Madison Boats: Water, Wellness, and Community Building

Madison Boats: Water, Wellness, and Community Building - Welcome back to the Outdoor Adventure Series! In today’s episode, we have another spotlight on Madison, Wisconsin—host of the 2026 Outdoor Writers Association of America annual conference. Joining us is Tyler Leeper, owner of Madison Boats, whose lifelong passion for the water has transformed into a thriving community-building business on Madison’s beautiful lakes. 

From humble beginnings as a young entrepreneur to developing programs that connect people of all backgrounds to outdoor experiences, Tyler shares how Madison Boats has evolved beyond paddling into a hub of events, education, and inclusivity. We’ll explore the city’s unique urban outdoor landscape, creative events on the water, the crucial role of environmental stewardship, and how Madison Boats welcomes visitors for unforgettable adventures. Whether you’re a seasoned paddler, an outdoor enthusiast, or simply looking for your next travel destination, this episode dives deep into the power of connecting with nature—and each other—right in the heart of Madison.

DISCUSSION

Introduction & Setting the Scene

• Welcome to the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast
• This episode is sponsored by Destination Madison, Host of the OWAA's Annual Conference
• Focus on Madison, Wisconsin as a destination for events and recreation
• Introduction of Tyler Leeper, owner of Madison Boats
• Tyler’s greeting and excitement for hosting the conference

Tyler's Background and Connection to Water

• Childhood experiences with watercraft and family vacations
• Growing up in Wisconsin and moving to Madison
• International travel and attending college in Portland, Oregon
• Returning to Madison and entering the boating business in his 20's

Developing Madison Boats as a Business

• Early business goals and financial aspirations
• Learning business through classes and practical application
• Balancing work in a medical startup with growing the boathouse
• Shift from personal enjoyment to community building focus
• Emphasis on selling community and time with others vs. skill-based activities

Community Engagement and Activities

• Transition to activities that prioritize bringing people together
• Range of watercraft offered (duck and swan paddle boats, paddle boards, kayaks, pontoons)
• Focus on accessible, user-friendly equipment to lower participation barriers

Events and Creative Programming

• Hosting 152 public-facing events annually across 120 days
• Examples: SUP yoga, sound bath sessions, Learn-to-Paddle programs
• Signature events like full moon paddles, burgers on the bay with live bands
• Importance of creativity and seasonal business evaluation (R&D during off-season)

Staffing and Team Structure

• Growth from 6 to 130 employees, relying on a mix of young staff and retirees
• Seasonal employment and job structure
• Approach to training and job expectations (boater safety license, in-service training, shadow shifts)
• Mentoring and fostering responsibility in young employees

Accessibility, Diversity, and Community Partnerships

• Commitment to accessibility for people with disabilities
• Working with organizations to make outings possible for all
• Supporting diverse hiring programs and partnerships with local schools and youth groups

Environmental Stewardship and Local Nature

• Madison’s unique combination of urban and natural environments
• Improvement in lake health and community involvement
• Acknowledgement of Clean Lakes Alliance and community-driven lake advocacy
• Personal anecdotes highlighting urban wildlife and community experiences (e.g., bullfrog, cranes at events)

Madison Boats Website & User Experience

• Overview of web design philosophy for easy navigation
• Features of the website: locations, rental options, events, memberships, camps
• Quick tour and explanation of the three main boathouse locations (Wingra, Brittingham, Marshall)
• Specifics about each location’s offerings and unique features

Participation in OWAA's Upcoming Conferences

• Planned involvement in Outdoor Writers Association of America’s annual conference
• Description of special excursions, e.g., pontoon and kayak trips interwoven with local history and nature
• Pre-conference and ongoing discounts for conference participants

Reflection on Lifestyle and Career Choices

• Discussion on the importance of loving one’s work vs. financial gain
• Tyler’s "aha" moments and decision to maintain the business as a lifestyle choice
• Challenges of balancing growth, personal enjoyment, and responsibilities as an entrepreneur
• Value of direct community engagement and hands-on work

Recommendations for Visitors and Final Thoughts

• Encouragement to explore Madison and take an extra day for local experiences
• Information on where to find Madison Boats online (website, social media)
• Summary of Madison’s appeal as a water-focused, four-season destination

Podcast Conclusion & Sponsor Acknowledgement

• Recap of episode, Tyler’s philosophy, and community building
• Where to find the podcast and Madison Boats online
• Invitation for future episodes and thanks to Destination Madison for sponsorship

LEARN MORE

Website: To learn more about the Madison Boats, visit their website at https://www.madisonboats.com/ or their social sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marshallboatsandcafe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wingraboats/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brittinghamboats

Destination Madison: https://www.visitmadison.com/

NEXT STEPS

Visit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com to like, comment, and share our episodes.

KEYWORDS

Madison Boats, Marshall Boats, Lake Mendota, Wingra Boats, Lake Wingra, Brittingham Boats, Lake Monona, Destination Madison, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast Interview, OWAA

#MadisonBoats #MarshallBoats #LakeMendota #WingraBoats #LakeWingra #BrittinghamBoats #LakeMonona #DestinationMadison #OutdoorAdventureSeries #PodcastInterview #OWAA #OWAA2026

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello everyone and welcome back for another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series. Today's episode is sponsored by Destination Madison, host of the 2026 Outdoor Writers Association of America annual conference. During today's episode, we hope to share with you why Madison, Wisconsin, and the surrounding communities in Dane County are the perfect destination for family vacations, couples getaways, outdoor adventures, meetings, conferences, and conventions. Our guest today is Tyler Leaper. He is the owner of Madison Boats. Tyler, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Thank you so much for having me, and we're excited to uh to host the conference here and uh coming up here in August.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Fantastic. Now, I have this vision for my podcast because it is called the Outdoor Adventure Series, is to actually put the outdoors in outdoor adventure, but you have truly lived up to the outdoors today. You've had a beautiful setting behind you. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, I'm uh over at our Wingra location. It is in the middle of the city, surrounded by the Arboretum, all paddle craft, and uh it's a beautiful day, so couldn't find a better uh office than out here on the on the docks.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

All right, and I can imagine uh being a part of Madison Boats and having this business for many years, uh being on the water is pretty special for you. It is.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Grew up uh grandpa had a sailboat. We'd jump off and hold on to the line and let them drag us around. We had a Camaran that uh my cousins would flip and we'd dive off the top pontoon. Family vacations were always loading up canoes and driving in the middle of the winter down south to go find some open water. So water's definitely been the uh a big focus and always a draw and uh and a grounding place for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Excellent. Now, are you a uh a native of the Madison area or Wisconsin in general, or had you grown up elsewhere?

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, uh native of Wisconsin, grew up outside of uh Madison, moved to Madison in fourth grade, and then we started uh a lot of international travel, moved around quite a bit, and ended up going out to undergrad on the West Coast, uh Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon, which was fantastic. But as I was exploring my uh life options and political science, I wasn't quite ready to fetch coffee for the next couple of years, knock on doors, or go to law school. So I uh begged the current owner of my summertime job to open up another location with me. And he uh he turned and he had bought the the business years be prior for his kids to work. They were all getting a little older, and uh he said, Go talk to your parents and uh why don't you buy this one? I said, I don't need to talk to my parents. I had twelve hundred dollars in my account and was feeling really rich, I'll buy it. And so that was kind of the story. I bought it at the ripe age of 20. And uh it's kind of I keep keep thinking it was my uh my place to hang out until I figured out what I wanted to do in life. And uh every time I questioned what I wanted to do in life, there's no better place than hanging out here on the lake, and then all the different things that we get to do in the outdoor industry, the the lives we get to change, the the stories we get to hear. And as I keep having my five, 10-year questions of what did I want to do, it kept coming back to no what I can do more at the boathouse than I could somewhere else. So it's been great.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

This is great. I I used to work with a uh gentleman when I was in the IT field. I I'm a recovering IT business consultant, and I don't think I was ever truly happy doing the IT work. And and there's just something about every five years having to change a job, and I I don't get that. I I'm a I like consistency, but as a coach now in my profession, in addition to podcasting, I really believe doing something we love is more important than the dollars we make. I mean, dollars are good, being comfortable, taking care of yourself, your family is important, but having doing work we love is so very important. And as you just described, being around the water, making a difference for people that come your way. I mean, it it it you kind of have to pinch yourself, I would imagine. Yeah. Often, often. Okay. So tell us about Madison Boats. You bought the business, how has it evolved in the years when you started in and um I also have some questions about the water and the lakes around you and the inner locations, but how has Madison Boats evolved over the years in supporting the experiences uh for the for the community?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, I think all of it goes kind of hand in hand. You mentioned the dollars. So I ended up buying it in uh 2005. We we um worked or I started as an owner, and my goal at the time was to make $30,000, $40,000 and be able to live pretty comfortably. So there was a definitely a driving force of like, can I make this just hobby kind of business work for myself? Then as I grew, uh I started taking business classes, realized that just the simple logic of business makes a lot of sense in my head. So I started applying it to the boathouse and uh really saw a lot of potential growth. But I got distracted along the way, uh, especially in the business field, ended up taking over a um medical startup company, ran that for a number of years, and then realized that I didn't want to be solving uh pressure ulcers and falls, uh, but wanted to be spending time out, more time out on the water. And I was doing both at the same time, but was finding that we had more and more opportunities to connect with our community. We had uh developed an incredible program with all the boys and girls clubs around the area, getting kids out onto the water. We were having a lot of success in our partnerships, and so that was I stepped away from the medical company, opened up our second location at Birmingham Boats, and really started to realize what we do here at Madison Boats, which is community building. We're selling time with each other, we're selling time with the outdoors. It's it's not about the activity. We would love everybody to know how paddle strokes, but if someone comes back, the handle of the paddle is in the water and they're holding on to the blade with a big smile on their face, we say that's success because A, they came back and B, they were happy. So there's more efficient ways, but that was kind of the aha moment where I'm not in the outdoor industry, I'm in the community building space, I'm in the the activity space, and that was really a neat, neat kind of transition for Madison Boats and how we've found success in a major way, uh, is really focusing on those community that those activities that bring people together instead of the skill aspect that is so often focused.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Okay. I love that. And and as you were just sharing, you're not in the the outdoor boating industry per se, you're in the community building, and I've heard other similar sayings. Uh, and I'm not even gonna try to remember, I can remember one of them, but I'm not even gonna go there. But as you have been building these, helping to build and nurture the communities through these experiences, what have been the range of uh the types of water activities and the types of craft that you're introducing the community to get out on the water with?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah, I think the uh so our craft, we have about 500 paddle craft, everything from giant duck and swan paddle boats. Uh, we have probably about 120 paddle boards. Uh, a lot of kayaks, sit on top kayaks, giant uh eight-person, ten-person paddle boards are always popular, and then we have a fleet of um large pontoon boats that we do a lot of excursions programs off of, as well as self-driven and captained rentals. So we keep adding different paddle craft. We'll try some of the new novelty ones. I remember getting the pedal assist kayaks when they first came out. They were wonderful and they still are, but a complication for our and a learning curve when we want to remove as many barriers as possible for the first-time paddler or whoever's coming down. So we keep looking at our our equipment, making sure that it's top of the line, but also very simple, and it's not something that anyone needs a lot of education on how to operate it. So that's been one area of like how do we remove barriers so that everybody can get out and start doing the activity as quickly as possible. The other side that you mentioned was the activities. And oh man, this year I think we have 152 public-facing events, uh, not including our private groups and and organizations in about 120 days. So that's everything from our health and wellness series of sub yoga, sub Pilates, uh, mindfulness. Tonight we have a 60-person sound bath in the middle of the lake. So we have um we have a really wonderful woman who uh will take out our band boat. So we have band boats and burger boats, and so she'll take out one of our floating platforms, set up a full sound bath, and then we do anchor lines so that people can clip in and just float and enjoy meditation, a sound bath. So that's the wellness side. Then we'll have our education side with the learn to programs where we can teach people how to paddle and how to fine-tune. And then we really have uh a lot of fun with what we kind of call our signature events. That's our full moon paddles where we put a band at the middle of the lake. We have three or four fire pits where everybody's roasting marshmallows, and it's just really cool to see 500 boats all sitting out listening to a band in the middle of the night. We have our burgers on the bay every Friday where you paddle out, and we have a bunch of people flipping hamburgers and veggie burgers and another boat with live music so you can have your burger and your music right out on the water. And so we keep trying to get as creative as possible to make sure we don't get bored, as well as our customers. But all of them, when we put the emphasis on uh skill, we end up falling short. When we put it on community, we end up seeing just tremendous uh success and following. So it's been a a blast, like playing through all these different activities. And the last thing, Howard, I'll mention just on this. The great thing of being in Wisconsin is we're seasonal. So we got an on and an off. Right. That has a hell of a lot of challenges, excuse me, but it's it's rough. The thing is at the end of the year when the boats get put away and packed up, we get to look at it and say, hey, did that actually work? Was that any good? Like, yeah, we may have even made money, but was it worth the energy? Was it was it successful? So we spend a lot of time with what we call our RD in the off season and evaluating our programs, coming up with new ideas. Most of it, it feels like treading water doesn't even uh come to light, but I guess that's RD. And uh, but it's it's a nice way where we get to a turnoff and we get to say that wasn't good or that was good, let's add.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Well, it's nice to have this wild, crazy idea. Oh, we thought it would work, even if it doesn't, at least you tried. A couple years ago, our annual conference was down in uh Gulf Shores, uh Alabama, and so I had uh produced a podcast series very similar to what I'm doing with Destination Madison. One of the uh guests on the podcast was with Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism. They had an event and I I missed it because of the timing, though I though me on a kayak and my size, it's I'm and my age. I'm not I'm at the age right now where I have to think, is that a good idea? Okay, but having said that, they had these uh, I don't know, it was once a month, they had a uh painting and painting on the water type of excursion. So they they take the kayaks out, and the the kayakers would do watercolors from the boat, so they'd be yeah painting uh the the scenery, so much like you take your kayakers out in the lakes in Wisconsin and just you do watercolors. So, Tyler, there's an idea for you.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

I'm writing it, I just wrote it down. I got the pen. I knew I had a pen out here for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

You gotta have a pen and a table for a reason. So I am a couple questions as you've been sharing this information. One uh is the people that are in the team that is supporting these experiences. I imagine they're seasonal employees, maybe you have some full-timers, but what's that makeup? Who's helping them make Madison boats a success each year?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

It's certainly not me out here doing everything. I I oftentimes just make the mess, and uh unfortunately I have to ask others to help me clean it up, but I have an incredible management team that are work on this kind of year round. We have a location manager for each spot, and then um our camp director who oversees our outdoor education and kids' camps. And then we have oh let's see, last I checked, we have about 130 staff on this year. It's incredible. When I first started, we had, I think I was the sixth employee. Now we have 130, and we could absolutely do this job with probably half, maybe even less, uh, if we went to more full-time um staff. But one of the things that I I've has been a huge challenge, but it also has some wonderful benefits, is we continue to hire quite young. We have a number of 14, 15-year-olds, we have uh quite a few 16 to 18s, 18 uh to 25 is our kind of next bucket, and then we have a lot of um oh either retired or or almost retired staff that come down and do a shift or two. So our average employee or or crew member will probably do three shifts a week. They'll also go on vacation and be gone for two or three weeks. So we have um staff that might only work eight days in a whole summer. Okay, we try to avoid that at all costs, but they bring such passion, such energy. Um, they care about it, which can't be replaced. And oftentimes that young uh first-time job is so meaningful, and we put a lot of responsibility on them. We have a lot of a lot of high expectations, and they step up and meet it over and over again. I always uh share the you don't get fired for making mistakes, you only get fired if you don't want to be here. So if you prefer to be on your phone or talking to your friends, go. That's okay. If you want to be down here, we'll we'll figure everything else out, and then we expect them to figure it out, and they do, they do a fantastic job.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Okay, and the I imagine there's a lot of train training that goes into these types of positions, the mentoring, and yep. Is there also any type of uh watercraft certification that's required?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, so we have everybody do their boater safety license, then we go through a pretty extensive training every year. They have to do uh all staff training, then we do bi-location, bi-weekly in services, we have shadow ships that they have to keep doing, they have assistance boat training. So there's a uh oh, probably uh 140-point checklist that they have to get through by the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

So a lot of them are uh working on that pretty hard right now. I I can imagine there's people like me that wait to the last minute to do things, so but you gotta get it done.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah, and it's and and it needs to be done every single year because I I feel like it's Groundhog's Day. We've done it before for myself, it's the same general thing, but it each time it's a teeny bit different. So we got to go back through and remind ourselves on all of those different components of the job.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Okay. As a multicultural diverse community that is Madison, Dane County. Uh how are you also incorporating either through staff or folks to come out on the water, folks that are perhaps have some type of disability and to to make that type of experience available or to provide a job for someone who they're very capable, but there's a disability associated with it.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah. Yeah. I really look at us as facilitators. We facilitate people going out on the water. We facilitate someone connecting with a friend that they haven't seen for a while. We're not always the ones. So if someone is interested in getting out on the water, we're gonna make it. So we have a lot of different methods to make it extremely accessible for anyone. We will bring boats to different parts of the of the lake to make it really easy for them to access the water. We will um even send staff sometimes with them to paddle out. So we'll oftentimes put someone in like a tandem kayak and then uh we'll go paddle with them. We'll do what we need to to get them out on the water. If they have an interest, we will make it happen. And really the best thing that we've found is to make sure that other organizations that are really active in the different spaces, whether it's DEI, whether it's accessibility, know that we're a resource for them and that we will listen, that we will uh both meet what their expectations are and try to find a way to go above them so that it is easy for that organization, that group to get out, uh, whatever it looks like. We'll partner, we partner with a number of different hiring um programs to help give people opportunities and spaces that they might not otherwise be exposed to. And same with the paneling. We have a lot of different programs, whether it be with schools, uh youth groups, we have a Lake Explorer camp with the Bayview Community Center and um Boys and Girls Club, a lot of different places where we will either be the actual educators or we will help facilitate their group getting out, depending on what they want. So part of it is is not always like telling them how to do it, but just being available and listening and then making sure when they do it, they're celebrated and they're seen and they want to come back again.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

I love it, I love it. I am curious now. I by the way, as you and I are chatting, uh you had a kayaker come across the screen. I thought that was just absolutely wonderful. These bodies of water, I mean, in the from the time you started in the business working for the the original owner, taking over the business, how have you seen the commitment to the water itself and nurturing not only the the quality of the water, but also the the near shore? You've got uh nesting birds, you've got waterfowl, you have fish. How are you how are those types of uh activities or or necessity to keep the to keep your business vibrant? Okay, you need you need you need good quality nature uh to surround be surrounded by it. So how are you seeing those changes over the years?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

So I I gotta say right now, as I'm sitting up here, I heard a sound that I haven't heard for at the longest time, a giant bullfrog. I remember as a kid somewhat seeing them when I was here on the lakes, more often when I was going to other places, but not in the city. Right now, my sister told me she saw one yesterday and I could hear it. It's a big bullfrog just sitting right here. It's incredible. We have um a nice Madison is really sneaky in in its urban adventure, like we don't have the giant peaks or the fast water, so it's not the place where you're like, oh, I'm going there for for outdoor adventure, but it's really sneaky how it'll just everywhere you go, it's there. This urban outdoors is just so intermixed. And I think that the the dedication to our urban outdoors has continued to get better and better, and we're seeing those results time and time again. Growing up the lakes were dirty. I'm not saying they're very clean right now, but I can remember a time where everybody just accepted that that's how they were, and that's how they were gonna be, and that was sick. You you just that's how you they were. I have to give a big shout out to the Clean Lakes Alliance. They started up um oh, see, I was uh on the the founding community board with them, but they've really put the lakes at the center of our community and lake health at the forefront. They have an advocacy so that all of our policymakers know what's going on. They have a state of the lakes report that gets really deep into the science, and then they throw big parties. They have a frozen assets party on the middle of the lake with kites and education and bands and DJs, and it always trying to make sure that the residents also are tied to the lakes in a meaningful way and understand that they're also responsible for the health of the lakes. They set up an alert system where you're notified if if it's about to rain to get your leaves out of the street, because that just acts like tea and puts phosphorus right into the lake, which creates algae explosions. Um so I would say that our community in the last 10 years, 15 years has become extremely aware of the lake health and lake quality, and that's really exciting because with that awareness comes real change. And I mentioned the bullfrog. I got one other really fun story. We had a watch party for the World Cup. We a friend brought in a big video wall, it was a beautiful night, and we had our um our cranes, our resident crane family, and always come through each evening. But there's about 500 people in the park. They landed on one side of the park, they didn't care. They had their two uh their two chicks, they walked right through 500 people, walked past the boathouse and down the path. Everybody just was amazed, and that ability to connect with the animals, the lake while watching the World Cup and the rest of the world was like such a neat moment. So, as I mentioned, Madison has so many great places to go paddle, to go explore, trails to go, bike ride. I mean, there's so much here, and that just kind of is everywhere throughout our our kind of lifestyle and what we're seeing. And in terms of the quality and the health of the lakes, I'm seeing that really being a focal point um for the entire community, not just the lake users, not just for the avid paddler. It's it's a point of pride, it's a point of identification for Madison. So yeah, the lakes are a lot about us, so they reflect on us. So we want them to be better. We want to be better always.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Okay, very good. I would love if we could do a uh quick tour of the website just to kind of show uh our visitors uh listening to the episodes on YouTube to to kind of explore a little bit if you could take us on a tour. Okay, and then when we get come back, uh want to talk a little bit more about the conference and how Madison Boats is going to be participating in some of our conference activity. So let's uh get to the website. I am going to uh share my screen if I can get it up there. There it is. Technology has been an interesting factor today. All right, so have the website and take us on a little tour. And I I will you uh you direct and I will navigate.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

We wanted to make uh web design. You said you're in the IT space prior. I have a lot of fun with solving problems. That's why I'm still attracted to this job. There's always a problem, and trying to figure out a good website is is hard. How do you create easy navigation? How do you create how do you make it simple? So we're still striving for that. So if you got any advice, Howard, I I would be grateful.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Dude, I'm like right there with you. I I I know I can see a straight line, but I can't draw one. So I I'm with I'm gonna be sitting with you hoping for the best. But hey, look, I love your logo. I just it just dawned on me the panel includes a skyline, so that was pretty cool. So hey, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

We're getting there. Yeah. So I think the easiest thing is primarily we're a boat rental company. We do so many programs, so many events. We have a huge kids' camp. People who are visiting Madison, people are visiting Madison boats are typically looking to rent a boat. So right there in the front, you want to click on rent your boat. Okay, orange button there, that opens up. And now we have a couple different options. You can either go explore us by our locations, which is that top row, or if there's a particular watercraft, we want to make sure that you know there's pontoon boats as well as paddle craft. So we can go in either direction there.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Okay, okay. And your your three locations, so it's Wingara, uh Birmingham, and uh Marshall.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

So Wingra is, I mean, I can hear the announcer calling for the Badgers when the when the Badgers are playing football. We're right in the near west side, but that's where I'm at right now. We're surrounded by the Arboretum. It's a small lake, no uh wake ever allowed, no gas just stock weekends, and it is uh, I mean, this is about as as remote as you can get or a city center, and it's a it's a really magical place. It's spring fed. There's a couple of wonderful tributaries that you can paddle up to and actually see the water bubbling out of the ground. Our Birmingham boats is such a fun scene. It is exciting, it's right on Monona Bay. You paddle underneath a couple of railroad tracks, and then you're in front of the Monona Terrace. And this is really how the city was designed to be seen was with the with the Monona Terrace looking right at the Capitol. It's such a fun spot. Turn to the right coming out of the railroad tracks, and you can paddle up Wingra Creek and be completely immersed again in nature. So you got the city, you got you got uh nature, no matter which location you pick. Our far uh west side location, Marshall Boats, is uh where we have the pontoon boats. We do a lot of different things with the pontoons as well as paddle craft, and that place is really special because you can with the prevailing winds, even though it's on the biggest of our lakes, it is one of the calmest places. So when teeny little Lake Wingra is too rough to paddleboard, we're paddleboarding along the uh the west side of Lake Mendota, and it's really cold. So just a fantastic uh escape. This one also, you can in about 15-20 minutes, you can be in Pheasant Branch Conservancy, which is another tributary and a and a big source of water with the springs coming out of there. And I'm actually excited because we have a uh fun program that we'll be doing during your conference out at Marshall. So I I'm gonna just go ahead and skip ahead to that because this is kind of a fun thing. We're gonna pontoon boat a bullet fur and we're gonna have someone share a little bit about the history of the lake, some of the different incredible things that are going over with uh with uh the Native American dugout canoes that were found over 3,500 years old. Okay. We're gonna get over to Marshall, we're gonna hop in some kayaks, and we're gonna paddle up into Pheasant Branch Conservancy. We'll paddle back, hop back onto those comfortable pontoon boats and go back downtown to our uh our auxiliary location at um the Edgewater Hotel right downtown. So we're yeah, a pontoon paddle, pontoon, get to experience all of it in a nice uh half day trip. Okay, very nice, very nice.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Now, well, these this trip, it sounds like it'll probably before the one of our pre-conference excursions. I believe it is. Okay, all right, excellent. Pontoon is like my style. Again, my biggest fear I have to share with this with you is I've been kayaking before. I I was on a double kayak up in Alaska. I I did it, I'm very happy. I survived. I was literally in Tennessee uh uh at one of our um what do we call Field Fest up in Tennessee, and I was on shore in a kayak, and the the the host uh uh of the uh experience pushed me out onto the water and I literally just tipped over. So the the this part the picture of the pontoon boat right now that's that's the that's the spot for you. That's my spot, or an incredibly wide pontoon that's not gonna tip. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

We have five different sizes of kayaks. Okay, and or kayaks. Yeah, we make sure that if you've had that experience before, we want to help you get try to get it. It still doesn't have to be your jam at all. Well, we're not gonna we're not gonna convince you to do something that you don't want to do, but uh yeah, we I'll take you out, Howard. We'll we'll uh we'll go for a little paddle and then we'll go sit in the pond tune bounce and and uh have one of the captains drive us around with uh a couple of beverages and some some snacks.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

There you go. Okay, I love that. I love that. I love that. By the way, this is such a cool little map. All right, folks. One of the dangers of put trying to put the outdoors in the outdoor adventure series is sometimes technology, sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate. But Tyler and I are making it happen. Now we were just finishing off a uh kind of a uh a breakdown of some of the activities uh at the at the various locations. Is I if I think I'm correct here, Tyler, you just invited me to go on on a very comfortable pontoon excursion. So I'm there with you for we're doing it. We're doing it. All right, love it. But before we head back to uh just you and I having the conversation, what where else on the website would be uh helpful uh for our listeners, the viewers to see?

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Yeah, if you close out this X or go back to the home, if you scroll down, okay this easily shows our locations, and then if you keep going down, you can see some of our other uh services. So we do have a lot of memberships, marinas, um, camps, group rentals, but the fun one is our events. I I had alluded to this to it a little bit earlier, but we just have a lot of fun with them, and uh we just have so many different ones from uh ice cream boat floats where people paddle out and make their Sundays out in the middle of the lake, full moons, the sound bath. And there's just so many different kinds of ways to uh to help people get out and explore. And during COVID, we were one of the only things that was able to be open, and it was a lot of fun. No, it wasn't, it was uh it was so challenging, so stressful. But but you made it happen. You made it happen. We got people out, and it was a really powerful time where just getting out was such an amazing thing. Madison's a fun city, and especially during the summer, there is no end to the activities, the the different things that you can and should do while you're in the city. So if you guys are coming in, if anybody listening to this is coming in, book another day, like just extend it. It's gonna be worth it if you can. I love it. So one of the things we kept hearing was uh I I want to be down at the lake, I want to be on the water, but I just forgot, or I just didn't do that. So in a way, a lot of these activities are reasons to return. Whether they actually come and do it, we like there's only so many times that I can tell you how or do it, hey, you should come paddle, you should come paddle, you should come paddle. It kind of gets boring. But if you hear about, oh hey, burgers on the bay with whiskey farm, what's whiskey farm? Oh, I follow that band or something like that. You may not come to the event, but hopefully we're back in the forefront of your head. And maybe when you're coming home from work looking for what you're gonna do that evening, a quick hour paddle gets put into your agenda. So we found a lot of yeah. So we're we're quickly becoming a we were before COVID in 2019. We were an events company almost more than a paddle craft. We're again moving back into that direction with just a lot of different fun things going on.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

I love it. Well, you're an events company or an experiences community company that just happens to deliver on the water. And what what I love about Madison, and I've I had been to Madison twice, I literally did never did not know that it was surrounded by three lakes, and then the capital is on the isthmus. So shame on me. When I lived in Chicago at the time, before I moved to Chicago, I didn't know there was a river going through it. But what I love about Madison, like like Chicago, like in Milwaukee, is there are four seasons we can do uh and activities, experience winter activities, but we live for the spring and the summer and the early fall. And and I can see in Madison, water is just an important part of the overall experience that people uh can take advantage of. And this is why when I always look for my next place to live, I think Madison might very well be on that list. So thank you for that. I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad to hear that. All right, and now we've got a lot of the events. Now you're gonna help plan. Uh you have some events being planned for the Opera Writers Association, O WAA. Let's talk a little bit about that. So I'm gonna stop sharing. Now you and I are back, so our listeners, our especially folks watching the video, will notice that we are no longer experiencing have some beautiful backgrounds, not the not the real deal, but uh but looking good. So tell us a little bit about the activities that are being planned for and also your participation uh in our annual conference coming up in August.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah, we're so excited uh to have you guys coming to Madison, uh spending some time here. So, one of the things that we wanted to do with you, and I already talked about it, was our um Lake Mendota experience, a new new program that we have where we're doing, we pick people up from the Edgewater, which is right downtown, take them over, have a paddle excursion and an experience, and then bring you back. And so it's a a really nice way to truly experience the the full gamut of kind of what you get to do here in Madison, uh relaxation, exploration, nature, urban, it's it's it all so that'll be our our main activity that we have, but also I wanted to make sure as I was working with destination mass and they they have so many things to fit it in. So I kept asking, all right, well, where else can I get how else can we do this? What more can we do? They they have a wonderful agenda packed full. But if you have any time, and I've put in uh a couple of days before and afterwards, uh 20% discount. So you can come down and paddle or go on any of our events happening throughout that time whenever you want. Take a break, get out on the water for an hour. Uh, we're there for you. So it's just welcome OWAA, and that'll get you 20% off on any paddle craft rentals. Howard, or if anybody else is listening, shoot us an email about Upontoon. We'll find a discount for you for that too. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

When I was back in uh in Chicago early in the morning out on uh Monroe Harbor, the water was just like smooth as glass. And I imagine first thing in the morning, sun's just coming up, that water has to be like glass out there, and that's a great time to get out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Wing at our Wingra location Tuesday mornings, we open at 6 a.m. and have a full health and wellness with Marigold Kit Kitchen, which if you're up around the square, they have their main store there, and it is a must-go. Marigold kitchen's fantastic, and they have a food truck that they bring down to us at Wingra on Tuesdays, and then at Bridingham on the weekends, we open at 6 a.m. And they're there as well. So you can have your breakfast, grab uh an incredible breakfast burrito or one of the other items, go sit in a kayak and enjoy that magic moment. Those are the magic moments, they're so special.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

I love it, and I really believe our members as they come to the conference and make preparations because some come with uh their spouses, their family, and I have I can only imagine how much fun they're gonna have and the experiences that are gonna be available to them. So it's very exciting. As we look back on the on the the type of work that you have been doing, and you've been at this for for quite a while, and you've got friends and family that are probably a part of this business too. But what has been your what I would call your aha moment? Like you gotta pinch yourself and kind of alluded to that earlier. Like, wow, I get to do this.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

I I think you just said it. I get to do this. I mean, it it's uh I think there's I think the aha moment was I can do this, I can do this. In the early career exploration, it was self self-induced pressure to go find one of the more traditional paths. Then it was, well, this isn't really a a job. So what what's the job that I'm gonna do when I grow up? And then especially as I um got an MBA in entrepreneurship, I found a lot of pressure to go and follow the traditional entrepreneurial route. How do you hit the home run? How do you raise a couple million dollars? What all of the the the typical path of the entrepreneur, whether you make it or not. And the lifestyle business was not really uh highlighted at that time in in the programming and especially in uh the entrepreneurial. Circles that I was exploring. And I I think the aha moment was, no, no, I I I can live this lifestyle. And I I can do that. Now I like a problem. I always like adding, I I'm never gonna let a mousetrap just be a mousetrap. It has to be a little bit better. So we keep throwing spaghetti at the wall. And I I gotta say, my hard part that I've been struggling with the last couple of years, especially with a young family, um is how not to let the growth, the expansion, the the demands um overwhelm me and get in the way of the enjoyment of those of what we do. I mean, I didn't I didn't choose to get into the boat rental business with money. Like it it's because I like the water, I like the people. So how do I make sure that um that I don't let the the whirlwind of work and demands overshadow those those positive moments? So I have a a note in my car right now that's really helpful, not just done, but fun. So, like yeah, I can fix that that pontoon boat. Let's let's I'll always get a call, something's broken. So if I fix it, like rather than just walking away, grab the three staff that were helping with me and let's go test it and just go out and take the pontoon boat out for two minutes and jump off. Doesn't have to be longer than five minutes, but add that little piece of fun of why we're there, connect with some people in the moments of the the busyness. And that's been uh I think that's always a challenge for any small business owner, especially if it's seasonal, especially if it's in in the high demand world of the uh that we live in. How do we not how can we scale without pronoun? Sure. And I don't have the answer fully, but uh well, somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Somewhere in there. One thing that that it dawns on me as you have been sharing this, you picked up on this desire to have a life uh worth living and loving, doing work that was that was felt good for you, that tugged on your heartstrings as opposed to like, oh my god, I gotta I got a J L B I have to go to. It sounds like you discovered that earlier when you were going through your entrepreneurship program and having the experience on the water. Many people started to discover that during COVID. I mean, that's literally how this outdoor adventure series got started because I had moved from Chicago to Nevada and wanting to get outside, see the stars, go car camping. And so many folks decided I can't do this nine to five J O B anymore. And they discovered there's other ways to make a living but also have fun doing it. And sounds like you discovered that earlier on. I think the challenge is as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, is how do you bring others up through the running this business so that you can then trust that they're going to do the work while you kind of take a step back and and maybe observe be the the conductor of the business as opposed to having to work in it every day.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

I I think you're right. But that comes with its own huge challenge because no one wanted it to get into this this type of work to be an administrator or sitting in ivory office. We got in it because we liked the the paddling or the or the people or the the the hands-on or the the direct interaction. And so I almost kind of put it back and say the hardest part is how do I stay engaged in the the day-to-day actions. If I'm pushing in and out of kayak, I'm having fun. I'm I'm interacting with that customer, I'm having a I'm getting that that personal reward back to me. Sitting at the office, selling a corporate group, a big, huge package that is gonna help keep the lights on. I have to do that. And it's really important for me to do it. But it's it's actually sitting with that same corporate group and and setting up their I don't know, their the burger bar and just talking with the organizer while I'm like putting the coleslaw in the butt bowl. I don't know. It it's those moments that are so hard to say are valuable because you you keep putting the pressure on yourself to do those high-level tasks or to sit back and you need to as the but I keep I I find my my push pull being the like I always feel like I should be doing the high-level stuff, but I find the reward when I actually get to experience the the hands-on service.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

Well, that I mean that that's totally fair. I mean, I love like with this podcasting, having conversations like we're having today, knowing that I have to now piece together three different portions of a podcast this weekend because I've committed to getting this published on Tuesday. That's that's the one. Oh man, that's gonna take a day to do. But I would rather have these kind of conversations. So that's we have to choose, I guess, what makes us the most happiest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

Yeah. I love it. That's right. I love it. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

So, Tyler, if our listeners would like to learn more about Madison Boats, we've we've just visited the website, Madisonboats.com, and we can visit the site, they can check out the locations and the and the experiences that are available at those locations. Where else is a good place to get to know Madison Boats?

SPEAKER_01 50:01

We're trying to be better on Facebook and Instagram, and and I'm really pleased this year for maybe the one of the first time, our younger staff have actually kind of latched on to uh to making some of the videos and doing some of the posts because the rest of the management team it's not our strong suit, and we just that's not who we are. So finally, for the first time, there's some really fun videos coming out, some good uh good pictures coming through. So definitely check us out on Facebook, Instagram. But just trust me when I say add an additional day on your stay, come visit us one place or the next, just go for a walk. Your your background picture is a perfect example, John Nolan Drive. It I mean, I would love for you to come and visit Madison Boats, but wherever you are in Madison, you'll be getting to experience some of the powerful um aspects of just our lakes and how great it is to be here.

SPEAKER_00 51:01

Excellent. Well, I am looking forward to meeting you in person and experiencing Madison Boats and Madison hospitality. So very much looking forward. All right. Listen, Tyler, thank you for uh joining me on the podcast today and uh really helping to put the outdoors in the outdoor adventure series and uh technology is what it is, but it's gonna be a great episode and a lot of you've shared a lot of great information, uh, not only about uh Madison boats and your philosophy and how this you're not a boat company, uh you're an experienced company building community and just helping to get the community out on this very precious resource, which is these wonderful lakes uh that surround Madison. So thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Listen, stay in a line. We're gonna do a quick close and then you and I can have a final chat. Okay. Great. All right, folks. We have just been chatting with Tyler Leaper. He is the president and owner of Madison Boats. Madison Boats will be joining us uh at the OWAA's annual conference this August. And we're very excited uh for the experiences that are being planned uh for our members. And I'm excited to perhaps get back out on the water beyond the uh pontoons, more my style, but hey, if if Tyler's there, I may have to try to get back out onto a uh a kayak. We really do hope you enjoyed uh today's episode and but and make sure you go out to if you're gonna be in the Midwest, check out Madison. What a wonderful little city. Uh where it's its location is perfect. Matt Milwaukee is a 20 is a four-season destination, but because of these water activities of the spring, summer, early fall, you have great opportunities to get out and experience Madison uh from the water. Now, do go out and visit uh Madison Boats website at Madisonboats.com. We'll provide a backlink to it as well as to their social sites. As for us, you can find this episode on our website, outdooradventureseries.com or also on Facebook and on LinkedIn on our outdoor adventure series pages. The video of this episode uh will be up on our YouTube channel, Outdoor Adventure Series. And of course, you can listen to this podcast wherever you get your podcast from. And before we leave today, we want to thank uh Destination Madison for sponsoring uh this episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series. Thanks to their support. We can introduce you to guests like Tyler and to begin planning your Madison getaway. Visit Destination Madison at visitmadison.com. Until next time, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there and have a fantastic day. And we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast. Take care.