Geoff Rowley moved to America at 18 years old, with $153 in his pocket and no plans for the future but to skate. Turns out, that’s all he needed. Rowley’s explosive, progressive, and off-the-cuff skateboarding style catapulted his career almost immediately. But when he wasn’t filming skate videos (that he also directed) designing skate shoes, starring in video games or designing skateparks, he was flippin’ through hunting biographies and studying up on conservation efforts. Hunting called to him deeply, and had for years. True to his style, he didn’t sit around and wait to get involved. He did something about it. Today, he’s a professional hunting guide for Kika Outfitters, a skateboarding legend in his own right, founder and owner of CIVILWARE Knives and FREE DOME Skateboards, and by some impressive miracle, the family man who makes it back for a 6 o’clock dinner every night. We’ve got nothing but respect for his take-the- tiger-by-the-tail attitude, and grateful he let us take a tour of his one-of-a-kind mind.
Q:
How do you up your game year after year?
A:
The love of the game and sheer will to succeed. Nothing replaces experience, hard work and time spent in the field. I focus on the smaller tasks at hand each year knowing they are stepping stones to bigger things.
Q:
If you could do anything better what would it be?
A:
My CIVILWARE business challenges me. I’d like to learn more about metalurgy and knife manufacturing.
Q:
Who are your heros? Who do you look up to?
A:
Randy Epperson a Hunting Guide and ex-marine from Rimrock Outfitters, Randy is probably riding his mule up a remote canyon somewhere in Northern Arizona trailing wild animals, living the life! As for skating, there’s too many to mention. I always liked the guys that skated faster and went for the bigger stuff, but it’s important that they also have the technical when needed.
Q:
What part of you, or what you do, reflects a spirit of restlessness?
A:
Everything I do reflects a spirit of restlessness! It’s inherent in my nature and one of the main reasons I am who I am. I want to learn and live, always. That’s been my approach in skating since forever, every day street skating is unique from the last, you never take the same two lines twice. Same in hunting, no two experiences are the same, each unique in and to itself. Isn’t that refreshing?
Q:
If there is any love-hate relationship with any aspect of what you do, can you describe what that is?
A:
Nope. Not at all. I love what I do.
Q:
What does YETI mean to you?
A:
Built the best, built to outlast them all. No corners cut on the product, my lifestyle demands it and YETI gets it!
Q:
What is the YETI that you cannot do without?
A:
Rambler® Bottles of every size. I use them to haul ice and water when I skate, or when I’m scouting in the desert for wild sheep.
Q:
What, if any, other YETI products do you use?
A:
I have multiple LoadOut GoBoxes in my car. I section my skating and hunting gear out in separate coloured boxes. They have everything from my skate tools, spare wheels, and grip tape to trail cameras, predator callers and a plethora of other necessary equipment.