Name: Gabriel Gray
Title: Professional Expedition Paddle Boarder
Life is one big adventure and I want to explore as much as possible. while inspiring and bringing awareness to Americas waterways!
My name is Gabriel I grew up on a cattle farm in North Florida. I learned at a young age how to respect the land and live off of it. When I was 12 I started rodeoing and turned pro at 17. I spent the next 10 years of my life traveling from rodeo to rodeo exploring the US every inch of the way. After guiding hunters in Northern Nevada and coming to an end with rodeoing, I decided to move back home and rediscover my roots along the Gulf Coast and inland waterways. I became a Firefighter/EMT and USLA open water lifeguard and moved to Panama City Beach, Fl. I first set foot on a paddleboard 6 years ago and I was hooked! Since then I became a WPA level 2 instructor and my wife and I started a local ‘mom and pop’ paddleboard company, Walkin’ on Water Paddleboards, that provides Eco-tours and lessons.
With touring and expedition paddling becoming a larger and growing sport in the SUP industry I am looking to expand that side of the sport with a combination of Adventure and waterway awareness. So we started Fight to SOAR (Save Our American Rivers)
where we will start creating documentry films to help bring awareness on the waterways we explore all while bringing some adventure to the viewers! We will launch this Jan. 2014 and kick off our first adventure on the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint River water basin aka ACF!
I hope to one day push myself and the Expedition side of SUP as far has I possibly can. I know SUP and exploring will be a big part of my remaining life. I have been blessed to do what I love my whole life and look forward to many more years of exploration!
Age: 33
Years doing what you do: 6
Hometown: Panama City Beach, Fl.
Favorite product: Jtree 50 Face stick, Lotion and body wash
Please list your top three career highlights: Creating the SOAR Project with my wife to help bring awareness to our Nations Rivers and SUP For Uganda, to bring the sport of SUP to the kids over there!
If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go
and why? Recently I have been wanting to go to New Zeland.
If you had a yacht what would you name it? For Sale!
What is your favorite movie quote? I pictured the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this. Yeah, that John Denver was full of sh*t. Lloyd and Harry (Dumb and Dumber)
What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten? A live Dragon fly
Blog or Website:www.fighttosoar.com
