 Of all the patriotic statements which the beautiful island of Barbados can lay claim to, maybe two rise to the top - "Our People Are Our Most Valuable Asset" and "We Are The Land of Sea, Water and Sand."
And the one person who quite possibly best embodies both of these is well-known water sports operator Austin Husbands.
Now the owner of Radical Water Sports, which operates from the Cobblers Cover Hotel, Austin was born 55 years ago in the rural coastal parish of St. Peter, in the north of the island. "I am a St. Peter man, born and bred" he says proudly. "They tell me that our family moved right next to the sea when I was just 4-months-old, and to be honest, I cannot remember ever not being able to swim".
The youngest among his siblings - and the only boy - Austin often found time to hang out at the beach with his friends during school vacations. He recalls the old wave-riding sport of "hulling", now more popularly known as boogie boarding, and reminisces on the "good ol' days" of roasting breadfruit and drinking coconut water on the beach.
"The (summer) vacation time was when a lot of families made repairs to their houses, and so we would use an old window or piece of an old door to make our boards for hulling. If you were lucky," he adds, "you could use a piece of plywood from an old crate."
As Austin entered his teenage years he also became interested in music, and credits his mother and grandmother for passing on that talent to him; they both sang in church choirs and his grandmother played the piano. "I was fascinated by Byron Lee's style of calypso and so I became a bass player, first with the band Electrons, and then later with The Cardinals." In fact, upon graduating from Harrison College, Austin worked for 7 years in the banking arena before deciding to hang up the constraining collar-and-tie, and go back to simply "doing what I loved and was gifted to do."
He decided that he would play music full-time, and spend his weekends and holidays operating a small glass-bottom boat along the pristine shores of his beloved home parish, St. Peter.
But a significant turning point came in 1977 when Austin took up a sport he had not been involved in for a long time - water skiing. "I got totally hooked," he admits, "so I bought a boat and have not looked back since."
Today, his wife Liz and their five children - Tony, Lana, Hugh, Lucia, and Harry - all play a role in the Radical Water Sports family business. Both Austin and his son Tony have served as President of the Barbados Water Sports Association, have received the Water Sports Operator of the Year Award on two separate occasions, and have both been honoured by the Ministry of Tourism for their outstanding contributions.
"The principal which guides me is that one must first be true to ones own self" - and indeed this principal has guided him well.
Article written in 2006 and compliments of "Ins and Outs of Barbados" Magazine
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