Adventure Travel with Chris Prewitt - Chris Prewitt Surf - Adventure Travel Podcast - Big World Made Small

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of
the Big World Made Small podcastfor the Adventure Traveler.
So happy to have each and everyone of you back today, and also
very excited to have our guest.
We've got Chris Pruitt.
Chris is the owner and operatorof Chris Pruitt Surf.
Chris, welcome to the show.
Happy to have you here.

SPEAKER_00 (01:22):
Thanks, Jason.
Great to catch up and reallylooking forward to the next
little bit of time with you.

SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
Yeah, what you do is a bit different than a lot of
the guests I've had on the show.
And I just found that it wasreally super cool, fascinating.
Sometimes I ask people like, howdid they come up with the name
of their business?
We won't spend too much time onthat, but obviously you've got
the word surf in there.
So let's uh let's give ourlisteners kind of before we dig

(01:48):
into your background and figureout how you got from where you
were to where you are now, let'sgive our listeners just kind of
an idea of what exactly it isthat you do at Chris Pruitt
Surf.

SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Great.
I tailor and curate luxurysurfing holidays for
individuals, families, peoplethat want to get to tropical
locations, go surfing, andimprove along the way.
I've got locations all aroundthe world, all based around the
tropics, nice warm water, clearwater, coral reefs, that sort of
thing.
So there's there's always a lotof other opportunities for

(02:18):
adventure on these holidays,also.

SPEAKER_01 (02:21):
Is it typically do your clients or potential guests
typically come to you with adestination already kind of in
mind and say, Chris, we want togo here?
Can you can you set it up and gowith us?
Or do they, or is it more theyapproach you and say, we want to
go somewhere where we can dosome surfing, get better at
surfing?
What do you suggest?
Or is it a mix of I I suspectit's a mix of the two?

SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
100%.
Definitely a bit of both.
It really comes down to whattheir needs and wants are and
also what their abilities are.
I'm not going to take beginnersurfers to some big gnarly reef
break somewhere.
So once I ascertain their goalsand what they're trying to get
out of a surfing holiday, I canthen tailor it to that.

(03:01):
So places all around the worldfor beginners, you know,
intermediate surfers, surfersthat have been serving for over
25 years.
And also the dynamic of thegroup, if it's just a solo,
maybe a family, making surethat, you know, I've got the
location for them that not onlywill the surfers enjoy, but the
non-surfers in the group too.
I think that's really importantto cater to them.

(03:24):
Yeah, well, you know, a lot ofthe times they're the ones that
might be making the bigdecisions.
So uh it's important to uh youknow cater to everyone.

SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
I used to work in the fly fishing industry, and as
you can imagine, it's kind ofthe same scenario where uh maybe
she or he, I'm not there'sthere's no it's not a
male-female thing, but someonein the group is I want to go
somewhere cool where I can do abunch of stuff, and my husband
or my partner is only gonna behappy if he or she can go
fishing.
So yeah, it's it's uh it's it'sa huge part of that.

(03:54):
Do you also I suspect sometimes,because you said I'm not gonna
take someone to a big gnarlybreak, I think I'm this is gonna
be new for me to get the lingostraight, but you've got the
lingo.
Okay, cool.
You said I'm not gonna takesomeone to a big gnarly break if
they're they're beginners or aremaybe not ready for that, but I
suspect sometimes you get peoplesay, I want to go here.
I saw it on YouTube and I wantto learn to surf, and that place

(04:16):
looks really cool.
So do you spend some time kindof kind of talking people out of
places?

SPEAKER_00 (04:23):
Not so much talking people out of places.
Um, you know, I I've had manyinstances that I might be in a
location in the world and likeFiji for, for example.
There's where I go in Fiji,there's probably five or six
quality breaks, all within avery close proximity.
Um, and one of them is isCloudbreak, which is a
world-renowned, really big wave.

(04:44):
And I get people to say, Oh, youknow, I want to serve
Cloudbreak, and you know, Isaid, Oh, do you?
So we'll we'll we'll go have alook.
And you know, sometimes we'llsometimes we'll jump in the
water just so they can feel theenergy and be in amongst it and
see it.
And you know, it's it's kind ofa desensitizing exercise also to
get people in that environmentand just feel the power of the

(05:07):
ocean.
You know, at the end of the day,the ocean doesn't care how much
money you have, it doesn't, youknow, discriminate.
It's it's it's a wild entity.
And uh to be able to share itwith people is quite amazing,
you know.
And I I definitely like to peepget people out of their comfort
zone a little bit so they reallyfeel alive in a safe

(05:28):
environment, obviously.
So yeah, there there's there'stimes where people say, Oh, I
want to do this, and yeah,that's great.
Let's let's go have a look andlet's desensitize a bit.
And you know, at the end of theday, I my number one job is to
keep them safe, having fun andlearning.

SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
So is desensitize a euphemism for reality check?

SPEAKER_00 (05:50):
Yeah, pretty for pretty much, you know.
Okay.
You know, you know, I had pulledup to a place and say, Do you
want to jump in the water andyou know just paddle out?
And I kind of go, Well, myshoulder's a bit sore today, you
know, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
So yeah.
I I I can imagine it's kind ofmaybe like people that want to
climb things, you know, they'relike, Oh, I think I'd like to
climb that.
And that's like, okay, well,let's just do a little hike
around the the base of themountain before we make any big
decisions.

SPEAKER_00 (06:17):
Totally.

SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
So then it's like, oh yeah, it looked uh looked
looked much smaller in thevideos or whatever.
So yeah, yeah.
All right, that makes sense.
And are you able to put togetherthe whole trip?
So, I mean, are you doingaccommodations, transfers, other
activities as well?

SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
Definitely.
I have a really good partnershipwith a few five-star resorts,
some beautiful yachts that I'min contact with all the time.
So I can handle all the booking,the monies, that sort of thing.
In regards to transfers, that'sall pretty straightforward with
most of the places.
There's kind of usually oneroute to get there.

(06:55):
You know, I won't handleflights, but we'll handle the
accommodation and transfers andmaking sure everything goes as
smoothly as possible.
Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 (07:04):
Do you have a I don't know, favorite?
What would you call anon-surfing activity?
What do you what do you call thethe other activities that people
want to participate in?
Is it okay to say non-surfing ordo you have a better way to say
that?

SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
No, 100%.
You know, most of these placesthat we go to from Indonesia,
Fiji, the Maldives, those sortsof places, there's a there's a
really big culture also, youknow.
So between engaging with thelocal culture, you know, there
might be some sort of a localcharity that the resort or the
yacht works with that you canget involved with and really see

(07:40):
where the the monies go.
You know, there's a place inSumba that I spend a lot of time
in Indonesia, and over 30 yearsthey've been running a local
program that has saved hundreds,not thousands, of lives over the
last 30 years due to malaria.
Okay.
You know, so get to go into thecommunity with their foundation
and and go to the schools andmeet the children, and they've

(08:02):
got big nutrition programs.
So being able to get involvedwith that and feed kids at the
school and it's reallyrewarding, you know.
Um you know, that that's theland sort of based stuff.
You know, some places you youcan go horseback riding, you can
go scuba diving, you can, youknow, release a brand new set of
turtles that have just beenborn.
You know, really just trying toengage with what's happening

(08:25):
locally, I think, I think isreally important.
And and people walk away with asense of, well, it's a surf
trip, but geez, the the depth ofthe relationship of of the place
they visit, I think is is key.

SPEAKER_01 (08:37):
Now if you've got a mixed group, you've got maybe
one person in the group is allabout the surfing and maybe
their partner or is not so muchabout the or like nodded into
the surfing at all.
Well, the surf, I know this isI'm asking to kind of
generalize.
I'm also asking you togeneralize about people that are
your clients, but yeah, myquestion my question is are

(08:59):
surfers that travel are theytypically kind of hardcore like
the surfers like I want to surffrom sunup to sundown, or are
they more likely to just go outfor a few hours and then go to
other activities?
Or what what is it typicallylike?
What can you say about yourclients?

SPEAKER_00 (09:13):
Yeah, well, you get a bit of both.
Yeah, you get a bit of both.
And the reality is a lot of myclients are kind of the high net
worth sort of clientele becauseof the yachts and the resorts
and so forth.
You know, so they're nothardcore surfers, meaning they
have jobs.
So they spend a lot of time inthe office.

SPEAKER_01 (09:34):
We're gonna we're gonna get to we're gonna get to
your background.
And not everybody has the thetime, focus, and energy to uh
become a surf bro, but yes, Iknow that.

SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
So, yes, mentally they're hardcore surfers, you
know, they they love surfing,and that and that's why they're
with me.
But there's a couple ofdifferent things that affect how
much you surf in a day.
Number one's tides, you know,some places you can only surf at
high tide or low tide, there'scurrents involved, that sort of
thing.
And also the body, you know,most of my clients are kind of

(10:05):
40 plus professional businesspeople, you know.
So after two hours, you know,they're kind of gone, okay, that
that was good.
You know, we'll go in and have abreak and then hopefully get out
again later in the day.
And I usually I find usuallyabout day three, day four of a
trip, people have gone reallyhard those first three or four
days and they hit the wall.
I see it all the time.
And I try to tell people thoseday one, day two, let's just

(10:27):
slide into it, you know, takeyour time.
We've got 10 days, seven days,whatever it is, and people hit a
wall.
But, you know, the places we'reat, you're gonna go get a nice
massage, you're gonna get a goodplace to spa, you're gonna get a
sauna.

SPEAKER_01 (10:40):
A hundred percent.
All right.
What's as someone that reallyknows nothing about surfing, and
but I've done other activitiesthat can kind of beat up the
body, you know, like if you'redoing a three or four pay,
four-day horsebacking trip orsomething like that, you quickly
realize there are certainmuscles that you haven't used in
a long time, and you realize, ohyeah, this is the part that
hurts.
So my I guess my question iswhen a surfer hits the wall, are

(11:03):
there a particular set ofmuscles?
Is it the whole body?
What what is a what is a soresurfer look like and feel like?

SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
Usually the neck, the shoulders, the back.
That's probably and the arms.
Because paddling, you know,paddling is not 90% of surfing.
You know, if you go surfing fortwo hours, you probably actually
do the sport of surfing out oftwo hours for probably on a good
day, seven, eight minutes.
You know, if you add up all yourwaves of actual surfing time,

(11:31):
the rest of the time is being inthat prone position with the
with the neck back, chin up, youknow.
So unless people are trainingthat constantly, it's probably
one of the most fatiguing partsof surfing.

SPEAKER_01 (11:44):
Okay.
It makes sense.
And it's I it's makes so muchsense.
And I just like would I wouldn'thave guessed.
I was actually, yeah, okay.
All right.
Yeah.
So do you encourage like thepeople that have been on trips
with you before, they kind ofknow you kind of know them, you
kind of have, you know, theexpectations are maybe a little
bit more realistic, but peoplethat are going the first time,

(12:04):
do you encourage them to gotrain, to go to the gym, to do
all that stuff?
And and if you do, do theytypically do it?

SPEAKER_00 (12:11):
Yeah, well, it's finding the time it's finding
the time for it all.
Because these are busy people,you know.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they're busy people, youknow.
So but I find that most peoplethat that enjoy surfing, that
want to go on these sort oftrips are pretty active,
anyways.
You know, but surfing is a veryspecific skill in regards to
body movement and so forth.
So if people are doing yoga andswimming and you know, just

(12:35):
staying relatively fit, it'sthey're a step ahead of a lot of
others.
Someone that's come straightfrom a couch that hasn't done
anything, you know, as soon assomeone lies down on a surfboard
and starts a paddle, I know whatI'm in for.
Um I can just tell, you know,after doing it for so long, then
I think, okay, well, let's getthem on something a little bit
bigger with some more volume,which is gonna make paddling

(12:56):
easier, which is gonna extendtheir session, which they're
gonna catch more waves, they'regonna have more fun.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:01):
Why does why does bigger water make it easier?

SPEAKER_00 (13:05):
Bigger, bigger volume in a surfboard.

SPEAKER_01 (13:07):
Bigger volume.
Oh, this on the surfboard.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
Yeah, it it floats more.
So you're you're sitting on thesurface more, so when you're
paddling, the board glides.
And if you're riding a boardthat's too thin or too short,
you sink.
So then you're pushing more ofyour own self through the water.
You know, you're not as dynamic.

SPEAKER_01 (13:25):
I heard volume and I thought water.
So I was I I was like bigger,bigger water is easier.
I I wasn't sure.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
I'm happy I'm happy I asked.
I'm not afraid to skip.
You probably it's great.
I think we should discuss realquick about what somebody who's
never been surfing, they're indecent shape.
Yeah.
I'm not necessarily suggestingthat a whole group that's never

(13:46):
been surfing.
I don't know, you tell me.
Yeah.
A group that wants to gosurfing, they've never been
surfing.
I I'm sure you could accommodatethem, but what I really am
curious about is what shouldsomebody expect?
Someone probably not someonelike me.
I said someone in reasonablygood shape.
I'm not sure.
But uh they've never been on asurfboard.
Is it realistic for them toexpect that they're gonna be

(14:06):
able to get up the first day,the first trip?
What is what what do you tellthem to expect?

SPEAKER_00 (14:12):
100%.
You know, the the the mostimportant thing with surfing is
having fun.
And if you're set up in theright uh conditions, not only
meaning the conditions of theserve, but with the equipment,
the instructions.
Um like I said, I've been doingthis a really long time.
And if I've got the right wavesand the right surfboard for a

(14:34):
beginner server, they'll begetting up.
Maybe not pretty on the firstday, but they will stand up and
feel that glide.
And that's the most addictingpart of surfing, is once you
feel that glide, I think you'rehooked for life.

SPEAKER_01 (14:48):
Do you think in general terms, because there's a
lot of places you can go andtake a surf lesson.
You know, I could go to Hawaii,I could go to Indonesia, and I
could sign up for surf lessonsfor presumably one-on-one or
group.
Yeah.
Do you encourage people to gotry and do that somehow before
they book a big surf vacation?
I mean, I know there's a lot ofvariables, but do you think like

(15:11):
you're you're a pro, you've beendoing this a while.
And I suspect there's a lot morekind of one-on-one and more
flexible schedule.
Because if I go book a surflesson, I'm probably gonna do it
right in front of wherever theydo the surf lessons, right in
front of their shop.
And whatever the weather is, itis, and there's probably not a
lot of flexibility to hop on theyacht and go over to the other

(15:32):
side of the island.

SPEAKER_00 (15:34):
True, true.
Um yeah, I mean, the more timeanyone spends on a board from an
absolute beginner to yearsinvolved in the sport, you know,
it it's a good thing.
Private tuition, you know, orvery small group is obviously so
important.
And if you're able to do that,the results show a lot quicker.

(15:55):
You know, I sometimes I'll godown to the beach here and
there's a surf school andthey've got eight people with
one instructor, and they're inconditions that are very subpar,
but that's the time of day thatthey do their lessons.
So, you know, there's no no wayaround it.
So, you know, giving someone anexperience and expectations of

(16:17):
people, you know, if if you'refrom the middle of a landlocked
country and you get to the beachand you've got a surfboard and
you're getting bounced around bythe waves, and even if you just
catch them on your belly andfeel it, it's exhilarating, you
know.
So the more people are exposedto it, I I think the better
results in the end, no matterhow much you've had.

SPEAKER_01 (16:37):
That makes a lot of sense.
And I'm also imagining ascenario where, and we're not
disparaging any of the surfshops and lessons or anything
like that, but I'm saying not atall.
I I imagine a scenario where youthink, oh, I'd kind of like to
try it, and then maybe subparconditions, a large, uh, you
know, a high ratio of studentsto instructors, and I might

(16:58):
think, oh yeah, I don't, I don'tknow about that.
That wasn't quite what Ithought.
So I guess that's where I'mgoing with the question when I
say, should they go try itfirst, or is there a risk, a
real risk of just having asubpar experience and and
deciding to write it off beforeyou've had a chance to really
see what it's like?
I'd love to hear your thoughtson that.

SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Yeah, that's a hard one, Jason, because you know, it
depends on what sort ofexpectations they have going in.
If they don't have anyexpectations and they and they
go for a lesson, and you know,if they stand up once for a half
a second, they've they'rewinning.
Yeah, you know, because an hourbefore they had never done that
before.
So I I think, yeah, go to yourlocal surf school, get a lesson,

(17:39):
get out there, have fun.
You know, everyone everyone thatgets involved with surfing has
to start somewhere.
You know, when I started, therewas no such thing as lessons, so
it was just trial and error.

SPEAKER_01 (17:51):
I think you hit it, I think you hit it right on the
nose or on the dot or whatever.
It's that expectations thing.
Because if all your exposure tosurfing is watching pro surfers
on ESPN back in the day orwhatever, and you think, oh, I'm
gonna go learn how to surf, andI booked an hour and a half long
surf class or lesson, and you'reexpecting to to stand up and be,

(18:13):
you know, ride and wave orwhatever.
Um so what I heard you say wasjust try not to have
expectations or just just enjoyit.
Just try and you know, justenjoy it.
You know, that was everything inlife, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 (18:25):
Yeah, surfing's the most difficult sport in the
world to to master because younever really master it.
And the learning curve withsurfing is like no other sport,
there's no constant.
You know, I mean, I guess withthe innovation of wave pools now
that the wave is pretty much thesame every single time, but in
the ocean, you know, you goyesterday and you went at 10

(18:47):
o'clock in the morning, and thetide was this and the waves were
this and the wind was this, andyou had the best session in your
life.
You go back the next day at 10o'clock, feel like you've never
been in the water.
Everything's changed.
Yeah, it's such a roller coasterride.
The you know, the sport ofsurfing, but that's what I think
is one of the best parts aboutit.
It's similar to golf.
I don't play much golf because Ikind of refuse to spend that

(19:09):
money to get that frustrated.
But it's very similar in thefact that you know, I'm surfing,
you get that wave and you getthat feeling, that bliss moment
of oh my god.
And then it takes you a week,two weeks, two months to feel
that again.
Same with golf.
You have that beautiful swing,everything is perfect, and you
think, oh, I've got this figuredout, and then you know what
happens.

SPEAKER_01 (19:29):
I I I bet that you have enough experience in this
now, I'm I'm sure, to where whenyou get a group of guests and
you know, you're like, oh mygosh, everything is perfect
today.
They have no idea how lucky theyare today, especially if it's
the first day of a trip.
And then you're like, okay, alleverything's coming together,

(19:51):
and you know that the chances ofeverything coming together the
rest of the week are reallyslim.

SPEAKER_00 (19:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I'm at the mercy of the ofthe of Mother Nature, you know,
between the winds and the tides,and you know, go on a surf trip,
and it's always a gamble becauseyou're outside, you know, you're
you're in the elements.
So, you know, there's massiveamounts of surf forecasting that
I can look at for tomorrow,today, for a week out.

(20:17):
But it's mother nature, thingschange.
You know, you you have to beable to pivot and um make make
decisions on the go to try toget your guests in the best
conditions for their ability atthe time, and you know, it's a
challenge.

SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
I do you have you figured out a few tricks for
managing expectations?
Because here's where I'm going.
If if you if the first day islike that, do you sometimes is
it helpful to kind of rein themin a little bit and say, wow,
this was exceptionally goodconditions today.
So then the next day, when it'snot so great, they don't feel

(20:52):
they're they're not like Chris,why why don't we go back to
where we were yesterday?
It was so much better.
Because and there's such it'ssuch a parallel to fly fishing.
Because I that's why I'm asking,is it because in fishing, you
sometimes you get a group ofclients, you know, a couple of
clients, and they've got threeor four days with you.
And the first day you go out andit's like, man, they cannot do
anything wrong.
Every fish in the river wants toeat and it's just hungry.

(21:16):
And you know that while we havea plan to go to a different
stretch of the river the nextday, and you know what's gonna
happen is, well, why did we gohere?
Why didn't we go back to thesame place?
So I'm just curious if you'vehad that come up and if you've
learned some tricks to managethose kinds of expectations.

SPEAKER_00 (21:30):
I've learned to guarantee nothing.
Here you go.
You know, as soon as youguarantee something, it's gonna
bite you, you know where.
So, you know, I'll I'll usuallyhave a pretty good plan for 24
to 48 hours and sit down andexplain what I'm thinking, why
I'm thinking that, but alsothrow in the disclaimer of we'll

(21:51):
see what happens.
This is what things are saying.
I never say definitely, youknow.
It I I I'm Mother Nature, youknow, so it's you know, you
can't guarantee anything.
Things change so quickly.
Forecasts are only as good asforecasts are.
The best forecast is right thenand there with my eyes to see

(22:11):
the ocean, to understand what'sgoing on, and to make decisions
from there.
It it makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_01 (22:17):
I can I can resonate with that.
I I have a lot of respect forthat.
It's which keeps you on yourtoes, too.
It's uh I can tell the wayyou're saying this, it's not
like, yeah, I just show up onsome beach with my wealthy uh
you know, high net worth clientsand and just you know sit on a
beach chair and and tell themwhat they're doing wrong,
videotape them, switch, see whatthey can do better.

SPEAKER_00 (22:38):
It's hard at times to be you know depending on
Mother Nature so much becauseyou think you got it figured
out, and then here comes thecurveball.
There's this very small islandin Fiji, a little resort called
Namoto that I spend a lot oftime on, and it's tiny.
You can walk around it in twelveminutes, fifteen minutes
maximum.
It's tiny.
And the staff they're alwayslaugh at me because when we're

(23:00):
not surfing and everyone's backon land having lunch or whatever
it is.
I'm just doing lat around theisland from one side to the
other to see what the wind'sdoing, what the swell is doing.
I know the tide's not good forsurfing, but I'm just always on
it.
And they just look at me and go,what are you doing?
I said, Well, I'm just trying tokeep my finger on the pulse, you
know, because you know, I wantto get people in the right

(23:22):
conditions at the right time.

SPEAKER_01 (23:24):
I remember I had a fishing client that's she was
pretty new to it.
And I was trying to decide whatflies to put on her line.
And she looked at me and she'slike, How do you decide what
flies to put on there?
I just looked at her and said,It's the voices in my head.
Imagine people asking, Chris,how do you how do you know what
the ocean is doing?
Like just by looking at it.

(23:45):
And it's like, well, it takes alot of time and time and
experience.
So speaking of time andexperience, this is the point in
the conversation where we figureout how the hell did you get to
this place?
You clearly well, I don't knowif it's clear to everybody.
It's clear to me that you have aa US accent.
So someone that maybe grew up inNorth America.
And I I just happen to know thatyou live in Australia.

(24:07):
So let's start with let's startwith where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_00 (24:11):
Okay.
I grew up in central east coastof Florida, a little town called
Vero Beach.
Okay.
Which is about an hour and ahalf north of Palm Beach, about
an hour south of Cocoa Beach.
So on that east coast on theAtlantic.

SPEAKER_01 (24:24):
And that's presumably a place where people
go to surf.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (24:28):
Not so much where I not so much my town, but just to
the north is a place calledSebastian Inlet, which is on the
east coast of America, probablyone of the most consistent
high-performance waves.
Uh Kelly Splater, 11-time worldchampion, grew up there.
You know, so we were serving thesame breaks growing up together.

(24:50):
We did have waves in my town ofVera Beach, but you know,
Florida is quite inconsistent.
When it's good, it's good.
But you know, summertime fromMay till August until the
hurricane season really rampsup, it's pretty flat.
So but that's one reason Ibecame well, I fell in love with
the ocean so much, is because Iwas surfing.

(25:11):
But when I wasn't surfing, I wasfishing, I was diving, I was
spearfishing.
I was always in the ocean.

SPEAKER_01 (25:17):
That's what I was that's what I was curious about
is kind of how did you make theconnection with the ocean?
And I guess the I guess thequestion is, what was it like
growing up there?
What were your parents intospending time on the water as
well?
I mean, let's just talk a littlebit about kind of what it was
like growing up.

SPEAKER_00 (25:32):
Yeah, my parents they didn't surf.
They loved the beach.
Um they were they they are, theywere big sailors.
Uh so I spent a lot of time onon sailboats, even around the
water, go down to Florida Keys,that sort of thing, Bahamas.
But at a very early age, we usedto go to the beach a lot in the
summertime after dinner becauseof the sunset time.

(25:55):
So we'd have dinner and we'dwalk two or three blocks away
from the beach, and we'd spendtime there.
And one of the earliest memoriesI have is body surfing on my
mother's back.
I think I was maybe three orfour years old, you know, and we
were always at the beach, youknow, and you know, we at low
tide when there's a big flatsandy beach, we used to draw

(26:16):
sailboats with sticks in thesand and pretend we were in
them.
And and then once it started toget older, I was starting to
ride, you know, the blow-up redrafts that used to take all the
skin off the front of your chestuh because of the rashes were so
bad.

SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
Well, okay, you gotta tell me a little bit more
about that because I'm notyou're saying the blow-up red
rafts.
So like this was a specific typething, you'd go get in the
waves, or what was that allabout?

SPEAKER_00 (26:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Just a this is kind of beforethe boogie board actually even
started.
So I'm talking mid-70s, mid-70s,I guess.
So you you blow these rafts up,and you know, they were probably
about three feet long and about,I don't know, two and a half
feet wide, and you just ridewaves on your belly, you know.
And from a from a young age, myparents used to literally have

(27:00):
to drag me out of the waterbecause I would spend the whole
time in the waves, riding on mybelly, just enjoying it.
And you know, my sister and Iwould have races and and and
that sort of thing.
And then it wasn't until laterthat I think I was about nine
when I got my first boogieboard.
I mowed lawns for for theparents, and uh they said, you

(27:24):
know, if you if you mow thelawns, we'll get you a boogie
board.
I had that for about I think amonth and left it on the front
porch of the house, and it gotstolen overnight.
I was devastated, but at the endof the day, it was the best
thing that ever happened becausethe next move was a surfboard.

SPEAKER_01 (27:42):
So you were forced to go pretty quickly because
yeah, who wants to buy a secondboogie board?
There's a natural progressionhere.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (27:49):
Yeah, I got the first surfboard and then.

SPEAKER_01 (27:51):
Probably a good life lesson as well.
Yeah, even I'm sure your parentsreminded you that often.
Yeah, well, it serves you right.
You know, you learn not to leaveyour stuff later on, yeah.
So it was you and your sister,you mentioned her, so it was
just the two of you for for thekids and the family?

SPEAKER_00 (28:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%.
Just the two of us.
She's about four years olderthan me.
She's based in the States Phil.
She's now back in NorthCarolina, which she loves, and
she runs leadership programs.
And uh yeah, it's it's great togreat to see them when I get a
chance to.
It's it's pretty far, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 (28:26):
Did you did you ever have an experience with your
sister with your sister whereyou felt like maybe she was
trying to kill you?
Because sometimes when you havean older sibling and you're out
in the water doing things likethat, I remember, you know, some
some situations with my sibling.
But was there ever a momentwhere you she took you a little
bit past your limits and you youremember that?
I think it was probably theother way around.

(28:48):
Really?
Well, my sibling is younger too.
So actually it was he was intomountain climbing for a while,
and he took me to some placesthat were way above my school
level.
So yeah.
All right.
That's uh that's really cool.
What were you what were youinterested in in school?
Did you have plans to have a anormal life?
I mean, if I went, if we had atime machine and I went back to

(29:09):
when you were 12 or 13 and Isaid, geez, Chris, what do you
want to do when you grow up?
Do you remember what you wouldhave said?

SPEAKER_00 (29:16):
You know, it at that age, probably not so much, but
when I was starting to gettoward the end of high school,
early years of college, I was Ireally had this vision of doing
like some sort of a bed andbreakfast sort of thing.
Because at that time surf campsreally weren't even happening,
but just I had an idea of havingsomewhere that people could come

(29:39):
and go surfing, and you know,the accommodation and food and
stuff would be sorted for them.
And then, you know, ironically,over the years, it kind of
molded into something similar.
Yeah.
But yeah, when I when I was atcollege at the University of
South Florida in Tampa, I Istudied communications, which is

(30:01):
a very broad, very broadsubject.

SPEAKER_01 (30:05):
Kind of like psych kind of like psychology.

SPEAKER_00 (30:11):
You know, I think what I really gained out of it
was the interpersonalcommunication skills.
And, you know, I have a lot offriends that I went to school
with that, you know, werestudying business and
accounting, but they couldn'ttalk to people, you know, and
that really blew my mind.
I'm like, how are you gonna runa business if you can't actually
talk to people?
And you're so socially awkward.

SPEAKER_01 (30:30):
Well, fortunately, I don't run into those people
because everybody I run into onthis show is pretty good at it.
So it's like but but you'reyou're you're spot on right
because there are people thatyeah but when you when you chose
communications, were you becauseyou mentioned you were kind of
thinking maybe a BNB surfingtype of operation, something.

(30:51):
But when you chosecommunications, was it a
conscious decision?
Like, okay, I can use this tothen build that business, or did
you was there was there a momentof you thinking you might have
to do a regular job for a while?

SPEAKER_00 (31:03):
Probably two levels of that.
Number number one is that myolder sister did it, she went to
Wake Forest, and you know, Iwhen I was graduating from high
school going into college, I wasso gung-ho on surfing and just
so it was everything of myexistence.
And the reason I went to Tampawas on the Gulf of Mexico, and I
was fortunate that my parentswere gonna help me out with

(31:25):
college.
I knew that if I went anywhereon the East Coast where there's
a chance of getting waves, thatyeah, I just I I had to make the
first adult responsibilitydecision in my life and go as
far away from the surf aspossible.
Okay, so I could so I could getit done.

SPEAKER_01 (31:43):
Let's let's let's dig a little deeper because I I
hear you, I hear what you'resaying.
Was that was that hard?
Did you have anybody elseencouraging you that way?
Or did you actually have the thewherewithal at 18 or 19 to to be
that self-aware that you'relike, man, if I if there's any
waves around, I'm gonna be a12-year bachelor degree student.

SPEAKER_00 (32:05):
100%.
I you know, I think I had thethe idea that I've got one
opportunity at this and I and Ineed to take it and run with it.
Wow.
You know, so very mature.
Yeah, for that age.
But saying that, my summers, assoon as in between each each
year, I'd come home, work hardfor a month, save as much money,

(32:28):
and disappear to Costa Rica fora month or six weeks.
Yeah, so you had warred us inany tourism.
Yeah, there wasn't any tourismin Costa Rica really then, you
know?
Not monthly.
Main mainly mainly surf tourismat that point.

SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
What did your parents think about you taking
off and going to Central Americafor your summers as they're
supporting you?
I mean, I guess you were workinghard and you weren't, you know,
you weren't blowing off schoolto go surfing, but in the
summers, I can't you know whatit were they supportive of that
at the time?

SPEAKER_00 (33:06):
100%.
And I'm so fortunate that theywere so supportive because, you
know, when I graduated fromcollege, my parents got me a
triple board bag, which means Icould put three surfboards in a
bag and put it on a plane, anatlas of the world.
And my best friend got abriefcase with his initials on
it.
So that was my parents knew froma young age that that was kind

(33:30):
of my trajectory.
And my dad still today kind oflooks at me and shakes his head
and goes, How have you donethis?
You know, how have you been ableto take a passion and turn it
into a career?

SPEAKER_01 (33:40):
Because I can imagine a few a few parents out
there that back in the 70s, 80s,when their kid says, I just want
to go surfing.
I want to go try the worldsurfing.
And like, well, how are yougonna make money at that?
Well, why did we spend so muchmoney for you to go get a
degree?
And and all that.
So that begs the question whatthe heck was going on with your

(34:01):
parents that they were thatopen-minded?
And like, I think we need to digit.
I think we need to dig into thata little bit.

SPEAKER_00 (34:07):
You know, I I don't know.
They've just always been verydown-to-earth supportive.
They, you know, sailing wastheir thing, you know, so they I
think understood the beingoutside, being in the elements,
and uh, you know, they they justwanted us, you know, kids to be
happy.
And they knew what made mehappy.

(34:28):
And as long as that I was stillon that road of chasing surfing
somehow to make it into a careerwithout having to come back and
say, you know, I need money.
You know, I I was able to provemyself along the way and uh, you
know, and and to make it happenfrom straight out of college and

(34:49):
moving to Costa Rica for eightmonths and then moving to the
north shore of Hawaii to Oahu.

SPEAKER_01 (34:57):
And then we're gonna we're gonna dig into that, but
if you don't mind, I I do wantto ask you, are your parents
because obviously they were intosailing, were are they also from
Florida?
Is was there I just no, my Iwant to know a little bit about
their background.

SPEAKER_00 (35:11):
Okay, yeah, they're from they're from Michigan.
They ended up in Florida becauseof my dad's work.
He used to be with GM and Fordback in the day.
So he was based in Sarasota fora while.
I was actually born in Miami,uh, and then we moved up to to
Vera Beach about three hoursnorth.

(35:32):
My sister was born in Iowa.
So very happy that nothingagainst Iowa.
Nothing against Iowa, but butfor a surfer.
Yes, I I I still kind of thinknow and again what would have
happened.
Where would I be now if you knowI might be a fly fishing guy
because I love fly fishing too.

SPEAKER_01 (35:52):
So not much not much of that in Iowa, I don't think.
And someone, yeah, someone'sgonna tell me, Jason, you
clearly don't know anything.
There's great fly fishing inIowa.
But uh okay, yeah, that that'sthat's interesting.
And was your dad kind of withhis job?
It's you mentioned GM for likean engineer type, just like that
type of person.

SPEAKER_00 (36:12):
Yes.
So he is probably one of themost amazing engineers, slash
mechanics, entrepreneurs that Iknow.
If any, you know, most people,if their blender stops working,
they throw it out and buy a newone, and he takes it out from
and takes it apart and somehowgoes into his yellow book, finds
the part that he needs, gets it,fixes it.

(36:33):
All of our cars, you know, hiskids growing up.
He he spent a lot of time oncehe left the motor industry and
did his own thing.
He was a local mechanic forforeign cars, Mercedes, BMWs.
And where I grew up in Florida,there's a lot of gated
communities, a lot of peoplewith Mercedes and BMWs and that
sort of thing.
So it was good, it was goodbusiness, good enough business

(36:56):
to Yeah, and he's anentrepreneur, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
In the late 70s, he he starteduh solar hot woo solar hot water
heating systems for houses,which was way before its time in
the late 70s around that energycrisis that they had.
You know, he yeah, just always,always uh kind of a step ahead
with being an entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_01 (37:16):
I don't know if they started this before you came
along.
It sounds like maybe they did,but do you know how they got
involved in sailing?
Do you know the story behindthat?

SPEAKER_00 (37:23):
I mean, I I think it was from a young age and you
know, growing up near lakes,like Lake St.
Clair, just outside of Detroit.
And then also once they moved toFlorida, I think that was their
real grasp at that lifestyle,being in Sarasota on the Gulf,
and then being in in Miami.
I had some really good friendsdown there that had a house that

(37:44):
was out on Stilts out in KeyBiscayne.
So as kids, you know, I spent alot of time out there at
Stiltsville and that whole JimmyBuffett lifestyle uh was
happening, which was a lot offun.
And uh yeah, just the freedom ofbeing on a boat and turning the
engine off and you know, windingthe sails and off you go.
Yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (38:03):
That's very cool.
I appreciate you sharing thatwith us.
Yeah, of course.
So let's jump into how youmanaged to turn uh this I don't
know what word you use,obsession, passion, whatever in
into money.
Like when was what was the firstbecause you said you moved to
Costa Rica for eight months andthen ended up in Hawaii, I think
you said.

SPEAKER_00 (38:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (38:23):
So where where did it start to make money?
What kind of opportunities werethere for someone like you that
just wanted to surf and travelthe world, but uh parents
insisted you better make alittle bit of money while you do
it.

SPEAKER_00 (38:35):
It it happened once I came to Australia.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (38:38):
Uh well, we better I don't want to leave out, I don't
want to leave out fromgraduation to Australia.
So forget my question for just amoment.
Let's talk about Costa Rica andother things that led up to
that.

SPEAKER_00 (38:51):
Yeah, so Costa Rica was uh was amazing.
I'd been there probably three orfour times from end of high
school through college until wespent a lot of time there.
And my friend Dave and I, hismother was dating a gentleman
that had a restaurant bar hotelin Tamarinda, and we went down
there in well, this would havebeen 1993, 1994, I guess, and

(39:15):
kind of stayed there and helpedout and surfed and you know, got
by.
And uh that was pretty much juston savings because at the time I
I couldn't work in Costa Rica, Ididn't have a a work permit, so
we just kind of helped out hereand there.
And then he decided that he wasgoing to move to Hawaii because
his girlfriend was going there.
So I followed him because I'dhad enough of Costa Rica, and we

(39:38):
went to the North Shore of Oahu,which is the probably the most
famous surfing area in theworld.
And as for a you know, a smalllittle blonde-headed Floridian
going to the Mount Everest ofsurfing was pretty interesting.
But uh I ended up working thereas a tour guide.
So once again, in the businessof speaking with people and and

(39:58):
sharing.
So I So what was what was thatlike?

SPEAKER_01 (40:03):
Yeah, tell me what it was amazing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (40:05):
It it was cultural, it was in a it was a cultural
center, yet a botanical garden.
So I had to learn a lot aboutthe culture and a lot about the
botanical garden.
Uh and it was the most beautifulit's called Waimea Valley, which
is at Waimea Bay on the northshore of the water, and it's a

(40:26):
really special place for theHawaiian culture.
Um there's a lot of heyhouse,which are burial sites and so
forth.
So I had some amazing mentorsthat I worked with there, the
true Hawaiian people, and theyput me in, you know, brought me
under their wings a little bitand shared not only what I was
learning on paper, but what thetrue Hawaiian culture was about.

(40:49):
And that really resonated withme in the connection to nature
and the ocean and everythingelse.
That that really was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 (40:55):
I sus I suspect uh uh quite a few people listening
to this have been to Oahu.
But my and I have been as well.
I've driven around Oahu once,but and as I recall, the North
Shore is not Waikiki.
No, not Honolulu.
It's it's okay.
And I just want to point thatout.
So you weren't like spendingthis time in on Waikiki Beach,
which would probably be aninteresting place to be as well,

(41:17):
I guess.
I don't know, but it sounds likeyou were much more connected
with uh the culture and thepeople.

SPEAKER_00 (41:22):
Yes, yes.
The the North Shore of Oahu, um,it's like I said, it's a Mount
Everest of surfing, you know,some of the biggest, heaviest
waves in the world.
And being from Florida, and yes,I traveled to Costa Rica and
thought I'd caught some bigwaves before in my life, but uh
to put myself in that situationand have some very close
Hawaiian friends that helped melearn the ropes, you know, so to

(41:43):
say, out there.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, it was it was amazing.
And you know, they'd they'd takeus to their barbecues on the
weekends, and at night we'd gowalk the reef flats and catch
lobsters with torches, you know,with flashlights.
And just the real the realHawaiian way of life.
And I was so fortunate to beable to be taken into that.

SPEAKER_01 (42:05):
That was a special time, I imagine, for you, but I
I can even imagine because Igrew up, you know, you and I are
probably fairly close in age,you might be a little younger,
but to yeah, to be on Oahu assomebody that was really into
surfing during those years, Ican imagine.
Like, I don't know.
It just seems like you can'treplace.

(42:26):
I don't, is there any place inthe world that still has that?
I mean, that was just a specialtime, right?

SPEAKER_00 (42:32):
And you know, like everywhere else in the world
over the last 10 years, even soyou know, populations have
exploded and things are justdifferent, you know.
And yeah, yeah, it was it wasbusy-ish then, but nowhere near
like it is now.
So to be able to feel the realcountry of the north shore of
Oahu with the with the peoplewas I mean, I I still look back

(42:53):
and pinch myself with you knoweverything from Costa Rica to
Hawaii and how I got to where Iam, you know.
It was a very special taunt andvery fortunate.

SPEAKER_01 (43:02):
So cool.
Were there a lot of other peoplefrom either around the world or
from mainland US that were kindof similar to you in the sense
that I'm I'm I just I'm on mypilgrimage, my migration to
Mecca on the north shore ofOahu, and probably most of you
are underemployed, but there's alot of beer and a lot of sand

(43:24):
and a lot of water, right?
Is just kind of how I picturethat.

SPEAKER_00 (43:28):
Yeah, and and the surfing season on the north
shore of Oahu is, you know,winter, so the North American
winter.
So call it November till aboutMarch.
So you get a huge influx oftourists that come for that over
those months, because that'swhen the prime surfing time is.
But then the summertime whenthere's no waves, and that's
when it's all down in theWaikiki Honolulu area on the

(43:50):
opposite end of the island.
I think that's where I reallymade the real connections.
You know, not so much because ofthe surf, but what was happening
when there wasn't a surf andspending time with the families
and you know, really integratinginto the culture.
Um yeah, it was really special.

SPEAKER_01 (44:07):
That's uh yeah, that's that's very cool.
I just kind of trying to imagineit in my head.
And of course, I my myimaginings are based on things I
saw on TV and some of the the70s, 80s, kind of the surf what
I what some of you grew up inWyoming I grew up in Wyoming, so
I'm kind of like the guy fromprobably why I ended up in fly
fishing and mountain stuff, butall right, that's that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
And but it it's it's funny you say Wyoming and and
what it drew you to the mountainclimbing and fly fishing.
I go to the mountains and I'm afish out of water, but I'm so
blown away by that environment,you know, and I get a sore neck
because I'm just doing this thewhole time, you know, just
looking up the the streams andI'm yeah, I'm I'm really drawn

(44:50):
to the mountains also.
I don't spend nearly enough timein them because you know that's
not what I do, but when I getthe chance, it's it's very
similar, I think.

SPEAKER_01 (44:59):
Yeah.
The the world is a fascinatingplace.
And and I feel like when I Youknow, I I lived on an island 30
miles off the coast of of Belizeand managed a fly a fly fishing
and scuba diving resort there.
And it, you know, as someonefrom Wyoming, I had traveled
around a bit before that, not awhole lot, but a bit.
And to I just remember when Igot there, you know, there's a

(45:22):
coral reef right there in thescuba diving and the water.
It was just like, this is socool and so different.
And I I I remember my bossthere, the guy that owned the
place.
I think I'd been there two weeksand he had me driving the
48-foot dive boat and taking theguests back to Belize City.
I had, I'd, I'd never, I'd ridI'd rode a drift boat, which is

(45:43):
basically a rowboat before.
But yeah, hear Jason from it wasso much fun.
It was, yeah, it was crazy.
I remember I was going back, wewere taking guests back to
Belize City to get them to theairport.
We'd had like 20 guests.
There are probably eight or ninestaff on the boat.
I'm driving the boat and theseeds are really high for me.

(46:07):
Yeah.
And for my for my wife at thetime, you know, she grew up in
Montana, and I turned around atone point and looked at her, and
she's sitting there with thelife jacket on, like ready to
bailout.
Nobody else has the life jacketon.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, Tanya,you're making me look bad.

unknown (46:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (46:24):
She's the only she was the only one on the boat
that really knew that I had nobusiness driving the boat.
So I don't blame her.
She she was smart, but it'sfunny.
Anyway, so yes, I have a lot ofI have some fun memories around
the water as well.
So I I just yeah, that's that'svery cool.
So and you were a guide at theuh at the cultural center, and
you said it was um not an arborarboretum, but uh botanical

(46:46):
garden.
Botanical garden, right?
Yeah.
So tell me a little bit aboutyeah, yeah.
Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 (46:52):
What was that like?
So so I take people on walkingtours or there was a tram that
was two cars that probably held60 people, I'm saying.
And you drive up through thevalley up until the very top
where the waterfall was, wherethey'd have the diving show off
the cliffs a couple of times aday.
Okay.

(47:13):
So, you know, I had to learn areally long script about driving
up into the valley and talkingabout different plants or the
the hays, which were the burialplaces, uh, and just Hawaiian
history and and that sort ofthing, um, which was fun.
But the walking tours I I foundreally good because, you know,
they'd come and meet me at thesign at 2 p.m.

(47:34):
that said meet here for thistour.
And um, you know, usually smallgroups, you know, two people,
six people, and and really beable to just have a chat with
people and and walk around andand show them different things
from the different plants andfreshwater prawns that were in
the streams.
And one one of the most amazingexperiences I had, I was at one

(47:55):
of the heyows, which just lookslike you know, kind of a rock
structure, which has been therefor hundreds of years.
And I'm doing a speech aboutwhat the hey is and what it
means.
And like I'm talking to youright now, all of a sudden it
felt like someone just knockedthe wind out of me.
Like I just gone.
And I'm usually not short forwords, you know.

(48:17):
I can I can talk.
I've noticed that.
And I'm looking, I'm I'm lookingat my I'm looking at my guests,
and they're looking at me, andI'm just like literally nothing
came out.
And then it came good, and I waskind of like really freaked out
about it, and went and spoke tomy my Hawaiian friend slash
colleague, Darylyn.
And I told her, you know, Isaid, What, you know, and she

(48:40):
said, Oh, you felt it.
I'm like, felt something, youknow, I'm not too sure.
And she said, You just you justfelt the mana, you know, that
that spirit just just got intoyou.
And I said, Well, whatever itwas, was it was a real wake-up
moment, you know.
I mean, I I think that I'm apretty well connected with my
emotions and all that sort ofstuff and in kind of a spiritual

(49:00):
world, but yeah, it really youknow it hit me for six, as they
say here in Australia.
Like it it was it was shocking,but I I think because I had put
myself into that culture withthe people, and maybe that gave
me an opportunity to feel that,but it was really special.

SPEAKER_01 (49:18):
Well, I I I'm happy you said that because I wanted
to ask did you get theimpression the clients that were
with you or the guests that werewith you didn't feel anything?
It was just you, it sounds likeyeah, so yeah, you earned it.
That was an earned what was it?
Yeah, mana, yeah, mana.
What do you call it?
Mana, mana, mana moment.
Yes, that's yeah.

(49:38):
Well, that's pretty cool.
You actually said I was I feltsome shares go up my spine just
listening to you share thestory.
So I yeah, I guess I got it too.
So wow, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (49:46):
Yeah, and you know, I I think about that feeling and
my not not my goal, but a lot ofmy clients when I take them to
special places and they havethat connection and that that
feeling or that emotionaloverdrive that they have
internally, you know, to methat's that's really what is why

(50:09):
I do what I do is is to givepeople those bliss moments.
Love it.

SPEAKER_01 (50:14):
Love it, love it, love it.
Did you was that a job you wereactively pursuing when you were
there, or did was it just I needmoney and that was I saw I need
money.

SPEAKER_00 (50:27):
I was I was living on a couch at at Sunset Beach,
surfing the best ways of mylife, watching my bank account.
Drop, drop.
Well, I wasn't watching itbecause I was pre-internet, so
it was my checkbook watching it,and I was terrible at it.

SPEAKER_01 (50:40):
And and you played an act you played an active role
in it too.
You weren't just passively Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (50:45):
So I did a lot Yeah, I did work in a surf shop for a
little bit in Hawaii, uh, andthen I did it was very
part-time, and then I got thejob at the Waimea Valley, and
then two nights a week I'dwashed dishes, excuse me, at a
at a pizza restaurant at the endof my road just to you know get
an extra thirty bucks a week.

SPEAKER_01 (51:02):
Yeah.
How did you get the job as theguide?
Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 (51:07):
It was advertised and I went in and at that time I
had long blonde hair to abouthere.
And uh, you know, they said ifyou get the job you're gonna
have to cut your hair.
And I said, fair enough, I needthe money.
So yeah, they gave me a scriptthat was about four pages long
that I had to memorize.

(51:27):
And in two weeks' time I cameback in and sat down in the room
with my boss, and he said, youknow, pretend like you're in the
tram and give me the spiel.
Wow.
I it did well enough to to pass,but I think I studied harder for
that than I did for all my yearsin college.
Because there's there was a timeframe, two weeks, get it done,

(51:50):
and you need a job.

SPEAKER_01 (51:52):
Why do you think if you were to guess, or maybe you
uh were completely aware of it,but I'm imagining if I own a
business like that and I amlooking for a guide, I'm gonna
hire a Hawaiian.
How do you think you got thejob?
What was the did you have somesort of thing?
I'm just curious how thathappened.

SPEAKER_00 (52:09):
No, that's a very fair point.
I would say that 80% of theemployees there were local
Hawaiian.
I'm ho I'd like to say that itwas my charisma and my um
interpersonal communication.
I'm not too sure otherwise thanJason.

SPEAKER_01 (52:28):
Let's just go with let's just go with that.
That sounds like a good answer.
I I like it.
All right.

SPEAKER_00 (52:33):
You know, and I think the ability just to talk
to people communicate.

SPEAKER_01 (52:37):
Communicate.
So you had mentioned, becauseyeah, you mentioned earlier
something about going to schoolfor communications, and we we
discussed that a bit.
And I wanted to ask you, wasthere ever a moment when you
thought, you know what, I wastedmy time in school?
I could have been in Hawaii fouryears earlier and things would
have still worked out fine?
Or do you like what what advicewould you give your younger self

(53:00):
if you're 19 and you're like,well, I could go to Costa Rica
now or I could go to school forthe next four years?
What would you have givenyourself the same advice?

SPEAKER_00 (53:07):
I would do it exactly the same way that I did
it.
Okay.
I th I you know, I I think youknow, college isn't for
everyone, I guess, but I didn'thave a trade, meaning, you know,
I wasn't gonna become a builderor a plumber or something like
that, where you especially herein Australia, you out of high
school you get an internship andthen you know, but I I didn't
have that.
So for what I wanted to do andthe life experience and to learn

(53:30):
a bit of discipline throughthrough college and to meet so
many, you know, it wasforty-seven thousand people at
my school at that point, youknow.
So I came up from a very smalltown in Veer Beach, Florida, to
you know, the world is my oysternow, and and just to be able to
meet so many people and talk toso many different cultures, and
I think I think I w I wouldn'tchange a thing.

(53:50):
Okay.
I think it's important to yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (53:53):
Yeah.
Okay, so back to uh Hawaii.
How long were you there and whatwas your next step?

SPEAKER_00 (54:00):
I was there for about two years, and then it
wasn't that long, and then Imoved back to Florida because I
needed to save some money, andat that point I went to
Australia.
Does that mean you moved back tomom and dad's?
I did.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
No, I there's no yeah, I've doneit.
I think I was there for I I waswith them for about a month,
then I did get an apartment, andI worked at a friend's surf

(54:23):
shop.
I managed his surf shop for him,and in the evenings worked as a
bartender at a local restaurant,which was so much fun.
Like everyone surfed, and it wasa really great great group of
people.
So I saved money for I think itwas about eight months.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (54:38):
Hey, before we go any f before I forget to ask
this, I I'm aware of this kindof I don't remember what they
call it, but this kind of senseof isolation some people get
living in Hawaii.
Did you did you get that?
And yeah, island fever.
That's what I thought it was.
And I was curious if you gotthat and if going back to
Florida, I just what would youwhat was your experience around

(55:00):
island fever, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 (55:02):
Yeah, you know, I mean it's it's definitely a
thing.
I mean, that island is Oahu,it's a lot bigger than a lot of
the islands I've spent time onin the in the last 15 to 20
years.
But the funny thing is, is youleave it and you go to Florida,
and then you're missing it.

SPEAKER_02 (55:21):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (55:21):
You're missing you're missing the island fever,
you know, just the just howsimple life was, you know.
Okay.
Not getting caught up in the ratrace.
And um, you know, so yeah, it'sI think being able to
acknowledge and appreciate bothsides of it is the key, because
if you if you dwell too much oneither one of them, you're just

(55:42):
gonna be stuck, you know.
So take the good from each, takethe bad from each, and mission
together, and there's life.

SPEAKER_01 (55:50):
Yeah, I I Yes, and I get a feeling a lot of people,
especially you know, if if ifyou're living on in the
continental US or North Americaand you think, oh I have an
opportunity to move to Hawaii,they get a job offer or
whatever.
And it's like that's great, andthey go there and and they don't
necessarily stick around a longtime.
But it's kind of the same thingif you move to Arizona sometimes

(56:11):
because it gets really hot therein the summers, or you have to
move to New England.
And so yeah, it's just kind ofthere's there's turnoffs to
everything.
All right.
So you're in Florida, you saidyou worked at a a buddy's surf
shop, bartending.
Did you feel like bartending?
Because bartending has come upin several conversations I've
had.
It's a it's like just kind of ausually it comes up.
I ask somebody, I'll say, well,if you were going to hire

(56:32):
somebody to be a guide or a tripleader, what industry would you
want to pull them from?
And oftentimes they say eitherbartenders or teachers, you
know, to come in and be guided.
Stuff like that.
Did you see some kind ofcorrelations between bartending
and and uh spending time withyour clients and making, you
know, managing expectations,keeping everybody happy?
Or I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 (56:51):
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, it's it's it's you know,the to be able to break the ice
with a total stranger, um, andand to be able to get a
conversation rolling, you know,I think it's uh the skill not
not that everyone has, you know.
So to be able just to becomfortable talking to anyone at
any time.
It's you know, like you said,the the bartenders, the

(57:14):
teachers, they they have to be alittle bit extroverted to be
able to, you know, communicatewith people at all times, with
you know, at all differentlevels of society, you know.
It it can be quite daunting to,you know, talk to someone that
is very famous, well known, youknow, whatever it may be.
But at the end of the day, we'reall human, you know, we've all

(57:36):
got a story to tell.
So, you know, to to be able tointegrate with everyone and chat
to everyone and learn fromeveryone is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 (57:46):
Yeah, it's a it's a great opportunity because most
people don't probably haveconversations with more than a
three, two or three people aday.
You know, I mean, I'm just I'meven thinking myself sometimes.
I mean, I have theseconversations, which and there's
a reason I do these is becauseprobably it it allows me to have
interesting conversations.
But uh, but other than that,it's like, you know, you might

(58:07):
talk to a couple people, butboy, a bartender, you know,
eight-hour shift.
You've engaged with, you know,probably 100, 200 people, not
all at the same level, ofcourse, but you're also dealing
with a variety of personalitiesand expectations and sometimes
even managing people that arerude.

(58:28):
Yes.
Or uh that need to be cut off oror asked to leave or whatever.
And um, yeah, it's uh I think itwould be good training to be at
anybody working in tourismproject.
Sure is.
But all right, cool.
So what where'd you go fromthere?
I'm I'm I don't want to jumpright to Australia, but I want
to make sure we get there.

SPEAKER_00 (58:46):
Yeah, well, after Florida, I while I was in
Florida for that eight months,10 months, I was also got back
into competitive surfing, whichI'd done since I was about 14.
When I was in college, I didn'tobviously.
So I got back into it.
And the day before I left to goto Australia was the East Coast
Championships in SebastianInlet.

(59:06):
I had nothing to lose and endedup winning for my age group.
I think that was I think it was25 and under or something like
that at that point.
So I left and I left Florida onan absolute high, you know.
And off I went.
And the next day got dropped offat Orlando Airport and with
entirely too much baggage andgot I think I ended up paying

(59:27):
for the surfboards about fourtimes with the excess luggage
they charged me.
And and back then you couldargue at an airport.
You can't argue at airportsanymore, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 (59:37):
And yeah, came to what was your intention when you
got on the plane to go toAustralia?
What were you going?
I I know you're gonna saysurfing, but but there's I mean
a little bit more than that.
What were you going toAustralia?

SPEAKER_00 (59:48):
There's a little bit more to this.
There there's an ex-wifeinvolved that was Australi that
was Australian.
So that's how I ended up.

SPEAKER_01 (59:57):
And you met her and you met her in Hawaii tending
bar in Hawaii.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:01):
No, no.
Keep things professional.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Bartenders, yeah.
Yeah, that's a yep.
All right.
So okay, so you met her inHawaii.
She ended up in Florida, whichis why you only stayed a month
at your mom's and dad's house.
Yes.
Before you got your ownapartment.
Got an apartment.
I'm connecting the dots here.
I'm pretty good at connectingdots.
So all right.
And then it was like she, youknow, so you went to Australia
because she said the surfing wasgreat, and you're like, okay,

(01:00:26):
cool, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:27):
All right.
Yeah.
So so and flew into Brisbane,drove about an hour and a half
north to a place called NoosaHeads, which is one of the most
beautiful places that I'd everseen at that point, and I'm
still here.
And that was 1998 when we arewhen we arrived.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:44):
And Noosa Head is so let's for our geographic
geographically challengedlisteners, including I've been
to Australia and I still haven'tgonna ask this question.
Okay, so you said Brisbane.
So Brisbane is south of Sydney,north.
North of Sydney.
North of Sydney, I knew that,but I was afraid to yeah,

(01:01:05):
whatever.
Okay.
North of Sydney.
And then Newsahead is furthernorth from there?
Correct.
About an hour and a half drive.
Okay, and some people have heardof surfer's paradise, so I gotta
ask you that question.
Surfer's paradise is the otherdirection from Brisbane?

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:18):
Yes, about an hour and a half south.
And it's it still blows my mindthat they called it surfer's
paradise because it's a bunch ofhigh rises on the beach and the
waves aren't great.
Saying that, the Gold Coast,which is the whole area, um, has
some of the best surf inAustralia, just a little bit
further south.
But I would say News the Heads.
Not at surfers, not at Surfers,but News the Heads is a surfer's

(01:01:40):
paradise.
I mean, we've got miles of openbeaches, we've got big headlands
that have bays with pointbreaks, and you know, it's it's
very special, very crowded whenthe surf gets good, because
everyone wants to come here.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:54):
But yeah, you deal with that.
Imagine a scenario where shortlyafter you got there, for some
weird reason you just woke upone morning and said, I'm not
interested in surfing anymore.
Would you have stayed in thatarea?
Possibly.
I guess that's my way of saying,is there anything else there you
like?
Other people Yeah.
That that was an ex-wife.

(01:02:15):
Well, but but you've got butyou've but but you do have a
wife that's there now, right?
Correct.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I moved on to her.
Yeah.
You should too.
No.
Just kidding.
All right.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:30):
Yeah, I I mean, it's it's a beautiful spot, and just
to the south of us, we we've gota big harbor that has sailing
and and that so yeah, I thinkI'd still find myself in in this
area.
Yeah, it's it's just stunninglybeautiful.
And I mean, if I wasn't in theservant, I probably wouldn't
have ended up here anyway.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:50):
So well, that's why I had to say if you were there,
and then all of a sudden you'relike, I kind of like air.
Oh, maybe I'll stick aroundbecause you mentioned sailing.
Have you have you continued withsailing?
Is that something you've talkedabout?
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:02):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I mean, uh about 10 years ago,now I got my captain's license
to be able to sail boats throughthe RYA, the Royal Yachting
Association, so up to 200 restons.
So I did a lot of training withthat.
And my wife and I and anothercouple just spent a week up in
the With Sunday Islands up nearthe barrier reef, where we

(01:03:24):
chartered chartered a 44-footlagoon catamaran and went and
disappeared out into the islandsfor a week.
And yeah, I love sailing.
I mean, it's it's it's verysimilar to surfing, I think.
Just yeah, I would I would thinkso.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:36):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell me about the kind of thebusiness and career path.
So you got to like did you knowwhat you were gonna do when you
got to Australia?
Is it just no once again?

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:46):
I I was in surf shops, I was at a restaurant,
bartending and being a waiterand that sort of thing.
Uh and then we lived with acouple at the time, and she was
moving back to Victoria, whichwere Melbourne is down the south
of the country, and she wasworking for a local surf school.
And she said, I need tointroduce you to my boss because
I think you guys will get on andI think you'd be great at doing

(01:04:08):
this job.
So that's kind of where itstarted.
So I got the introduction and Iwent and met his name's Ross
Phillips from he he uh stillowns uh Tropic Surf, which is
probably the premier luxurysurfing company in the world up
until this point.
And he said to me, at the timehe only had a local surf school
on the beach here.
And he said to me, I've got a adream that I want to take people

(01:04:32):
on surfing improv improvementholidays in the Maldives on
boats.
Would you be interested?
And I went, surfing, boats,Maldives, yes.
Let's do this.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:41):
I think I could make that work.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to givenotice.
I'm gonna have to give noticedown at the bar a bit.
Yeah, I'll be ready.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:47):
That's exactly how that panned out.
So worked at a surf school hereon the beach for probably three
or four years, but then once ortwice a year would go on these
trips to the Maldives on boatsand do seven, ten day surfing
improvement holidays all aroundthe islands and come back and
work at the surf school, andthen it got to a point where the

(01:05:10):
overseas stuff was reallystarting to take off with the
business, and I became kind ofhis right-hand man in leading
those expeditions through theMaldives.
And yeah, so we went from onetrip a year to three trips a
year to 13 trips a year, youknow, and it got busy.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:26):
Chris, was that a was that a brand new concept?
I mean, because honestly, untilI until I met you, I never
honestly it never really evenoccurred to me.
Surfing improvement holidays,it's really cool.
But it was pretty brand new.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:39):
Yeah, that's pretty brand new at that point.
You know, there was a lot ofpeople offering surf trips by
boat.
Okay.
But there wasn't really curatedtrips for different levels of
surfers wanting differentthings.
So there was definitely anopportunity in the market at the
time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:57):
I'm gonna ask the question that's in my head.
It might be in somebody else'shead, because before this
conversation, before I met you acouple weeks ago, I would have
thought that maybe surfing wasnot a high net worth individual
type of sport.
I've and I can as somebody whospent a lot of time as a fly
fishing guy, I feel like I cansay this being a fly fishing guy

(01:06:19):
to working in the fly fishingindustry is not a great way to
make a bunch of money.
So it's kind of like, oh,surfers and maybe ski bombs.
And I hope you're good.
I'm gonna say ski bombs.
I did not say surf bombs, butthere's this kind of this idea
that you don't really make muchmoney doing that.
Fly fishing, I think people dospend a lot of money to go fly
fishing.
I know that.

(01:06:39):
Uh but the people that work infly fishing don't necessarily
make a lot of money.
But I guess where I'm going withthat is was there a moment in
time where uh surfing became ahigh end expensive thing to go
do, or has it been like that thewhole time and maybe people like
me just never noticed?

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:53):
That's a great question, Jason.
I I think uh a lot of uh peoplethat surfed when they were kids,
so I'm talking 70s, 70s.
In the seventies and theeighties.
And then they went off and youknow became very successful
businessmen and women around theworld.

(01:07:16):
Got to a certain lifestyle andthen kind of went, I used to
really like to surf.
Yeah.
But it's been a while.
And traditionally a lot of theoffers that were out there were
you know pretty rough.
You know, but you know, thethese individuals are used to a
certain level of lifestyle, butthey don't want to go on a boat

(01:07:39):
trip that every hour it's yourturn on the bucket to get the
water out of the hole, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:44):
So they were looking for the water.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:50):
You know, so you know, to be able to offer and it
and it's still expanding the thequality of boats and locations
and and that sort of thing.
So it's a funny story because weuse with the company Tropic Surf
that I was with for 25 years, wewould approach resorts and say,

(01:08:12):
Hey, we'd love to offer surfingservice at your resort.
And in the early days, one ofthe biggest answers we'd always
get was you don't wantbackpackers here, right?
Something like that.
Along those lines.
Well, number one, there's nowaves in the Maldives.
Number two is surfers don't stayhere.
Because exactly what you said,they had a concept of spicoli,

(01:08:35):
you know, as the surfer thatdidn't have the money and blah
blah blah.
But how they were wrong, becauseyou know, for instance, at that
four seasons resort in theMaldives, probably sell now over
a thousand room nights per yearto that resort through the
company Tropic Surf I wasworking with, you know.
And then that model got copiedto about 17 different high-end

(01:08:58):
resorts around the world throughthrough Tropic Surf.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:01):
So I I'm just guessing, I suspect because you
m what you said makes sense.
They were younger surfing in thesummers between school,
whatever.

SPEAKER_02 (01:09:10):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:10):
Maybe, maybe they even spent a year in a place
like Costa Rica, but then theywent and uh you know built a
business or I don't want to saybe responsible.
Yeah.
Sounds like a pushing bottomsaying that.
But life happens.
But I also suspect so whenthey're like, you know what?
I used to really like surfing,and I'd like to kind of I I

(01:09:31):
guess from going with this is Ican imagine that oh, I want my
kids to be exposed to it aswell.
Yes, right, because that's suchan important part of their
childhood.
So I can see people taking theirtheir high school kids that are
getting ready to graduate inhigh school, and they're like,
this is our last opportunity togo do something together,
father, son, mother, daughter,whatever type of trip.
Is that I suspect it's not quitea bit of that.

(01:09:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:09:52):
100 100%.
And yeah, there's nothing morerewarding than seeing a family
in the water together, you know,supporting each other, cheering
each other on.
Um because at the end of theday, there's really no control
in the water in regards to youknow, mom or dad being the
alpha.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:09):
Like you said, the the water, the ocean doesn't
discriminate.
It's just not all in the sameplace.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:16):
And you know, I've I've had families that I've been
working with for close to 14years now.
And to see them go from, youknow, the kids were young and
now they're adults and they'vegot jobs.
And to see that family dynamictogether, sharing surfing, and
not just the surfing part of it,but actually sharing the time

(01:10:38):
together is so special to watch,you know, because at home, like
we said, life gets busy and lifehappens and it's it's all go,
go, go, catch up on a weekendhere or there, but to be on a
boat or a resort or a tinylittle island for seven, ten
days together, have every mealtogether, share a surfing
session together, watch thesunset together.

(01:10:59):
You know, it's it's reallyspecial to to watch.
Yeah, and to to watch peoplereconnect.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:05):
I remember something you just said remind me,
somebody had told me somethingalong the lines of I like trout
fishing because trout live inbeautiful places.
Yeah.
You know, and it's like there'syou know, fishing is one of
those things.
Golf can be one of those things.
You mentioned that earlier.
Um surfing seems like it wouldbe, even skiing is it's not
always about I'm not gonna sayI'm not putting these words in

(01:11:27):
your mouth, but I suspectsometimes it's like it's not
always about the surfing.
I had a hot air balloon and Ihad a crew of people, we'd go
out ballooning almost everyweekend.
I was at a business, and mycrew, there was this guy in my
crew that every once in a whilehe'd just turn around and look
at me when we're having one ofthose connection moments with
everybody and we're yeah, toasttoasting the end of a flight,

(01:11:48):
and he would just look at me andsay, It's not about the balloon.
You know, it's about it's aboutthose connections.
So I guess you'd say it's notabout the board, it's about it
brings people together, right?
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:59):
You know, that part is guaranteed, bringing people
together and you know, andreconnecting and resetting the
surfing is is a bonus.
Yeah, you know, because again,to be able to say July 2027,
we're gonna go for a week tothis location.
You know, yes, traditionallythat time of year is really good

(01:12:21):
for surfing, but you just neverknow until what happens, you
know.
You never know.
But to have everything in placeto facilitate other activities
or just facilitate that placeand that space for people to
come together, families, youknow, it's it's I don't know
really nice.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:39):
And what I'm thinking is there's probably
there's a lot of different typesof people, but there's probably
you could break travelers intomaybe the type of travelers that
would plan a family vacation andit's like, well, what are we
gonna do?
What are we going to do?
And it might be sit on a beachor on a cruise ship and drink
and eat.
And then there's the other typeof people maybe that need to

(01:13:00):
have we're going surfing, we'regoing skiing, we're going
fishing, we're going onsomething.
And even if they even if theyget there and the fishing's bad
or this uh the weather is toughor whatever, it's almost like we
gotta have an excuse to go.
So it's gonna be surfing andit's gonna bring the whole
family together and hopefullyyou get some good surfing in,
but they're not they're not thetypes that are just gonna go sit

(01:13:21):
at an all-inclusive beach resortand do nothing, maybe.
I don't know.
What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 (01:13:25):
Not really.
No, I I agree with you and Jasonon that.
Is you know, if people want tosurf, they they've got some sort
of sense of adventure, you know,that they want to be they want
to be active, they want to bephysical, they you know.
I do go to some of these resortswhere you see both sides of that
spectrum.
I'm sure yeah.m that have goneout and put their towel on the

(01:13:47):
on the you know, sunbed next tothe pool, because that's where
they're gonna be all day for therest of the day.
Uh but that's what makes theworld go round, you know?
And and and I I find that thosepeople that do that are my
biggest personal challenge toget them involved in serving.
Get them to get them involved,yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:07):
Yeah, that's good.
I remember uh actually back backto fishing.
I remember I'd go out fishingand whether I was guiding
clients or whatever I was doingthat day, I was out fishing, and
I used to drive back into myneighborhood at the end of the
day, and I'd see people justhanging out.
And I was like, man, what youknow, like these poor people,
they don't have anything to do.
They do, whatever.

(01:14:27):
It was that was a little bit ofego, but it was just like, man,
I'm yeah, I'm so lucky that Ihave this thing that I'm
passionate about and going anddoing.
And I just couldn't imagine if Ididn't, you know, I had a drift
boat.
So what do people do if theydon't have a drift boat?
Or later in life, what do peopledo if they don't have a hot air
balloon?
It was just, you know, I washard, it was hard for me to get
my head around it.
But yeah, so anyway.
So before we go, I want to touchon like what are you doing with

(01:14:50):
your business now?
Do you have anything exciting onthe horizon?
Uh, what should we know aboutkind of where the state of
things are in the in the surfimprovement vacation industry
now?

SPEAKER_00 (01:15:01):
Yeah, well, you know, I'm hoping this Middle
East continues to quiet downbecause, you know, over the last
couple of months, the theuncertainty of the world has
been, you know, pretty tricky.
Not only flight routes, but oilprices and and everything else.
Everything, yeah.
Um and and and it looks likethings are stabilizing.
At least that's what I read thismorning.
I could change tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:22):
Yeah.
I should mention we're recordingthis June 17th, 2026.
Yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (01:15:28):
Hey, you know, I I've got a couple of busy months
coming up, uh July and August.
I'll be spending a lot of timein Fiji and also in Indonesia on
a boat in the up in the TeloIslands, which is off the west
coast of Sumatra.
I've also got a few trips linedup that I haven't booked yet,
but uh boat trip through Sumba,which is off the map in
Indonesia.

(01:15:48):
And my best destination that Ireally like to share with people
is uh the West Papua Raja Ampadarea in eastern Indonesia.
And that season runs fromDecember till about March.
And there's a couple ofdifferent options there for
that's all boat-based on yachts,and it's one of those special
places that I I always walk awayfrom it thinking that I've just

(01:16:12):
like filmed a nationalgeographic documentary just
because of the natural beauty.
The waves are fun, there'snothing scary, it's just for any
level of server, they can have agreat time.
You know, to the underwaterworld is some of the top, you
know, you don't have to be ascuba diver, you can snorkel.
And yeah, just the the theculture and it's one of those

(01:16:34):
places that you just walk awayfrom going, Wow, there's still
hope.
There's still hope.
You know, it's it's it's amagical location.
Yeah, so just you know, I'm justjust trying to build a business
and continuing to, you know,make new partnerships with new

(01:16:54):
boats and resorts around theworld, and yeah, just making
sure that these locations, youknow, will fall into the
wheelhouse of my clientele andand what they're after.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:05):
Very cool.
I it's occurred to me thatthere's two questions that I
have yet to ask that Idefinitely want to ask.
Yes.
First one is do you do mixedgroups at all?
Do because I hear you sayingI've got I've got this set up,
or we're gonna be in this area.
Will you set up something andthen let people mix in in
groups, or is it all a littlebit?

SPEAKER_00 (01:17:26):
It's mainly private bespoke trips.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:30):
That's what I thought, but I didn't want to I
didn't want to miss that if thatwas something that that was
important to you.
And even more importantly,especially when you talk about
all these places you're goingat.
Your wife, is she a surfer?
Does she is she supportive ofthis or is she Yeah, 100%.
She's on board?
Does she go with you on thesetrips?
Yeah, sometimes she's aprofessional photographer.

SPEAKER_00 (01:17:51):
So she does ocean lifestyle photography.
So it seems like she should gowith you.
Yeah, photo ops photo ops, butthen for the coaching side of
things.
You know, to be able to at theend of the day look through the
photos and to be able to work ontechnique.
And then more importantly, atthe end of the trip, people walk
away with usually a you know, afive to seven minute slideshow,
maybe even a video productionthat she put together, plus the

(01:18:15):
the USB stick or you know, fullof all their photos from the
trip.
Yeah, no, she's she's my rock,you know.
She she she's really, reallyinspirational.
She's self-taught with herphotography.
We met in the Maldives,actually.
Um, she was a marine biologistand resort, and I was the surf
coach.
And uh, you know, at that pointshe hadn't served.

(01:18:37):
So taught her on the store.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18:39):
Does she offer like if you get a group of people uh
you know, presumably as wediscussed, kind of a private
group, will she will she do likeum photography lessons and
workshops with people if they'reinterested in that type of
thing?
Or is that 100% just curious?

SPEAKER_00 (01:18:52):
Yeah, it seems like a logical fit.
Yeah, you know, and you know,the locations that we go.
I mean, the photographyopportunity is just amazing.
Clear water, palm trees, sunset,sunrises.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, we're really fortunateto you know, we both work, we're
based out of home, you know, andyou know, we actually on Monday

(01:19:14):
went for a surf at about nineo'clock, got home at about noon,
and just kind of looked at eachother and went, that was a
pretty good way to spend theMonday.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:21):
You know, so uh absolutely I love that.

SPEAKER_00 (01:19:24):
The office is at home, which is which is you know
nice.
Um has its challenges at attimes, you know, working from
home.
Yeah.
But you know, where we're headedis a is a really positive
direction.
We've got some some really goodinfo out there and you know some
really good feedback on theprograms that um I'm offering
and uh yeah, can hope tocontinue strong in the back half

(01:19:46):
of 2026.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:48):
All right, very cool.
Chris, we discussed a bunch ofthings, uh, and it was
fascinating.
This is very, very fun.
And I'm curious, before we wrapup, what did I forget to ask
you, or what do you wish that Iwould have asked you that we can
uh get out there before we wrapup?

SPEAKER_00 (01:20:01):
I I think we covered a lot there, Jason.
Uh I mean, I I I think thebusiness I'm in is very niche.
You know, not there's not manypeople doing it.
And and I and I think whatreally sets it apart from a lot
of other surf trip experiencesis being tailored, being
bespoke, being discreet.

(01:20:22):
A lot of my clients, you know,are are pretty high net worth
and don't want everything outthere on social media about
their trip and their kids andthat sort of thing.
You know, so to be able to offerlifetime changing surf
experiences, you know, and andto really see people, families

(01:20:43):
come together, reconnect, reset,and you know, change that rhythm
of when life happens.
I think it's important.
We gotta really get people toyou know enjoy things a little
bit more at times to keep thebalance.
Balance is is so important, notonly in surfing, but in life.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:05):
I'm happy you said that because I was gonna follow
up with a a balance joke, butyou you're you're way ahead of
me.
You've you've thought about thisa little bit more than I have.
Um no, no, just absolutely wellsaid.
And I I hope and trust thatsomebody's listening to this
that's like, you know, I used toI used to surf.
I I hear exactly what Chris issaying, and that would be pretty

(01:21:27):
cool to get my kids, you know,somebody like you described that
it hasn't occurred to them yetuntil they heard this
conversation.
Obviously, we're gonna have yourlink to your website right in
the show notes so people canconnect with you there.
Uh for those people listening.
Uh yeah, his links can be rightin the show notes for those
people listening.
For everybody, the link's gonnabe right in the show notes.
And there's also a quick contactthing if you want to, you know,

(01:21:49):
learn a little bit more aboutChris and reach out directly to
him.
Uh when you when you do reachout to him, tell him you heard
his conversation on the show.
That would be great.
And because then he'll say, Hey,Jason, got a lot of good
feedback, and that makes me feelgood.
So Chris, thank you so much.
This was uh fascinatingconversation and look forward to
uh continuing to find ways tocollaborate and and maybe I even
need to go learn how to surf.

(01:22:10):
I've got I'm working I'm workingon getting to that high net
worth point though.

SPEAKER_00 (01:22:16):
Thank you so much, Jason.
It was wonderful and just reallyenjoyed how just everything
flowed, you know, and umunscripted and let's just go off
the cuff and it was perfect.
So I appreciate the time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:22:27):
I won't have to edit anything out of this.
We did good.
So Chris, thank you.
Thank you so thank you so much.
I look forward to seeing youagain soon.
Have a great day.
All right, bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 (01:22:35):
Me too.

SPEAKER_01 (01:22:36):
Bye.

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Adventure Travel with Chris Prewitt - Chris Prewitt Surf

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Adventure Travel with Chris Prewitt - Chris Prewitt Surf