“A lot of people want my job, but they wouldn’t like the pay,” said Paul Terhaggen, a tanned and weathered business owner known as Jibber by windsurfing fans.  “I love teaching people.”

At his Windsurf – The Boatyard, he has taught thousands how to windsurf, including children of the kids he gave lessons to years ago.  The one-man operation also rents stand-up paddleboards and kayaks.

Terhaggen’s business has evolved considerably since he started out in 1976 renting Hobie catamarans and Starfish sailboats from his father-in-law’s dealership. Two years later, he added windsurfing lessons and rentals.  Back then, South Padre Island didn’t have shoulder seasons with surges of visitors in the spring and fall or even the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway.  So Jibber spent the off-seasons doing odd jobs and waiting tables.

“I’m kind of laid back,” said Jibber, explaining how he has adapted to the changing market and blended it with his beach-focused lifestyle. He operated his boatyard from the bay-side end of Dolphin Street for 25 years, but then developments took over his launch site.  When Hurricane Dolly destroyed Windsurf’s modest office in 2008, Terhaggen shifted his business online and to his mobile phone.

Today customers connect with Windsurf through flyers in island hotels, and online via TripAdvisor, Yelp, the South Padre Island CVB site, or through the Windsurf website or mobile phone.  Jibber brings the windsurfing boards, booms and sails or kayaks to a pre-arranged meeting site with his Chevy van and low-boy trailer. Terhaggen likes his niche, teaching and renting out 30-35 boards and eight kayaks.  “When you’re learning, it’s a good idea to rent, so you know what board you want. I never wanted to be in retail sales.”

Anybody can learn to windsurf, he said. “I have people learning in an hour, and they don’t even fall.  Windsurfing is not a strength sport. It’s finesse. The board is so wide now, you stand and pull the sail up.”  In the early days of the sport, when the boards were teak, long and heavy, windsurfing was indeed about strength.  “It was hard to learn on them.  Now it’s different.  We have 110-pound women who are really good.  Smaller sails are easier to control.”

Winds across the bay frequently are in the 18-20 mph range, but vary tremendously, Terhaggen said. “People from all over the world come here for windsurfing.  Some groups spend the winter here.  We almost always have a breeze, but there’s not a lot of chop. The shallow water makes it user friendly. You can recover without having to tread water.”

Terhaggen is president of the private club Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Park, which holds the lease on the gated SPI Wind Surfing Center, a mile-and-a-half stretch of bay near Beach Access #5.

“Wind surfing brings a lot of windsurfers here, many in their 50s, 60s and 70s,” he said. Laguna Madre conditions are less challenging than some other locations.  He also noted a strong link with Winter Park, Colo.:  many winter resort workers migrate to the island for a windsurf regatta and stay on through the summer. As time gone on, the shoulder seasons have gotten stronger, with more visitors, and Jibber thinks the island might take steps that attract more windsurfers.

“The city is looking at the feasibility of an environmental water park to support that segment of the economy, that comes when nobody else is here,” Terhaggen said.  The park would cater to kayaks, SUPS, windsurfers and kite boarders, excluding power equipment.

“SUP — it’s very, very easy, even less challenging than windsurfing.  The biggest problem is managing your weight and the equipment.  Women, who are shorter generally, do very well with it,” he said.

The island experienced nuisance high tides during the spring, caused in part by heavy rains in the Valley. That decreased easy access to launch points.

Terhaggen said environmental water sports rentals are still seasonal.  He has diversified into long- and short-term rental properties complete with tropical landscaping on Dolphin Street in the area known as Jibberville.  “It started for windsurfers.  Now they’re available for anyone ready to enjoy South Padre.” And who doesn’t love a fun time on the Island?

For more information, call 561-4189 or see windsurftheboatyard.com. 

This story by Eileen Mattei appears in the July 2016 edition of Valley Business Report