I grew up 45 minutes from New York City, on the south shore of Long Island. I always loved the beach. I surfed at the ocean with my friends every chance I got. We couldn’t drive so we had to take the bus with our boards….it was worth every bit of hassle! Some days we ripped and some days the ocean destroyed us - either way it was glorious.

When I met my wife, Kim, at age 25 I was still surfing and soon after started teaching her. She bought a board and we both spent many days together playing in Long Beach swells.
I never stopped loving surfing, but we started going less and less. Then when my wife got pregnant so she stopped entirely and I somehow decided I couldn’t be bothered. But the ocean never forgot about me, nor I about it…

Fast forward to 2015 when my family got a great opportunity to move to Shelter Island. I was the new kid in town and didn’t know anyone until I met a great friend who paddle-boarded. He introduced me to the sport and I have never looked back!

I bought my first board in early May of 2016. It was a 11'6 foot Sup ATX composite board. In 1 month I logged just over 32 miles. In that 32 miles something very important happened. I tried to make a long run around part of Shelter Island. During this journey (my biggest to this point) I got stuck in a current and could not power through it - I had no choice but to turn around and head for the shore. It would seem that my board was not very good for fighting through heavy currents. A day later I posted my board for sale on Facebook and proceeded to order my first racing board - a 12'6 x 28.375 Lahui Kai Manta.

Naturally my first run was out in open water and back to the same exact route that made me purchase the new board. Happily I paddled right through the current like it wasn't even there. Success! This is when I decided to do my first race.

As luck should have it I discovered the Great Peconic Race was coming up and it was launching from Shelter Island. Perfect! I registered for the 9 mile route (seemed overly ambitious to go for 18miles 2 months into the sport).

For 2 months I practiced the previous year’s route - Wades Beach to Crescent Beach and back. I knew where the rocks were, I knew when to stay near to shore and when to stay away. I knew where I should be after 15 minutes, and when to drink water. I was as prepared as I could possibly be without actually knowing how to train for a race. Nothing could go wrong….

The day before the race I heard that the route was reversed - I felt like two months of training went down the drain. Race day came and my legs were shaking on the board - they never stiffened up the whole time. I ended up peaking too early only to see a hundred people fly by me. I fell mid race. It seemed like a disaster, until I saw that finish line. I crossed it and heard cheering from a huge, supportive community of paddlers. If I wasn’t hooked before I was definitely hooked now.

Long, long, long story short….I actually ended up winning my division (there were only 3 people registered, but I’ll take it!). That day was grueling, but I couldn’t wait to train again and use my experience to rock my next race!