Kialoa's East Coast Extended Family: Jac Citera

KIALOA and 'Elele Evelyn O'Doherty have teamed up to bring you brief highlights of KIALOA paddlers from the East Coast! Tune in weekly to meet more great people who simply enjoy paddling!

Meet North East paddler, Jac Citera. (that's how you spell it: J-A-C )

Where are you from and where are your favorite places to paddle?

Long Island is my "home grounz" then, and I'm currently living with my wife, Laurie, in Greenport, NY.  The East End of Long Island is where I paddle mostly.  The bays out here offer up nice gentle paddles in pristine estuarine environments right up to more intense down-winders between the different villages making up the East End.  You have fun and adventure for all ages!

 When did you start paddling & what inspired you to start?

I've been a surfer for almost 50 years.  Surfing is a form of paddling.  Learning to stand up paddle was, for me, a new way to be on the water involving paddling.  I love to try something new from time to time which is how I started skiing, scuba diving and windsurfing after I started surfing.  I want to say, I started SUP in 2007 when I bought a board from Main Beach Surf & Sport in East Hampton, NY that had already been on the rack in the shop for a year and a half.  It was an Al Merrick and it is the ONLY Al Merrick SUP I've ever seen. I raced on that board, surfed that board and had so much fun with that board. Later, I ended up buying a 14 -footer to compete more competitively and a 9'6" to surf better.  SUP paddling pretty much dominates my recreational activity.  No complaints.  I'll be surfing again when it's time.  The universe has already sent me my next wave; I just have to be at the beach to meet up with it.  

What are some other activities and favorite things in your life?

I fix surfboards and paddleboards...I just retired from a job after 21 years.  I'm sort of figuring out how to do what's next right now..."be retired" that is.  

What are your words of wisdom?
Always make it back to the beach. It doesn't have to be the beach you started from just as long as there's a beach to get back to.  That's another way of saying, don't paddle off without thinking first about the weather, the tides and your capabilities.

Any paddling goals for 2018?
My paddling goal for 2018 is easy: 6 races of at least 6 miles.  I'd like to start 2018 with the middle distance race at the Carolina Cup in April and end up with the Amagansett-Montauk downwind race in October.  I want to be in better shape to paddle, lose weight and fit into 32 waist pants again!   I'd like to participate in the online 100/100 paddle challenges (Aloha Julia!) as well. The first challenge of the year may be fighting the cold temps here in New York along with the "Viking Challenge" but the miles will come. 

I've spent time in the hospital in the spring for the past two years.  This April during the Carolina Cup will be one year from when the stent was put in. The year before that, I had shoulder surgery.  Both of these events compromised my paddling, but once the cardiologist cleared me to paddle last June, I've been back in action.  My speed is up, I feel stronger and am paddling farther and faster than ever before.  There have been some very strong Endorphin highs a couple times after a great paddle and subsequent crashes after the "euphoria" has passed.  I'm gonna' try to avoid the 'crashes' by paddling more.