1. How did you get into paddling? I paddled open canoes as a kid. For several summers in high-school I paddled tourists around a river in an enormous one-ton canoe at “Davy Crocket Explorer Canoes” at Disney World. I had always been interested in kayaks, but never saw one locally. When I was 28, plastic sea kayaks (Chinooks) made their appearance in Florida and I acquired one as soon as possible.
2. What type of kayak do you paddle? A 17 year old Anas Acuta and several skin-on-frame Greenlandic kayaks. Most recently I used an NDK Explorer for circumnavigating Iceland.
3. What is your favourite paddling area? Any unspoiled, scenic area. In Florida my favorite areas are Cape Canaveral, Mosquito Lagoon, the Florida Keys, the 10,000 Islands, Everglades and the beautiful spring-fed rivers of the interior.
4. What is your day job? I’m currently looking at changing careers but for the past 23 years I have been a computer analyst.
5. Who would you say has had the most influence on your paddling development? I try to learn something from everyone I meet. As a beginner I took a number of classes with Derek Hutchinson that had a profound influence on my paddling career. John Heath and Maligiaq Padilla were prime influences in my later years. My rolling skills are self-taught, gleaned from books and videos of Greenlanders (John Petersen and Maligiaq Padilla).
6. Who do you think has done the most to develop modern sea kayaking? John Heath, Derek Hutchinson, and many others. Each has pushed the sport in different directions.
7. If you were paddling a double sea kayak who would you want in the front seat and why? I’d prefer the front seat to be empty. Kayaking to me is about freedom!
8. What is the best or most memorable paddle that you have undertaken? Circumnavigation of Iceland, Pukaskwa area of Lake Superior, and the long distance races at the Greenland Championships. In all cases the scenery was awe-inspiring.
9. What is your favourite stroke? A clean, powerful forward stroke with a Greenland paddle (canted forward stroke).
10. If you were to offer one piece of advice to newcomers to the sport what would it be? To enjoy the process of learning as you will be a student of the sport and learning new skills for as long as you paddle.
11. How do you see the sport developing in the next 10 years? Greenland skills and equipment will become more mainstream and become much more accepted as thoroughly modern and capable for all levels of sea kayaking. There is still much to learn from the Inuit and more cross-pollination will take place between the different kayak “camps”.
12. What is your major frustration with the sport? The different kayak camps can still be insular and close-minded at times. The mainstream kayak scene currently seems to think that Greenland kayaks and Greenland kayaks are primarily for rolling. They are good for that, but that’s just the icing on the cake.
13. What music would be the soundtrack to your paddling life? None. Although I enjoy Norah Jones, I’d prefer to hear natural birdsong, the sound of the wind and waves, and the laughter of my companions.
14. Do you belong to a Club and what is your involvement? I'm President and founder of Qajaq USA (http://www.qajaqusa.org), the American chapter of Qaannat Kattuffiat (the Greenlandic Qajaq Association). I'm also past-president of the Florida Sea Kayaking Association.
15. Have you ever had an embarrassing moment. Something afterwards that you can smile about but wished hadn’t happened? During a lunch stop in central Florida I once ran my kayak on top of a huge alligator at full speed. I had mistaken it for a small semi-submerged island on which to beach the kayak. The ensuing commotion was about as subtle as a depth-charge. Let’s just say that it spoiled my appetite for lunch (and the gator didn’t seem to enjoy it either)…
16. Do you have any regrets – something that you had wished you had done but now can’t see yourself doing? I find it difficult to achieve a reasonable balance between work/security and living/play. After 23 years of office work, I finally took nine months off, traveled, and lived in the moment, including kayaking around Iceland with Freya Hoffmeister. If I have future regrets it will probably be that I spent too much of my prime adult life sitting in a sterile office building.
17. Why do you think we are interviewing you today? Because the local weather is not good for paddling today?

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