Maggie Hogan and I started our business ten years ago this month.
The Rio Olympics had just finished, and like a lot of athletes coming off an Olympic cycle, we were trying to figure out what came next. Paddling had given us so much: friends all over the world, races in places we'd never have seen otherwise, and good health we'd earned the hard way. We wanted to stay in the sport and give something back.
We also kept hearing the same complaint from paddlers here in the USA: getting a good boat took forever. Most performance kayaks are made in Europe or Asia, and waiting almost a year or more for one was normal. We'd both raced in Nelo boats for years, through our Olympic campaigns and my surfski career, so bringing them over felt like the obvious place to start.
I'll be honest, the early days were scary. As an athlete your whole life is scheduled, and you know what session you're doing next Tuesday. Running a business is the opposite. There's no paycheck and no coach, just a lot of nights wondering whether anyone is actually going to buy a boat.
Enough people did, luckily.
Back then we were Paddle California, because "paddle" covered every discipline and we assumed California would always be home. Five years ago we moved up to the Columbia River Gorge. It was supposed to be temporary. We're still here, and I can't see us leaving.
A new state needed a new name. Three Oceans comes from the water we grew up on: the Indian and Atlantic for me, the Atlantic and Pacific for Maggie. Technically we live on a river now, but "Three Oceans and a River" was a little long to fit on a hat!
Since then we've brought in almost 1700 boats (Nelo, Nordic Kayaks, Nalu Canoes and now the Tai Manawa), coached close to 500 paddlers, and had almost 1,000 people race at our events, including the Gorge Outrigger Race and the first Westerly Relay this year.
Honestly though, the part I'm proudest of is that we're still here. Covid, tariffs, a couple of rough economic stretches… each one forced us to change how we do things, and we did.
Maggie and I have cried, struggled, thrived, and mostly enjoyed the past 10 years! I couldn't ask for a better partner.
Next up: some new race formats we're excited about, plus camps and downwind experiences here in the Gorge.
Thanks to everyone who's bought a boat, taken a lesson, trusted us with their race goals and performance, raced with us, or stood at a finish line cheering. Ten years went fast.
#ThreeOceans #Paddlesports
0 comments