Bill Eubanks is a kayaker and a professional landscape architect/urban designer. It’s a profession he loves because he can create awesome places that makes folks lives better and he’s always learning something. Bill grew up in Arkansas fishing with his dad in the Mississippi delta and canoeing on the rivers in the Ouachita Mountains and the Ozarks. The first time he kayaked he didn’t like it a bit. It was so different from paddling a canoe. Bill felt like he had no control, but he gave it another chance - eventually buying a tiny 9.5’ Perception kayak before graduating to a 14’ Wilderness Systems Tsunami. It has been well over a dozen years since he first paddled a kayak and has been pretty obsessive over the last 4 or 5 years. He has been fortunate to have had many wonderful mentors in his professional life but has also learned a lot from the people he was supposed to mentor - they always surprise him. Bill has been surrounded by very creative people his entire adult life, including Shea Tighe, the founder of Atollas. He was a gifted young landscape designer in an earlier iteration of his life. For Bill, kayaking isn’t just about paddling. He’s also pretty obsessive about looking for fossilized shark teeth! He has thousands and thousands with some from extinct species like megalodon and angustiden.

Q: How did you first get into kayaking?

A: My first time on a kayak was staying at someone’s lake house on Lake Burton. I would take the canoe out to fly fish at dawn every morning but tried kayaking for fun during the day.

Q: What does the water mean to you?

A: I wrote this poem once: “Nature is my cathedral; The shore my chancel; And the creek my transept. The birds are my choir; and I am at peace.” So, being on the water for me is about appreciating nature and decompressing from life on the land. With that in mind, we really have to protect water quality in every way we can!

Q: What was your all-time favorite day on the water?

A: So hard to choose! Probably a paddle from Rockville to Deveaux Bank where we got into a huge pod of dolphin. Dozens of them. Everywhere. We were surrounded and it was delightful. But I’m also a sucker for a good sunset or nighttime paddle. 4th of July, watching fireworks from a kayak, is pretty awesome too.

Q: How important are your sunglasses in your sport?

A: If it’s daytime and I’m on the water, I’m wearing sunglasses. You have to protect your eyes! Except when I’m looking for shark teeth (it makes them harder to see because it dulls the “glint” of the tooth) and then they are around my neck.

Q: What are your go-to shades and why?

A: Because I’ve lost them before (sometime carelessness, not sinking) and I’m rough on them, I don’t go high dollar on my kayaking sunglasses. They also need to be “reading glasses” because I’m not a spring chicken anymore. My current go-to are Suncloud and Dual. Both under a hundred bucks.

Q: Have you ever lost your sunglasses on the water?

A: I have lost 2 pair of sunglasses on the water, or more specifically on an island, and both times miraculously found them the next day. Tide had carried them out and back in. I’ve “almost” lost them dozens of times. I guess I’m a lucky guy!

Q: How have our floating keepers be performing in the field?

A: I have Atollas on both pairs of my current kayaking sunglasses. I love them. Although to be completely honest when I’m on the water I never even think about them. Not even once. I’m thinking about the stuff I should be thinking about. Waves. Wind. Current. Birds. Dolphin. Snacks. They are so lightweight it’s like they aren’t even there. The way it should be.

Q: What stands out about our keepers?

A: The colors are great. But the light weight and streamlined design are key. It never gets caught on my cap or my shirt. It’s just there. Looking good and doing its job. And they grip my earpiece so well – never slipping.

Q: What’s going in in your world at the moment, and what does the future have in store?

A: I have recently changed positions and am leading the planning and landscape architecture section for SGA|NarmourWright Design for their offices in Charleston, Greenville, Charlotte, and Pawley’s Island. I have a great group of staff to work with and I’m excited about the challenge. Best of all, they observe a 4.5 day work-week so I have Friday afternoons on the water!