Katahdin FitzGerald was born in Maine and became a Vineyard summer resident at the age of 8, where canoeing and fishing were the main components of family life on both Island waters and Maine rivers.  After years of summer rentals, his family relocated to the Island in the early 1990's when his sisters were born. He followed the body-surfing craze through high school, and purchased his first performance shortboard in college, learning much respect for the power and the fickle nature of the ocean.

He took up wind-surfing in his late teens, but after too many broken masts, missing parts, and near injuries, he stripped everything off his old Mistral Board and headed out on the water with an old wooden kayak paddle a little taller than he was. The perspective on the water was absolutely beautiful, but catching waves on an old windsurfer with no rocker proved to be very challenging.   He had no idea that 20 years later Stand Up Paddle Boarding would take over the world.

After having paddled and fished almost every inch of the Vineyard shore, surfing returned as his primary obsession in his late twenties, and he traveled frequently in search of the next good wave, always returning to Martha's Vineyard to find peace and perfect waves in his own back yard.

Katahdin has a degree in Ecology from the College on the Atlantic, has been trained as a Maine Guide, and is First Responder First Aid Certified.  He has worked as a White Water Canoe instructor and a Fly-Fishing Guide and is now in his 16th year as a Surf and Paddle Instructor on Martha's Vineyard.  Come Slide with us!!!