Isaac Wilkie
Instagram: @isack_w
Location: Colorado/California
Interests: I’m interested in really anything that has to do with the ocean or mountains. Mainly surfing, sailing, climbing, camping, bodysurfing, diving, and even a few recent gardening projects! Really I love anything that lets me travel, experience new things, or be outdoors with the people that I love and puts me far away from noise, crowds, or big cities. In the past few years my girlfriend, Haley, and her family have introduced me to sailing which I’ve grown extremely passionate about! I spend all the time that I can on their 45’ catamaran, “Capaz”. We spend a lot of time sailing out to the Channel Island, taking three/four-day trips to explore whatever island we happing to be at—surfing, diving, and bushwhacking up valleys. I’m actually living on Capaz for the summer, putting some dents in the to-do list of repairs that need to happen.
Background: I’m the oldest of four kids, and we have two awesome God-loving, ski bum, climbing and surfing parents. We moved from Colorado to a small town called Morro Bay on the Central Coast of California when I was really young. My grandparents moved to Morro Bay when it was so untouched that it could hardly have been considered a town, and this is where my family has always been! It’s a surf-bum, fishing and farm oriented town where everyone cares for each other, and a place that’s truly important to me.
I was homeschooled for a while when I was younger which allowed us to travel a bunch and to spend a lot of time surfing or playing soccer. When I was twelve, my family moved to a tiny village in Costa Rica where my little brother and I really took off with surfing. We were the only English speaking family there and definitely stuck out as the obscenely tan little blond kids that were almost fluent in Spanish. We stayed in Costa Rica for a year and then moved back home and I went to the local high school that two generations of my family had already graduated from and where everyone knew each other.
After high school, I moved to Golden, Colorado to study at the Colorado School of Mines. At the time I was looking towards engineering in the petroleum field but after a few internships I quickly had a change of heart. I realized that desks sucks, so do most areas where there is oil, and there are way cooler jobs in mechanical engineering and so pursued that instead! My focus ended up being in Human Centered Design, and after graduating this past May I’m hoping to pursue a career in the outdoor outfitters and equipment industry!
Favorite artist and/or songs on repeat right now: Right now it’s “The Devil Makes Three” Pandora Radio. I’m probably driving Hayley’s brother nuts playing that non-stop over the stereo while we work on Capaz.
Favorite book: The last real books I read front to back were probably The Hunger Games…I’m really bad at finishing a book I’ve started because I find other ones that look awesome too or I get distracted…
Favorite movies: Surfs Up, The Little Mermaid, My Fair Lady, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, What a Girl Wants…
Favorite superhero: Thor. No question there.
Best meal you’ve ever had: Mom’s spaghetti is the best meal I’ve ever had, and if I could have an endless supply of it I probably would. I used to make a huge pot of it at college that would last a few weeks and I’d have it for lunch and dinner three weeks at a time. My roommates didn't understand how I could do it but it’s so good!
If you could learn any skill what would it be? I just learned a VERY small amount about blowing glass. I think that would be a super cool skill to learn, along with welding.
If you could go on a road trip with any person, who would it be and where would you go? It’s hard to beat road trips with Hayley and my brothers, but I would really like to go on a road trip with Teddy Roosevelt, John muir, Thomas Jefferson or Chris Burkard.
If you could go anywhere in the world for free where would you go? I would go either to New Zealand or Iceland…and I probably wouldn’t want to leave!
Daily routine: I usually wake up pretty early, check the surf from my porch, and if the surf is decent I’ll wolf down a pretty large breakfast and head out to meet my girlfriend Haley to get some party waves in! After a lunch break I then either surf again, go rock climbing, help with projects around the house, do some fiberglassing on my boards that have seen better days, or take Wally (my yellow lab puppy) for a walk on the beach. For dinner I usually head up to my girlfriend’s house where I whoop her dad at ping-pong and then eat till there’s nothing left! I usually end the day watching classic movies or chick flicks before heading to bed.
Describe your perfect day: Honestly, my days come pretty close to perfect. If I could I would eliminate sleeping though, and just spend every hour endlessly adventuring!
What’s important to you: My family is constantly inspiring me, giving me ideas for my next adventures and helping me keep faith at the center of my life. My girlfriend Haley is also a constant source of inspiration for me to learn more, dream bigger, chase those dreams and take great care of myself and the world around us.
Best advice you’ve ever received: Love your neither as yourself, don’t take life to seriously, and ask “why not?!” instead of instead of “why?”
Favorite place and/or memorable experience: Probably the Channel Islands. They’re so remote and you can spend days out there without talking to anyone besides the people you go with, it’s so sweet! My favorite experience there by far was playing with a pack of four Orca Whales off of Santa Cruz Island. We were on Capaz and sat in their pod for almost an hour just stunned at how amazing they are as animals.
Another really memorable experience was when my family and I moved down to Costa Rica. I find I’m always referring to that time—how much I learned, the quality time I spent with my family, the insane waves we surfed and just experiences what it’s like to live outside the United States. I definitely plan on doing something similar with my family when I get to that step in life.
Why Fair Harbor?! I love Fair Harbor because of what they do and what they stand for! Being from a small town on the West Coast, I totally identify with feeling a real respect and admiration for their home beach town. Of course, the fact that they’re producing some sweet board shorts made from plastic bottles is great! I’m from the greenest county in the nation—we are HUGELY into recycling and using what we have efficiently. I really appreciate companies that are taking it upon themselves to help take care of our world!