to shape and they would just like butcher the blank and I would get so frustrated thinking they should be able to do what I'm doing. But then I realized that it ain't easy to be able to learn that you gotta shape, you gotta take a long time to get the feel of the plant or where it cuts for sure. And yeah, I've just learned that from experience. It's nothing special about my skill. I think every shaper that's shaped a lot of boards. Matt Keena, he's a shaper here on Maui who does ka I've seen a lot of his videos on YouTube. He is unbelievable with his planer. Just really neat to watch him, his videos. And I've heard Timmy Patterson is good too. Unbelievable. With the planer. Yeah. That's so cool. All right you, so then you shaped your first surfboards and then what happened? People would see I was making surfboards, like for example, in Berkeley when I was making my first surfboards. And a couple of guys would get blanks and bring 'em over and I'd make their boards. And that was like in the late sixties when the backyard underground type shapers were coming into being and all the major manufacturers being Dewey Weber, Jacobs. Who else? Hansen. And back then, most of the boards used in the sixties were like kind of pop outs or whatever. Mo no, not pop outs, no vey. I was, the vey was the only one that I remember having a pop out board. Okay. It was a good board. It was just not cool to have a pop out. But I didn't know at the time and I didn't care, but all the other manufacturers were all custom handmade boards. Okay. And but anyway, in the sixties, I think it was partly the culture thing of, everybody was smoking pot every, and the music, the Stones, the Beatles and all that stuff. It was cool to be an underground shaper. And a lot of the bigger manufacturers I don't know if they struggled, but it wasn't quite the same as it was in the sixties, where in the mid sixties, during the golden era of surfboard making and long boarding where over the winter some of these manufacturers would produce 10, 10,000 boards, 5,000 boards for the summer rush to get ahead of it. They'd sell 'em all in the summertime. And in the sixties, I remember Dewey Weber had Nat Young on their team rider thing, and Nat was shaping a board. They called the ski and it had belly in the b in the nose, but with a down rail on the back like we do today. But nowadays the rails are down all the way front to back anyway, after a short period of time. Cuz things were evolving so quickly in the Shortboard era in the late sixties Dewey Weber produced a ton of those. Bei ski boards. And then a few months later, Nat realized that down rails were better. I think Mike Henson was the first guy to do a down rail board nose detail. And then Nat Young realized that was the best thing for its shaping. It was evolving. Dewey Weber wouldn't change cuz they already made a ton of them, it was economics. So by down, down rails, you mean the tucked under little edge, like below the, yeah. This is the shape of a longboard rail. Just rounded. Yeah. Yeah. Like they call it 50 50. So then when short boards came along, they tan, they turned like this shaping down and had more of a edge down here. I can't remember the they, it wasn't a total edge, but it was just down that's the expression we use by Unreal. Yeah. Down rail. Okay. And so what happened was, like in the rails, like even that board I got in my shop that I said I made a friend of mine in Berkeley that's in my shop, it's got a belly in the nose. And so we used to call it a high to low rail line low in the back. And then it got high in the front cuz of the belly in the nose. Then it got flatter and flatter in the back into a v in the ba in the back. And so then they changed to have the down rail all the way around. Mike Hanson was the first guy to do that. Okay. So when people saw that, how much better that was flat bottom nose with a down rail. Nat Young told Dewey, whoever, we gotta change 'em. And he goes, we can, we've already made thousands of these other ones and so he wasn't about to lose all that money, but that's just a little thing, yeah. That's here nor there as far as I'm concerned. Okay, so then people started asking you to make boards for them. You made underground boards for your friends or like how did you start? Yeah, just people that knew I made boards. It wasn't a lot. It was like three or four or five or six, I don't know, maybe it might have been 10 in Berkeley. And then and then Santa Cruz too when I moved to there. Anyway, I moved back to Maui in 71. I only lived in Santa Cruz for a year. And like I, I learned a lot in Santa Cruz cuz I'd go up to the house shop, watch guys use their planter, and and I'd learned that how to squeegee the glass and resin from Bob Kates watching him glass. And I also, there was a guy who did the gloss coats, I think, and mainly the pin lines at the out shop. I don't know, I, I can't remember his last name or even if I ever knew it, but his nickname was Nuclear Norman because his pin lines were so psychedelic. And that was right at that, it was in 1970 where, acid rock and all that stuff. He did the coolest pen lines I've ever seen and I've always tried to copy his style. Mainly it was how he tapered them. Everybody does a tapered pen line in the ends, but how he floated, he didn't do a narrow pin line and then a real quick taper at the very front. They were tapered really a long taper and do, he did all these little tape offs that were just so impressive. And I've always copied his style even to this day, pretty much Brian, I remember what the look of his pen lining was. And anyway, when I moved to, to back to Maui, 1971, I think it was early 71, I moved to Laina. And in the can Laina Cannery, there was a bunch of surf shops in there. There was a Maui Surfboards, which is where Les Pots shaped, and this guy Mike Carlson and Terry McCabe, I think they owned the shop. They were the Glasser. And then next door there was Jamie McLaughlin and Wally Bashard and Neil Norris had outer Island. I don't know if you remember the shop called Inner Island on Oahu. Anyway, that was just a take off of their name. Outer Island, right? So anyway, I went over to the Maui Surfboards shop where Les Work was shaping, and Mike Carlson and Terry McCabe had it, told them I could make boards and could I have a job. And so they hired me to sand cuz I could sand, I could do every step equally as well, cuz I did 'em all, every board I made up to that time, I did everything on it, shaped it, glassed it, I coated it, put the fin on, sanded it, glossed it. Never polished back then though. So anyway, I remember sanding a few boards, not very many, and then they just told me that they needed to work themselves and they couldn't have afford to pay me anymore. And it was something like five bucks a board back then, for sanding. Yeah. Anyway, so I just walked next door to Jamie's shop and told him yeah, I, they fired me or laid me off so I can make boards if you need anybody. And he goes, all right, we'll hire you to polish. Anyway, I never polished a board. I didn't know it at the time, but Jamie was doing a lot of coat and so I was in there one day and he was sitting there trying to do pen lines on a board. And I just loved hanging around surf shops, whether I was working or not. I loved the smell of resin and. He was jacked out of his brain. I had no idea what was happening, and what was, and he goes, Hey, can you do pin lines? And I go, yeah. He goes Here, he hands me the roll of tape. He goes, I gotta split anyway, he leaves and I do all the pin lines on a couple boards. And as I, like I said, I could do 'em really good. Even at that stage of my early career. And I, and obviously, copying Nuclear Norman's style, Jamie came back the next day and goes, Jesus Christ, these are unreal. You're hired. So now I was the pen liner at that shop. A couple days later he was jacked out of his mind again, trying to tape off a lamination to glass aboard. And he says hey, can you glass? I go, yeah, I can glass. He goes, here, do these boards. I gotta split. And I didn't know what, what was going on. All I know is shoot, I'm a glass. And so I glass those boards. He saw that I was a super good Glasser and now I was the Glasser there, the Glasser and the pin line. So back in the early seventies, I got known more as a Glasser because I was glasson not only those boards, but there was another shaper, Carl Hoke in LA more toward La Haina town who was making boards. But I was a better Glasser than most people. So I got to glass a lot of the boards around, and then even when Les Pots started shaping him in a different place, they'd send their glass jobs to me cuz I was a real good Glasser. I think Li Les gave me a nickname, Luigi Squeegee. And then some guys would call me Pin Line Louie. And I remember those two nicknames back in the seventies. Anyway there was a, we lived in this Filipino camp, which is just north of the cannery. There was four. Houses, there were U-shaped buildings with just seven rooms in each one. There was four of 'em down the street in the back. There was two kitchens and two showers and bathrooms out in the back, like old cane style houses, right? And in the back where I had her, I was renting a room in one of those places. I wanted to build a shaping room back there. So I did. And us howley guys, we were moving into those, that Filipino camp all, there was a lot of Filipino guys living there, older guys working in the, either the pineapple fields or the can fields. And they didn't like us cuz we were disrespectful, especially this one guy. And me and a couple of the guys. We weren't bad, but this one guy was a real dick to those guys and they hated us being there. They're, they work, they get up super early in the morning, they work all day and then they come home early. They want to sleep and work partying and stuff. And it was, thinking back on it, we were just those poor guys. But anyway, they were friends with this building inspector, some of those guys. So I built this shaping room and it was almost done. And so the building inspector come and told me, oh, you gotta have a permit for that. And so I applied for the permit, gave him $4 if I remember what it was. Super cheap, gave him the $4. And then he gave me the permit, but he said I had to cha fix the roof cuz it wasn't built sturdy enough. So I fixed that and then he came back again another week later, said I had to fix this. I fixed something else. And finally I told him, just tell me everything I need to fix one time. And and I'll. And then he came back a couple weeks later and said, Nope, you have to tear it down. You're too close to the property line and too close to the building, which I'm sure was true. But back then, nothing mattered. There was really no codes that anybody really needed to follow. And I just knew that some of the guys in the neighborhood told him to not to let me do that because that was just gonna be even more upsetting to their life. Their what was left of their peace and tranquility in their own house. So I had to take the thing down and I told gimme the goddamn $4 back. And he goes, Nope, you don't get your money back cuz you have to get a permit to tear it down too. And that cost $4. But anyway, that, but I still glass. I had a glassing rack I think up on the front porch or something, and a pin line room in the storage room. But I still did. Anyway, over in the cannery, I remember there was this the caretaker of the cannery was this old Hawaiian guy, and I think he was the father of the landlord of our house, and he was the caretaker of the cannery. And there was this single corrugated 10 building over there on the side over there. And I asked him, I was looking at it one day, I go, Hey, what is this? And he goes, just a room. I go, Hey, can I rent it? And he goes yeah. I go, how much? He goes, I'll tell you what, every once in a while, just gimme a case of beer. I goes, so I cleaned the place up and made a bitch and shaping room in there. And that was my shaping room for a long time. And then behind this building right next to mine, it was just a single building by itself. By itself, away from the main cannery part. Was this guy that we painted, I painted houses with this guy who owned, who had that workshop. He let me build a little lean to in the back of his shop that was next to my shaping room, the glass boards. I had a lock on the shaping room, but I remember the glass room was always open. Anybody could go back there and I would shape the boards and then leave 'em on the racks glass 'em, and never had any problems with theft or nothing. So anyway, yeah, I was, and then I started, I then I'd been making boards. I was getting pretty good at shaping and then really good at glassing. Cause I was glassing a lot more boards than I was shaping. And so I was, like I said, I was mainly more known as a Glasser. And so you basically went into business for yourself. You were basically just had your own glassing business. Other people would shape the blanks and give 'em to you and you would glass them, or you were also building. Yeah. Yeah. But also the thing is I'd also worked in hotels too. I was a busboy for a while and a waiter, and I also painted houses with this guy. That was my main thing, really. Painting houses and condos and working in the hotels. Surfboards were always, at least back then, a side thing. I never really thought of it as a main income, and partly was just because the irresponsibility, my, my life was so irresponsible back then it was all just surfing. And I tend to maybe put all surfers in that category, but I guess it's not necessarily true. But generally surfers aren't very reliable people and punctual, especially surfboard makers, surf good. You don't go to work. Yeah. Yeah. And our whole thing revolved around surfing. I remember one, me and this friend of mine, I was a little more what do you call it, responsible than him, but we were both bus boys up at the Royal Ohio. And there had been like a drought of surf in Laina that summer, like maybe a month or a month and a half with not even a ripple. And then one day it got two feet waist high or something like that at Laa Harbor. It was so small. Mala wasn't breaking or the, I don't need anything. The break wall was breaking. It was so small. And we go out and we have to be at thr at work at three o'clock to set up the restaurant cuz we're bus boys, right? And so we're out there surfing and then we go, okay, we better go in pretty soon to get to work at three. And they go, ah, let's get one more wave. And we kept doing it. He goes let's just go to work late. And so we'll get a couple more waves. And then finally we just said let's just not go today. Fuck it. Let's just quit. So we just stayed in the water till evening and quit and then a couple days later went and picked up our paychecks. That's how irresponsible I was. And my friend too. But that's, I never took surfboard making seriously as a job until windsurfing came along. Okay. So then, yeah. So what happened when windsurfing came along? It was like in the, actually in 1977, I think I moved to the mainland. I moved to Hermosa Beach and for a year, and Steve Licey was living back on the mainland at this time. And he was shaping in this one shaping room across the street from this glass shop called South Shore, I think. And this guy, Wayne Miata, was the Gloucester pin liner. And Mike, this guy, Mike Collins, owned the shop, I think. And I told, I asked Steve to introduce me to somebody so I can get a job in a glass shop or something, and he always was real hesitant about doing it and Steve was taking a lot of drugs back then, and he had a real bad reputation of, so he had told me later that was the reason he didn't want to introduce me to these guys because it would've looked bad for me if he walked, if I walked in with Steve. That's what a nice guy Steve was, even in his heavy drug use. He was considerate of what would happen with me. Finally, I bugged him enough that he finally went to that shop and, Hey Mike, you know this guy, he is a really good Glasser from Hawaii and he is a really good Glasser, the best. And then he walked out and then, so I don't know what that did, but I started going to that shop every day and just hanging around. And then finally one day I also was going to Santa Monica City College. I don't know why I was going there and I took weightlifting and I took PE or something, just, I dunno what I, why I even did that. But there was this guy in the weightlifting class, the teacher, in fact, I'm still in contact with that guy a little bit every few years when he comes to Maui, he emails me, but he wanted me to make, I told him I was a board maker and he, I had, he had me make him, I think a seven foot or a seven, six. Er, pintail, surfboard. So I, I got a blank shaped it for him. The place where Steve Licey was shaping, he introduced me to the guy and the guy was so nice to let me shape there too. So I shaped the board and then I told the guy in the glass shop, I got a board to glass. I can buy the materials from you. Let me glass it here and you can see what I do. And so I took that board in the sh in the glassing room. He let me do it really unbelievable now that I think about it for them to let me do that, and their shop where they're running a business. And so anyway, I pulled the, I taped the board off, pulled the glass out, and he sat there and he goes, okay, I'm gonna make you feel real nervous now, watching right over your shoulder. I didn't feel nervous cuz I was good, so I glassed the board. Perfect. He was stoked. I got hired the next day. Nice. So I was doing six boards a day. That no, maybe it was, yeah, only six, six or eight boards a day. They had five ranks. So they wanted you to They wanted me to do well, I was in the wintertime, I think so I think I was doing how many boards? Was it six or eight boards a day? I'd line up three or four, pull the glass out, laminate each one by the time they were done. And then we'd have lunch and then it was time to flip 'em over and do the decks. And I had to have 'em done for the evening for the guy to come and hot coat and put the fin boxes in. So I got so good at glassing, and doing all of those boards day after day where I'd mix up the. Right when I was finished glassing, and I don't know if you've ever seen anybody glass, you drip a drop a resin over the nose and tail to fill up the air holes. I had it down so well that right when I was finished glassing and dropping that drip a resin onto the nose, it was gelling every time I had it down, perfect. And to give you an example of how some people, how when I get, for example, how my, I feel like it's so natural and I, if I teach somebody, they should be able to do this too. This kid wanted to learn how to glass aboard. So I brought him in and like I said, there's five boards in a row, five boards on the rack. I'm masking taped off each one in a row. And I told him the exact same thing over and over again four times. So he'd get it in his head how to do it, and then I pulled out the fiberglass on all four boards, cut 'em, told him what I did four times in a row, and then I laminated all these boards four or five in a row with the resin. And then I said, okay, now you do your board. And he did it, set it up, took a while to set it up, and then when he mixed up the resin, he just froze. He didn't know what to do. And I just freaked. I go, sh the board, the resins gonna go off on him. If he doesn't move, I go move squeegee the resin. And he just started kinda doing it a little bit, but not much. And anyway, I just grabbed the squeegee out of his hand and finished it for him because he, his board would've been ruined. But Yeah. Yeah. The, it's so time sensitive, especially with the polyester rein. You only had so many minutes to get it done. So you had to have Exactly the timing down, yeah. Yeah. But I got real, real good at glassing. In those days, were you using respirators and all that kind of safety equipment? Yeah. Yeah. But not religiously, and yeah, I think I had a mask. My another thing I gotta mention about what Steve Slick Ameer taught me too, I used to wear my mask when I was planning. And when you plane the drum I have on my planter now is an abrasive drum. So it makes real fine dust. It doesn't make fits like so when you're planning with a regular blade, with a regular blades on your planter, it, it shoots off big chunks. Bigger chunks, right? And then when you're fine shaping with sandpaper, it makes real fine dust. I used to shape with my mask on with the planter, and after I was done with the planter, I'd take my mask off and shape with the sandpaper. And Steve said, Jesus, Jimmy, if you're gonna take your mask off at some stage, do it when you're abusing the planter. Those are big chunks. It's not gonna go on your nose and your lungs as easy as that fine shaping. So I've learned to, I'd learned to not take my mask off when I find shape, but still, it wasn't until like at least 20 or 25 years ago, but I started really paying attention to always wear my paper mask. And I always wear the ma respirator anytime I mix up any kind of resin. Mainly when I open up the acetone. Acetone is worse, I think, than resin on your nervous system than resin fumes. But I always am real, real vigilant about it now. Good. And I have been for years and years, specifically with the paper, You can't see it in the glassing room, but there's all these little diamond, you ever seen a reflection, sun reflection coming through a window and dust in the air. Glassing room. It's little sh shiny things. That's all the fiberglass dust in the glassing room that you don't see unless the a sun beam is coming through the window. So that's why I know I need to wear that paper mask every time I'm in that shop, in my shop. Okay. So you're in still 1977 Hermosa Beach. Like what made you go back to Maui in the first place, and then what made you go back to California? Like what motivated you to move back and forth? The first time I came to Maui was the first time I was away from home. Went back to, it was like right after high school. And then I moved back to Santa Cruz by the ti a year later. I was a year older, a year of living on my own already again in Santa Cruz, away from my mom's house. And then I wanted to be in Hawaii again. The same reason I wanted to be for the first time for surfing and for surfing. And my brother, he was the influence on that cuz he moved there first for surfing. Okay. So I moved back for surfing. I can't remember why I moved back to the mainland for a year, but did that. And then after a year I wanted to go back to Hawaii, but I think bef I was maybe in Hermosa for six months, then I moved back to Berkeley at my mom's house. And then I got a job this friend of my sisters was working with this rich guy, remodeling this big building. And so I got a job working there, construction, saved up a bunch of money, and then moved back to Maui. And where did I live? I think I moved to this side, the north side here, and got a job painting houses with a friend of mine. And then I was also shaping surfboards for this shop called Monte Surfboards. And I think it was in 1978 that Mike Walsh and this guy named Mark Robinson, who was a well known Florida windsurfer back when, windsurfer brand that was 12 foot plastic boards. That's, that was what the windsurfing sport was all about. Those boards. But Mike and a few other guys were starting to make shorter custom boards. And so when he came to Maui, Mike came by this shop cuz it was a surf shop. And where else would you go to get a custom board made? So I don't know why the owner of the shop, John Su let me shape the board cuz he was the owner and he was a shaper also. But somehow I, I shaped Mike's board and I think I had some pictures of that somewhere. But it was like a 12 foot race board. And then I made him maybe a nine foot, what they called a jump board back then, cuz they weren't really surfing on waves. They were going out and jumping over waves and then riding them straight off. They were, cause a lot of the boards back then, before they started making surfboard shape wind surfers were like boats or more like a boat than a surfboard. So I made those a couple boards there. And then at the house in KeHE, I that I lived at I thought windsurfing is gonna maybe be a big thing and maybe I can actually make a living making windsurfer. Shaping, right? So I was starting to build a a shaping room in the garage at my house, and the guy that was managing that house for a rental for us, told me, the landlord told me to take that down. I couldn't build a shaping room in the garage. So I had all this lumber. And then right at that time, Fred Haywood, Mike Walson, bill King started, had, were starting sail boards, Maui, I think in 1980. Fred had his old family house in Kalu there that they converted into a showroom. And there was an old garage in the back, a separate building. And Fred told me, why don't you bring all your lumber over here and build the shape and room in this garage here? So I did. And then right then was when the Windsurfer company, oil Schweitzer they wanted to make some short boards. And they made what the board, they called the Rocket 99, which was kinda like a pig shape, like the Vessy pig shape board, a narrower nose, a wide round, not round squi. It was a little squash tail with a real hippie back. And then another one, a nine one, and what was that called? The rocket? A Rocket 88. And I think it was a nine foot surfboard shape, round pin. Ainger Pintail, sorry, a Ainger Pintail. So the guy, this guy in California had the templates for those two boards. And so I, they had me shape them the plugs that Hoyle Schweitzer was gonna make the molds off of. And right at that time, there was this big windsurfing race on Oahu called the PanAm Cup. There was a big triangle race. I don't know if you know what the triangle race format is, where they have a buoy, straight up wind. So it's a lot of tacking to get up to that buoy. And then there's a broad reach and then a downwind leg. So it's a triangle course where all these guys on race boards, race around it. There was no wave surfing at that time, really Not much. And so Robbie Nash was pretty much starting to be the king at that time of racing. And so when the PanAm Cup was there one year, I think it was the same year we started making those two plugs at sail boards, Maui. And so people were coming to Maui because they were realizing that Maui was a much, much better spot for windsurfing than Oahu. Yeah, I guess at the time, like Diamond and Kailua were the epicenter of windsurfing in Hawaii, right? Bef Kailua was, I don't know so much about Diamond Head maybe, I can't remember cause I wasn't really even windsurfing. I was windsurf boards for a little bit before I even started windsurfing. But yeah, we made those boards and then I never stopped working. People would come and start ordering custom boards, so we made the glassing room and the shaping room was already there cuz I made the shaping room to, to shape those two boards for windsurfer surfer. And then we just started making boards and those were the, some of the first sinkers. And I think at that same time, Mike Walz had Jerry Lopez shape him a little, I think it was an eight foot board or something like that, 20 inches wide. Thin, thin for a windsurfer, but had three stringers in it. Jerry shaped it and then they brought it down and I glassed it. And that was one of the very first shortboard boards that they had to water start. And they were just learning to water start at that time. And then it just exploded for Maui because Maui was such a good spot. Sail boards, Maui was getting all the attention that it deserved, and we were in the epicenter of windsurfing in the world. And fortunately for me, I was there with Mike Wal and Fred Haywood, couple of the biggest stars in windsurfing at the time, and that was, that's the first time I ever made a living shaping, and I never did anything else. Actually, let's see. Yeah, I never did anything else after that. Shaped and glass boards and yeah, we made boards for three or two or three years before I went off on my own. All right. Yeah. So I remember those days when I was just trying to find some pictures here. I'm gonna screen share this real quick. Back then the the boards were like, yeah, he, you went to really small boards and then like the booms were longer than the board sometimes and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, there's that picture. See that picture on the right? Yeah. Top that's that first wind surfer I made for Mike Walz. Oh, okay. I guess it's not 12 feet. Maybe it was 10 feet. Because somebody, I posted that picture one time in that, on that Facebook page, I think it's old School Winds, surfers, it's called or something. Oh, windsurfing Hall of Fame is what I'm looking at here. Yeah. But I think there's a Facebook page called Old School Winds. Surfers. Okay. And I put that picture of that that one, that race board I made Mike. Yeah. Okay, cool. Some of these pictures are modern, more modern, you can see they got r a f sales, but there was one. See that one right where your mouse is right now? Yeah, that's, I know. Windsurfer logo. See how far the mass step is up there and stuff. Yeah. Really f close to the nose and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So when, so sail boards, Maori became a well-known brand and people were ordering custom boards. I got known around the world because of windsurfing and anyway, how I got into speed was I was shaping this one wave board. It was an eight six, I don't know how wide they were back then. It was a three stringer board, and I was taking the stringer down with my block plane in the middle. And back at that time, and maybe a couple years before, Dick Brewer was making this little concave right under the wide point and the rocker part of the board of his surfboards. It was like a concave, I think it was about like five or four or five, six inches wide. And just a couple feet long, just a tear drop. And it was maybe a gimmick or whatever. I don't know what it really did. I don't know if I ever made him on a surfboard, but I gouged the foam when I was shaping this, taking the stringer down on this eight, six round pen board I was making. And so I go shoot, it had this big gouge in the foam and I go, oh, I'm just gonna do one of those little concaves, like Brewer did. So I taped it off and shaped a concave into it. That board was sitting on the shaper room I'm in, in the showroom floor. Pascal Market came and bought it off the showroom floor. And at the time, the only, there was, I think only two speed events in the world at the time. One in Weymouth and one in this town called Breast. In France. And so Pascal took that board to Weymouth and Wind Surfers were going to Weymouth and Breast for a few years already, and they were going like 22, 23 knots at the best. And at the time there was a boat called Crossbo, which was a big catamaran that these English guys made that had what we call the absolute world speed sailing record. That means the fastest sailing craft powered by a sale. Obviously powered by a sale regardless of sale size, board, boat size, anything. Whoever can sail the fastest has the world record. Now in these events, they had different classes of sale size, like they had a 10 square meter and then a, I don't know, on and up, depending on what size sale you had. But you could still have the absolute world speed sailing record regardless of what class you were in. It's whoever went the fastest. But then there were speed records for each class too. So anyway, Pascal took this board that had that little concave in it over to Weymouth, and I think in 1982, and he broke the windsurfing speed record. It wasn't a world record, it was like 27 point, I think eight two knots, and it was huge news. Yeah, I think that picture right there, Ellie Z, that might have been Weymouth. I don't know. Yeah, it says 1982, so it's probably, yeah, that was, that looks like Weymouth to me, but yeah. Interesting. Okay. But anyway, so Pascal made that record and so it was big news and I remember it was done on a Neil Pride. Maui sales. Barry Spanier and Jeff born were making Maui sales at the time. And it was just on a stock Neil Pride, Maui sales sale too. And so it was huge news in the windsurfing world and in the Windsurfing magazine, big articles on it. And so that put the focus on speed on my boards and on Neil Pride Sales, Maui sales specifically. And the next year Fred wanted to go to Weymouth and see about doing a speed trial seeing about going for the world record or whatever, or a speed record. Yeah. There's a picture of Fred on the board I made with a wing mask. That was 83. So I shaped Fred two boards. One was a nine footer, I think it could have been I don't know, 2021 inches wide. And then also that one that's in that picture you're showing, that was eight nine, I believe. And maybe it was 18 and a half or 18 inches wide. And I did that concave on the bottom, going into a double concave on the, on, in the back. But the concave was a lot wider. I think it was almost rail to rail and a lot more flowing all the way through the bottom of the board. Fred did 30 point something knots, which was even bigger news than what Pascal did cuz Fred broke the 30 knot barrier. And that was a front page picture of Windsurf Magazine. Yeah. See Fred Haywood Bus 30 knot. But that nine foot board, this is this is one of my claims to fame and claims. The geometry of my boards, Barry Span, span, you called it the imperceptible geometry of the shapes I was doing Fred had a nine foot board that he sold the nine I made him the eight, nine, and the nine footer. He wasn't going to use the nine footer cuz that eight nine was so good and it was smaller. So he sold the nine footer to Robert Terra to how I know you know who he was. Robert's a good surfer and he, back then, shoot, I think he was my 15 or 16 years old back at that Weymouth event. So on that world record, not the world record day, but that day Fred did 30 knots. Robert went from, I don't know what place he was in, but second place in the entire event when Fred sold him, my board, the board I shaped. So it was, it's pretty objective. It's pretty easily to say objectively that board helped Robert get that speed. Not his sale, nothing else because when he got that board I made, he went up to second place on it. But anyway, that really catapulted sail board's, Maui Neil Pride, Maui sales, and me into the big spotlight of windsurfing surfing. For the next several years, all I cared really, I was making wave boards too and but speed boards was our main thing. So the next year, 1984, I started traveling. I think that picture you showed of me holding that red board, might have been 84, maybe 85. But I started going to speed trials too, and I was okay, but I wasn. There was 60 people at each speed sailing event. They only allowed 60 people to enter. And I was always in all the events around 30, at the end of the event, I was right in the middle of the pack. I wasn't anything exceptional, but I had potential. But the the speed trials, the top people were only separated by tenths of a knot. Like 38.2 or 38.1, real minuscule amounts of speed. Would determine who was first, second, and third and fourth. So I was always in the middle of the pack. I wasn't like 10 knots slower than the first place people, but but anyway, each event I would go to mainly it was just Weymouth in France in those first few years. And I go to, people would order speed boards from me, from all over the world. And then the next event I would come, I'd bring four or five or six boards to people. Yeah. And then and then one year, this guy Julian Kendall had he had gone to the Canary Islands a lot and he said there was this one spot down there in Ford of Ventura that the average wind speed was like 25 or 30 knots a day during the summertime. And it was a killer place to have a speed trial. Like for speed sailing, you want offshore wind so you can sail right next to the beach and have it real smooth, cuz the farther out you get the choppier it gets. So ideally you want butter, smooth water. With a lot of wind. And this place in the Canaries, he said was just epic. So a lot of us went that in that June of 1986. And I remember Joey Cabbel was getting interested in speed sailing and unfortunately he did not go to that event. That was at the same time there was gonna have a slalom event in Hood River Gorge. And I remember talking to Joey and he goes, yeah, I'm not sure where I want to go, whether I want to go to the Gorge event or this Canary Islands event. And unfortunately for him, he didn't go, cuz I know he would've been good, at speed. And so anyway, we all went over there and then the, there was a week long the, at the time actually at one of the previous France speed events. Fred didn't want to go to that event for some reason. And this German guy named Michael Puer broke Fred's 30 knot record. He didn't break the world record, but he did 32 something. 32 knots. And so now there was a rivalry between Fred and this guy. Like they wanna, it was just for publicity, and they took some pictures of Fred and him looking at they wanted a fight, although they were friends, it was just a kind of a, what do you call, a publicity thing, right? And so anyway, we all go to the Canaries and the first week there was a trial period, there was a two week long event, a main event was a week long. And the first week was a trial event. So we were all there for the trial event. We could sail in the trial event. The trial event was to get other people qualified to be in the main event. And I think, I don't know how many people were already qualified. Me and most of the people that were on the speed circuit got seated. And then I don't know how many people there were gonna take from the qualifying rounds. New people that are on the speed sailing. So whoever got into that event that qualifying round and did a certain amount, the top, how many got to go in the man event? So during that first event the trial part, Reinhard Ishka, this friend of ours here on Maui, he was really a young guy too from Austria, who's been on the speed. He broke Michael's record. Meanwhile, Michael's on the north side of word of Venturas riding waves. He was seated in the main event. So now his record is broken by Reinhardt already, even though it's just the trial event. Anyway, the main event starts and we're all sailing and I'm as usual in the middle of the pack, like number 30 or 28 or 32, okay. Never up near the top. But all the top guys are writing your boards basically, right? A lot of people were. Yeah. There was a lot of people were. Yeah. Yeah. And I had a 13 inch wide board. In fact, it was interesting, Eric Beal is the first guy who started making narrow boards. I remember at one of those French events, he had me make him a 16 inch wide board, and we thought he was nuts. 16 inches wide, how are you gonna ride it? And Eric, I think won the event on that board. And anyway, when it came time to come to futa, we were all making, Eric was making 13, 12 inch wide boards. Eric was narrower than anybody all the time. Eric wasn't as, he was a little lighter than me, taller than me, but his technique. And was just incredible. And back then it was like, if you're not big, you're not gonna go fast. And Eric wasn't big. He was taller than me, but not thick and heavy. But it was just his technique. But, so anyway, when Pascal, at the last minute, he was riding other people's boards up until far of Ventura and not doing anything exceptional, and then he asked me, he says, okay, make me a board. And I said, okay, let's make it thir 13 and a half. I talked him into making it narrow and he didn't wanna make it narrow at the time, but anyway, I made him a 13 and a half inch wide. Eight, six. My board was an 8, 1 13. I forgot what Eric's were, but Fred was tired of carrying so much equipment with him to all these events. So he only brought one board, which was a nine foot, I believe, 19 inches wide board that I made him. And he only brought a Neil Pride, r a f sale. And we all had Canberra induced sales, right? And so one time on Maui before this event, Eric was riding asy sails and as he made this killer Canberra induced sail. And so I tried it one day down at the beach at SP freckles. And I couldn't believe the acceleration with that Canberra induced sale, right? And it was much better than the Neil Pride, r a f sales. And so I asked Barry if they were gonna make some Canberra induced sales, and Neil Pride didn't want to make 'em at that time because of the financial thing. They had already invested in the R a F. And I go, shoot, I wanna ride Canberra and do sales, So I contacted Jeff Magna from Gastra, who was Pascal. They were sponsoring Pascal and asked him if I could be get some sales. And they were stoked, even though they didn't, even though I wasn't one of the top riders, I just had the reputation of the board maker and they thought it'd be good if they gave me some sales. So they sent me a bunch of Canberra induced sales, and I was riding the five meter a lot on Maui. Then the day before the, we left on the plane to go to the Canaries. It was super windy and I had my 13 inch wide board down there and I rigged up the 4.3 gas sale for the first time. And I took off the beach and it's choppy there, but still you can feel your equipment. And I just was, couldn't believe the acceleration and the speed I was getting. And I came in and I go, Jesus Christ, if we have wind, I might have a chance. This is just night and day feeling that I've ever had of the acceleration of this sale. So anyway, we go to the Canaries and the whole event, everybody's sailing and doing what, and like I said, people are doing this and that. The record was already broken up to about 35 knots, I think already, but we hadn't broken cross ball's record of 36 knots. Not us, but anybody. But I think Reinhart and Pascal had already done 35 knots up till the second to the last day of the event. Anyway, the second to the last day of the event was ridiculously windy. Something like 40, 45 knots, just perfect direction. Butter smooth, not a ripple near the beach. And then it got super windy out, choppy outside, but it was just dead flat water, no surf, nothing. It was like those pictures you were just showing. But radical wind. And so we all knew something was gonna happen that day. So they also made a, they have a rescue boat. But anyway if you've ever b

The Windsurfing Podcast
#74 - Windsurfing millionaire - MICHAL POLANOWSKI - How he did it!

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2023 68:09


Michal polanowski has followed his passions for windsurfing and business... now he's the combining high level windsurfing with a successful green energy company!! Maciek chats to him to find out how it all happened.

The Windsurfing Podcast
#73 - Marc Paré - The Windsurfing Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2023 73:04


This Week it's Wave ripper Marc Paré.. but it wasn't in the waves where it all started!

The Windsurfing Podcast
#71 - 550k!!! Windsurfing Viral video- LIVE Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2023 114:40


We had a viral video!!! 500k view in 48hrs... which is kind of ridiculous when you see the video!!Is it real.. it Bots?? I get PvB back in to discuss...

The Windsurfing Podcast
#67 Starting a Windsurfing Brand - 'WeOne The Windsurfing Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2023 66:55


'WeONE' are the NEW Brand in town... so we thought we would catch up with Paul Simmerl (Brand Manager) and Head of racing department... Ex PWA Racer: Ben Van der Steen to Ask them all about and see how it going.

The Windsurfing Podcast
#66 - We Pick a Windsurfing Dream team

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2023 94:52


Host Maciek is joined by Ben Proffitt and Craig Gertenbach (Fanatic Brand Manger) to Pick their Dream teams going into 2023... But there are some rules:*7 people per team*2 wavesailors*2 racers*1 freestyler*1 legend(has to be retired from competition)*1 wildcard / free choice*minimum 2 girls*maximum 2 world champions(legends excluded)

Strong Mind
Big wave mindset

Strong Mind

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2023 59:15


In this episode, Hazel talks to windsurfer Sarah Hauser. Sarah is one of the world's best windsurfers and has the record for the biggest wave ever windsurfed by a woman. In this conversation, Sarah talks about maximising intrinsic motivation, managing fear, mental management tools, hypnotherapy, and flow state among other interesting areas of psychology. If you already know a lot about windsurfing you could skip the first 20 minutes. 

5 Good News Stories
Beach Dog wasn't lost, her owner was windsurfing!

5 Good News Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2023 8:00


Johnny Mac was all worried about this poor lost dog...but then he found out the story behind Beach Dog! A couple, 99 and 98, shares the secret of their 80 year marriage. A woman completes her dad's bucket list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5747537/advertisement

The Windsurfing Podcast
#65 – Robby Swift – Windsurfing Podcast

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2023 89:05


One of NP/JP longest serving riders (26 years ) who has been there and done it in nearly every discipline... and he's still going strong today. it is of course... Robby Swift!0:00 Teaser 1:48Intro, PWA/IWT merger11:30 Starting in UK, Parental support, Sponsors18:40 Oceans Academy, Learning to be pro and parties33:57 Freestyle world titles, Ricardo, learning moves45:54 Super X period, Slalom56:21 Waves and future wave champs1:04:22 Being a contest sailor1:13:10 JP/NP relationship1:17:18 Quickfire

Sporting Witness
First woman to win Olympic gold in windsurfing

Sporting Witness

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2023 10:00


Top New Zealand windsurfer Barbara Kendall was run over by a power boat at Christmas 1991 and told she should not sail again. She refused to believe the doctors and became the first woman to win a gold medal in windsurfing at the Olympics. Barbara has been speaking to Laura Jones. (Photo: Barbara with her gold medal on the podium at the Barcelona Olympics. Credit: Barbara Kendall)

Good Jibes with Latitude 38
Dr. Paul Heineken on Championing the Next Generation of Sailing

Good Jibes with Latitude 38

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2023 54:14


This week's host, John Arndt, is joined by Dr. Paul Heineken to chat sailing, windsurfing, kiting, winging, and giving back to the next generation of sailors. Paul is a lifelong competitive dinghy sailor, windsurfer, and supporter of junior sailing. He's a former Commodore of the St. Francis Yacht Club, has served on the Board of Directors of the Treasure Island Sailing Center, and has been a volunteer coach of the UC Berkeley Sailing Team for many years. Hear how to transition to windsurfing and the like, raise a family passionate about sailing, start an event in a new sport, how we can make sailing more available, and what's next for Treasure Island. Learn more about the Treasure Island Sailing Center at https://www.tisailing.org/

Behind the Sins
The Betrayal, the Babe, the Bryce, and the Blades

Behind the Sins

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2022 84:01


Aaron is joined by CinemaSins Co-Founder Jeremy Scott this week to talk about the videos released the last two weeks!  1) The SinSide Scoop: Thoughts on the videos!House of the Dragon - "The Green Council" (4:35)Jurassic World Dominion (13:30)House of the Dragon - "The Black Queen" (24:16)Edward Scissorhands (26:20)Old Spice - "Windsurfing" (39:29)The Dark Knight Rises Re-Sin (46:42)2) Behind the Sinner: Jeremy talks about cooking (1:00:08)3) Beyond the Sins: A recommendation, warn, or reca-warn from each of us. (1:16:33)4) Outtakes (1:22:29)Come hang out on the CinemaSins Discord: discord.gg/cinemasins and follow the show on Twitter @CinemaSinsBTS (and please send us your feedback as well)For early access to episodes and many other fun perks, join the Sinclub at patreon.com/cinemasinsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Maverick Show with Matt Bowles
201: Being Imprisoned in Bahrain, Teaching Windsurfing in Barbados as an Anti-Colonial Gesture, and the Role of Poetry in Arab Culture with Zein El-Amine

The Maverick Show with Matt Bowles

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2022 66:38


Zein El-Amine talks about growing up in Lebanon at the start of the Lebanese civil war and tells the story of being trapped between two warring factions in Beirut at 12 years old.   He then opens up about his time attending high school in Bahrain and college in Saudi Arabia. Zein shares the story of going off to play tennis one day in Bahrain and being arrested as a suspected member of Shīʿa terrorist cell planning a coup.  He describes his experience being put into the Shīʿa political wing of the prison, who he met there, how his parents feared he might be executed, and how this experience fundamentally changed his political consciousness.  Next, Zein tells a story about going down to Barbados on vacation from Saudi Arabia, running out of money, and teaming up with locals to teach windsurfing to British tourists as an anti-colonial gesture.  He then reads the poem he wrote about the Barbados experience.   Next, Zein talks about his path to becoming a writer and a literature professor. He explains the significance of poetry in Arab culture and also reflects on the value, impact and crucial importance of travel.  FULL SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT: www.TheMaverickShow.com

The Gwen & Damo Show
ROB DOUGLAS | WINGFOIL RACING | Windsurfing-Wingfoil- kitesurfing

The Gwen & Damo Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2022 67:11


Welcome to the Gwen and Damo Show! Join Gwen and I as we go in depth with the fastest sailor on the water, Rob Douglas. He is the recent winner of the Aruba Hi-winds 2022 Wingfoil long distance races. This multiple world champion and World record holder is going in-depth on foil performance, wing performance, and the differences between kitesurfing, wingfoil and windsurfing.https://www.arubahiwinds.com2022 Aruba Hi-WindsWing Foil Long Distance RacesResults as of 16:48 on May 29, 2022Wing foil LD CategorySailed: 3, Discards: 0, To count: 3, Entries: 10, Scoring system: Appendix ARank Name Category Sail No Nat R1 R2 R3 Total Nett1st Robert Douglas Wing foil LD OR 34   1 1 1 3 32nd Dominik Richard Wing foil LD OR65   2 2 2 6 63rd Wim Eelens Wing foil LD OR98 ARU 3 3 4 10 104th Bruce Harms Wing foil LD OR71 ARU 4 6 3 13 135th Jason Peterson Wing foil LD OR53 ARU 6 5 5 16 166th Raul Ponson Wing foil LD OR30 ARU 9 4 6 19 197th Mark Lunan Wing foil LD OR54   5 7 7 19 198th Eef vd Eerenbeemt Wing foil LD OR43 NED 10 8 8 26 269th Henk Steenbergen Wing foil LD OR 25/6 NED 7 11 DNC 9 27 2710th Jonathan Acosta Wing foil LD OR78 ARU 8 9 11 DNC 28 28Do you want a quick, easy way to get into wing foiling? This video is for you! We break it down in a very simple and concise way so you understand the very basic principle of wing foiling. Share it with a friend and live your best life! If you need more in depth information, check out our previous videos on how to wing foil:How to Wing Foil Part 1 https://youtu.be/xsMJZZMJcv0How to Wing Foil Part 2 https://youtu.be/vRHEk1HaqbMMost common beginner mistakes https://youtu.be/EuCoPsuEwZESupport this Youtube channel on Patreon ($5/month for exclusive content): https://www.patreon.com/damienleroyFollow us on Instagram:Gwen Le Tutourhttps://www.instagram.com/plantpositivefilmsDamien LeRoyhttps://www.instagram.com/leroydamo/www.damienleroy.comOrder your wingsurfing gear, kiteboarding gear, foiling gear at https://adventuresportsusa.com/?ref=DAMO and support us and the YouTube channel!Get 5% off any gear using discount code DAMO5My set up:Wing https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/02-collection/products/mantisv2-window?ref=DAMOBoard https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foil-boards/products/01-code?ref=DAMOFoil https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foils/products/00-fusion-carbon-70-base-kit/?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foils/products/01-fusion-h-series-wings?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foils/products/01-fusion-h-series-tail-stabilizers?ref=DAMOHelmet https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foil-safety/products/helmet-freeride?ref=DAMOImpact vest https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foil-safety/products/surface-vest?ref=DAMOWetsuit https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/mens-tops/products/mission-skin-top-2mm/?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/mens-wetsuits/products/mission-l-s-springsuit-fz-3-2/?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/mens-wetsuits/products/combat-bz-s-s-3-2-0/?ref=DAMOSupport the show

The Windsurfing Podcast
#61 – Ian Boyd – Windsurfing gave me everything!

The Windsurfing Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2022 75:35


The original Freestyler... Ian Boyd on the Podcast!

The Gwen & Damo Show
LONNY MORRIS | KITESURFING or WING FOILING?

The Gwen & Damo Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2022 51:44


Welcome to the Gwen and Damo Show! We are going in depth with Lonny Morris, a long-time kite surfer, on the pros and cons of kitesurfing vs wingfoiling. Lonny is a recent winner of the Adventure Sports Virtual Challenge logging the most time on the water. A great conversation is about to go down. What are your thoughts? We would love to have you share your info on the crossover of the two sports. Time to be inspired!More info: https://www.instagram.com/lonny.morris/http://www.losethestraps.comIf you need more in depth information, check out our previous videos on how to wing foil:How to Wing Foil Part 1 https://youtu.be/xsMJZZMJcv0How to Wing Foil Part 2 https://youtu.be/vRHEk1HaqbMMost common beginner mistakes https://youtu.be/EuCoPsuEwZESupport this Youtube channel on Patreon ($5/month for exclusive content): https://www.patreon.com/damienleroyFollow us on Instagram:Gwen Le Tutourhttps://www.instagram.com/plantpositivefilmsDamien LeRoyhttps://www.instagram.com/leroydamo/www.damienleroy.comOrder your wingsurfing gear, kiteboarding gear, foiling gear at https://adventuresportsusa.com/?ref=DAMO and support us and the YouTube channel!Get 5% off any gear using discount code DAMO5My set up:Wing https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/02-collection/products/mantisv2-window?ref=DAMOBoard https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foil-boards/products/01-code?ref=DAMOFoil https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foils/products/00-fusion-carbon-70-base-kit/?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foils/products/01-fusion-h-series-wings?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foils/products/01-fusion-h-series-tail-stabilizers?ref=DAMOHelmet https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foil-safety/products/helmet-freeride?ref=DAMOImpact vest https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/foil-safety/products/surface-vest?ref=DAMOWetsuit https://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/mens-tops/products/mission-skin-top-2mm/?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/mens-wetsuits/products/mission-l-s-springsuit-fz-3-2/?ref=DAMOhttps://adventuresportsusa.com/collections/mens-wetsuits/products/combat-bz-s-s-3-2-0/?ref=DAMOSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/damienleroy)