Kill Devil Hills Hideaway

I have been working or playing in the outdoors all my life. I grew up surfing in Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks as a kid. As a teenager, I worked for the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service as an oceanfront lifeguard, which gave me basic first aid and safety skills and cultivated a deep awareness, respect, and understanding of the ocean.

After high school I started my surfing travels and have since surfed Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Australia, Indonesia, Barbados and Canada. I have taught people to surf on four continents.

I have also thru-hiked the Colorado Trail, a 500-mile backpacking trail across the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and climbed many 14,000 foot peaks along the way.

As an outdoor educator, I worked for the Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School for a year, leading backpacking trips in the rainforest, volcano summit expeditions in Nicaragua, and 2- to 4-week long surf courses.

The Outward Bound educational principles have profoundly impacted me as an educator, and I try to employ these principals in our kayak tours, surf lessons, overnight trips, and Coastal Explorer Camps. Everyone can benefit from those principals of character development, compassion, community service, experiential learning, social and environmental responsibility, and of course challenge and adventure in the outdoors.
In 2009 we managed to escape the cold OBX winter and work as a surf instructor for some friends at the Broulee Surf School and Fluid Adventures in Australia.
I volunteer for the local Surfrider Foundation Chapter as well to help protect our coastal environments for future generations.

I enjoy spending time with my family, teaching people how to surf, swimming, spearfishing, camping, reading, yoga, and kayaking. But best of all, I am married to my best friend and business partner, Heather, and we have two wonderful young children, Herman V and Nellie.