Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Olson.
Dave, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 1999, after studying outdoor education at Northland College, I found myself back in Chicago, after a bike trip across Europe ended in illness. With the vision of guiding trips around the world, Chicago looked to be the perfect venue to share the outdoors and my love of paddling in an urban environment. I began teaching kayaking classes on Lake Michigan and the Fox River. Within my first year, I was brought on as the paddling director for the Wild Onion Urban Adventure race, and began training adventure racers all the skills needed to be safe and win races.
Training adventure racers was exciting, but very specific to athletes. A friend of mine introduced me to working with people who had physical disabilities, opening up the world of paddling to not only athletes, but to people of all abilities. I began working with Chicago area rehabilitation hospitals to help people with physical disabilities get a chance to try kayaking.
The adaptive paddling program was born! With racing and adaptive paddling, there was only one thing missing; everyone else. With so much water to paddle in Chicago, but a very small paddling community, I turned to people in the city that had never considered kayaking before. I began taking people on guided tours through the city on the Chicago River.
The river had not seen so many kayaks and canoes since the Potowatamie, and what an amazing experience it was. I told stories of Chicago’s history and architecture as we paddled through the canyons of glass and steel through downtown and offered evening paddles to see the city lights and watch the fireworks at Navy Pier.
After several years of teaching classes and guiding tours, I brought my wife into the business and we began renting kayaks on the Chicago River.
Today, we operate three Chicago locations, providing guided tours, lessons and rentals for kayaks and stand up paddleboards. We host several river and beach cleanups throughout the summer and organize a standup paddleboard race, which benefits Young Adult Cancer Survivors. We employ over 40 staff, have over 400 kayaks and paddle boards and introduce over 20,000 people to paddling each year.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been a fun road, full of adventures and problems to solve. Definitely not smooth. There is always obstacles along the way and every year has brought new bumps in the road, and challenges to overcome. We have tried several locations before we dialed in what works best. Competition has come and gone, and keeping up with demand has been a learning process. Overcoming obstacles and challenges along the way has brought us to where we are today!
Please tell us about Kayak Chicago.
We are the only full-service paddle sports outfitter in Chicago, offering instructional classes, guided tours, and rentals on both the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. We specialize in the experience, safety and education. We pride ourselves on giving the best instruction and making sure that the guest experience is amazing. Something as simple as paddling a kayak, can be a life-changing experience for people. We facilitate the activities to allow for our guests to overcome fears, get in tune with themselves, explore new areas, and reach goals and overcome their own obstacles.
We want our guest experience to be incredible from the moment they register, to the time they get off the water!
Our passion for paddling and sharing the experience is what sets us apart from others.
We are paddlers that grew into a business, NOT a business that’s product is paddling.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
As far as what we have done, I would not change a thing!
If I had to start over, I would have tried to safeguard our company against others that copy what we do, but don’t have the safety or skills to back it up. Competition is a healthy aspect to business, however, when competition lacks the knowledge and safety standards it can turn people off to paddle sports leaving them with a bad experience.
Pricing:
- Guided Tours (Fireworks, Architectural, Lake front skyline tour), $69/person
- Kayak and SUP classes, $60 – $85/person
- Rentals (Single kayak, tandem kayak, SUP), $20 – $30/hr.
- 20 passenger Voyageur Canoe tours, $60/person
- Indoor pool classes $65/person
Contact Info:
- Address: – 1220 W. Le Moyne Ave ( North Ave & the Chicago River)
– Montrose Beach
– North Ave. Beach - Website: www.kayakchicago.com
- Phone: (312) 8-kayak-8
- Email: dave@kayakchicago.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/kayakchicago
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/kayakchicago
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/kayakchicago
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kayak-chicago-chicago
Image Credit:
Dave Olson / Kayak Chicago
