As a designer and artist, my instinct when I see a problem is to sketch it out. So that's exactly what I did. The catch? Designing a physical product was completely new territory for me.

I called in my dad. Armed with tent poles, flag holders, and whatever odds and ends we could find in the garage, we cobbled together the scrappiest prototype you've ever seen. It was flimsy. It was held together with Velcro. And somehow — it worked. It gave me exactly what I'd imagined: a stable base, a secure spot for my phone, and even a cup holder, because paddling under the sun gets thirsty work.

When the concept got real encouragement from others, I knew I couldn't stop at a garage prototype. I refined the design digitally — my comfort zone — then connected with an independent CAD designer who believed in the idea. Not long after, I opened a box and held the first real Paddle Partner in my hands, printed in a sleek, vibrant blue.

It felt exactly like finishing a piece of art. That moment of stepping back and thinking — I made that.

Testing revealed the leg anchors needed work, so I partnered with John Wells at Weltronics — a local firm with deep experience taking prototypes to production — to get it right. And that's where we are now: a refined, tested product that's ready for the next step.