Sunday, May 14, 2006



Meet the Paddlers
(First in a series)

John Browning

JB is the man that taught (and continues to teach) me the art of sea kayaking. I met him at Rutabaga when I took my first lessons and soon that learned he lived in the area of Milwaukee where I grew up. When I started coming to the Sunday morning paddles at South Shore, JB was there, and I continued to learn from him. He was also one of my instructors for Instructor Development and an ACA evaluator for my Instructor Assesment.

You will see John at most local events and symposiums. He particularly likes teaching Navigation and is a wizard on the water.

JB was in the Navy during 'Nam. He is married to a terrific gal named Oz who, like my wife, lets him pretty much paddle when he wants. He had a kayaking type store up in Mequon which, according to a well traveled and knowledgable travel agent, "was ahead of its time."

In addition to teaching, JB works at Fiserv near Waukesha. Since kayaking and work do not take up every single waking hour, John recently became an EMT and regularly works 24 hour shifts for Bell Ambulance. The rest of the time he sits around drinking coffee (absolutely loves the stuff...you know navy guys) and wonders why he is so tired all the time.

If you see this man on the water, introduce yourself and invite his critique. He will make you a better paddler. I know he made me a better paddler.

John Browning, teacher. A man I am proud to number among my friends.

DS

2 comments:

derrick said...

john who? :)

JohnB said...

And, here it is 2300 hours (11:00 p.m. for some, and I am finally getting around to read my favorite blogs (here and kayakwisconsin.net)only 36 hours after their posting, before I turn in for a few hours of sleep before I start another day at 0500 hrs. -- as Oz often reminds people "you can take the boy out of the navy, but the navy out of the boy," . . .the 24 hour clock makes so much more sense.

Dick's right, I do enjoy teaching and look forward to many more years of it. I also am enjoying being an EMT -- it is a real eye opener to health care in America. Putting the kayaking together with the EMTing, I think I know what I'm going to be doing 15 years from now, when I'm 72!!! Now I just have to figure out how to add 3 or 4 days to the week so I have more time.

See ya on the water, or in the local coffee shops!