Prepare - Persist - Persevere

written by Debra Stasiak

"Tired and unfulfilled of the corporate grind and the Manhattan commute, Jay Tayler decided to venture out to start his own company. After five years of opposition and endless persistence, his dream was starting to manifest... and Fizikel was finally born. Jay, founder/ceo of Fizikel Inc. and the Fizikel Foundation (a non-profit 501(c)3 organization), always had a passion to inspire people to maximize their potential. Refusing to accept mediocrity as a way of life, he is always striving to break personal barriers and help others to live out this progressive lifestyle through the brand which he created. Jay believes that Fizikel is a way of life, a mentality, and it is who we are. Tayler, a person who thrives on being in the arena and strives to break personal barriers to maximize his potential, wanted to inspire others to do the same by demonstrating incredible determination through this Paddle for Power event. Jay's vision was put into action through his metro-coast paddle on September 28, 2008."1

With hurricane Kyle raging off the coast, heavy fog, and high surf advisory, very few people supported the decision to paddle 37 miles from a NY marina to Asbury Park, NJ; yet a man driven by a cause, felt much differently. The extreme weather conditions wove the fibers of prepare, persist, and persevere into his paddle for what better way to visibly display the core philosophy of Fizikel and the Empower the Youth program than with this challenge. The date for the Paddle for Power was chosen 6 weeks prior with no knowledge of the day's forecast, only a favorable current reading from the Eldridge guide set the date; so when seeing what lay before him, he knew that the weather played a role in casting the vision of Fizikel.

Jay Tayler, a man who believes that "when you unleash the internal giant ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things,"2 launched his 14 foot streamlined Surftech paddle board at 10:13am off the South Street Seaport marina. Barely visible, the grayness of an enormous barge peered through the fog, making Jay appear so small alongside it. But what was inside this man was in no way small, for a mission big enough for the world was breaking through with each determined stroke.