By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com

“People aren’t as outward-bound as they used to be…You feel more alive when you’re part of the natural world.” — Teran Hughes

Teran Hughes is back in business on South Padre Island [SPI] with a new water sports coaching company, H2o Sports.

Hughes says living in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the ‘70s to ‘80s was awesome. According to Hughes, he had an “idyllic” childhood growing up in the small town. A couple hours north, Hughes’ great uncle had a boat
in Duluth Minnesota, and his family would go tubing. Hughes believes that’s where his love for water sports began. According to Hughes, each summer he and his two brothers would go water skiing on Maplewood
Lake. Their days of lake fun would bleed over into the early fall and late spring after school, as they would spend as much of the year as they could out on the water. Hughes said they didn’t even have wetsuits but
wouldn’t let the northern cold ruin their time.

“It was like a better world…Everything was just more mellow. More peaceful…I mean, the ‘70s…The music was so great,” said Hughes. “It was like just a great time growing up on a lake, so you could ski in the
summer, play hockey in the winter, shovel a rink and then go ice skating.”

He graduated from Hill Murray High School in Maplewood, Minnesota in 1984. In 1985, a friend introduced Hughes to the world of windsurfing.

“A buddy had a beautiful airbrushed custom fiberglass board in his dorm on the wall, and I had always been a little curious about windsurfing. Then he showed me some magazines…I saw all the blue
water…colorful boards…and I was like ‘yeah, this is what I want to do,’” recounted Hughes.

He practiced on the lake he grew up on, which he says wasn’t ideal due to its small size and the abundance of trees and nearby homes. According to Hughes, his first experience windsurfing went a little awry after
being blown across the lake, unable to raise the sail, and the neighbors calling the police out of concern. But, he persevered and now has 40 years of windsurfing experience to his credit.

“Everybody sucks when they begin,” Hughes laughed.

Having participated in the workforce since he was around 12 or 13, Hughes had his first semi-corporate sales position in his early 20s working at a nationwide supplier for sailing, windsurfing and other water-sports equipment. It was originally called Sailboard Warehouse, but now operates under simply “The House,” after expanding to include snowboarding and skiing gear.

Hughes holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Minnesota. He says he thought he’d be an English teacher. For six months in the early ‘90s, he gave it a go while living in The Dalles,
Oregon, working for a Title One ESL immersion/reading program, teaching underprivileged youth from low-income families in a migrant community. However, according to Hughes, teaching in a school setting just
wasn’t for him and he returned to Sailboard Warehouse. He continued working there until 2000 and moved to South Padre Island in 2001. According to Hughes, he’d been visiting the Island since the late ‘80s. In 2002,
he started Island Fitness, a gym on South Padre Island, but eventually Hughes found that “working out indoors pales in comparison to being outside in the fresh air.”

Hughes’ one-on-one lessons are personalized to his client’s needs and skill levels. He says he teaches each student “one step at a time.” (Courtesy photo/H2o Sports)

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