I have been boating since the age of 7. I was born in Mobile, Alabama and worked on the family shrimp boat fleet. I owned my first boat at the age of 9. When I turned 18, I joined the U.S. Coast Guard and served for 24 years. During that time, I conducted hundreds of search and rescue missions, drug and migrant operations, operated boats all over the world in just about every weather condition imaginable, hurricanes, ice, snow, fog, thunderstorms, and even in nice weather from time to time. I have operated boats on the East coast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Mississippi River, Bering Sea, Persian Gulf, and just about every island in the Caribbean.
I have attended numerous professional schools and trainings:
1. Advance bridge management and navigation
2. Advanced shipboard firefighting
3. Advanced damage control
4. Chapman School of Seamanship (marine surveyor course)