Employee Spotlights, News

We Have a Bunch of Road Warriors

Pre-COVID-19 we had multiple people in our little business (Road Warriors) traveling 100,000+ miles per year. I can tell you, that is a lot of travel. When the virus struck, all travel pretty much came to a screeching halt and forced cancellations were coming from every direction. Try telling a resort owner in the Maldives who has spent a pretty penny on a FlowRider® Wave In The Box that we can’t get down there to install their FlowRider!

It went a little something like this, “Well Mr. Client, we can’t go to site because your country isn’t accepting visitors.” Then a month later, we had the same answer for him. Then, all of sudden it was “Go! Go! Go!” because restrictions on Americans traveling to the Maldives had been lifted.

One of those FlowRider Road Warriors is Eric Silverman. And, how did Eric Silverman become a Road Warrior and seasoned FlowRider installation professional? It is an interesting story and goes something like this – about 12 years ago, I was watching this 16-year-old kid on the Bruticus Maximus (FlowBarrel Ten) at Wave House San Diego in Mission Beach, California. There was something different about him. Tall, lanky, hair everywhere, a skateboarder by passion but pure daredevil in the air.

Eric turned out to be the best performer ever on a FlowBarrel. He was constantly working to create new tricks, both when riding a strapped or strapless board. He quickly, very quickly, had no peer. He used to jump out of the FlowBarrel, over a walkway and grab onto a chain link fence, then do a backflip back onto the wave!! The kid was sick, mental, insane, whatever you want to call it. Double back flips, 1080s, nothing was out of reach. He was a daily fixture on the wave and his dad used to frequent Wave House to watch his son’s high-flying antics.

His dad is a lawyer, super nice and very cerebral. Overall a true gentleman. One time he asked me, “Do you think you could ever put him to work?” One of the joys of FlowRider is we have had so many people involved in our business that had either worked at Wave House, Wave Loch, or been part of our little cottage industry. So, why not?

One of Eric’s first installation jobs was working with a seasoned old pro, Adam Gale. We didn’t have a real gauge of our expectations for Eric, but what we did know is that it was possible that Adam could perhaps deter or “scare” Eric from doing this type of work. Reason being that Adam is never afraid to criticize anyone and expects everyone’s best efforts all the time. He is there to get the job done!

Much to our surprise, Adam came back with very positive comments on Eric; his work ethic and willingness to learn was top notch. Since then he has developed into a key member of our installation team – along with many others. Since Eric and the rest of our installation team acts as our eyes and ears, they play in integral part in keeping our process in check, making sure that efficiencies are in place and helping us serve the client.

When I saw this image of Eric from our job log, just arriving in the Maldives after several weeks on a job in Florida, the word “warrior” came to mind and a lot of memories came flooding back.

Thank you, Eric for your efforts and keep up the good teamwork!!

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