I’m already in a swimsuit, why don’t I just sleep on the boat.
WHO: Austin Dubbs of True North Charters
WHERE: Lake Travis, Texas
WHAT: Boat Captain
For today’s Spotlight, we’re headed to the great state of Texas to talk to Austin, a boat captain and charter business owner on busy Lake Travis, just outside the city of Austin. Living an adventurous life outside the 9-5, hear how he connects adventure for everyone that steps foot on one of his boats.
Me: Tell me how you got started captaining boats.
Austin: I’ve been involved with boats my whole life. I grew up in Montana, and I went to lakes all the time. I went down to the Virgin Islands for college and I got involved with the water there too. When I got to Austin, I saw there was a great water life there, so I opened my own charter business, True North Charters.
Me: How’d you come up with the name for True North Charters?
Austin: Oh man. So I was back and forth between a few things, but true north is a navigational thing, so I put that together with me being from Montana, which is up north, right? And I just went with it. I thought about High Tide Charters, but this is a lake and that doesn’t really work.
Me: What’s your favorite part about it? About captaining and owning the business?
Austin: Honestly, it’s the interactions I get with people. I’ve met people from all over the U.S., even all over the world. I have connections with so many places. I even bought a new boat thanks to a connection.
Me: No way. How’d that happen?
Austin: Just through having connections I was able to buy a Malibu WakeSetter. I just added it. I’m actually sitting on it right now [while talking]. Putting in some work on it to make sure it’s good to go.
Me: Yeah I’ve heard boats are a lot of work for sure. Would you consider yourself good with boats? Fixing them, I mean.
Austin: YouTube is my best friend. I do most of the simple things, I can take care of those. But when it gets to a certain point, I have a buddy who’s a mobile mechanic, so I get ahold of him to help when I can.
Me: Why Lake Travis?
Austin: There’s two lakes nearby, Lake Travis and Lake Austin. I don’t like the water at Lake Austin. It’s shallow, muddy, real narrow, almost like a river. Lake Travis has a lot more space and I like it better for what I do.
Me: Tell me about the busy summer season. When does it start? When does it end?
Austin: The season starts in mid-March around spring break with the college kids. It really starts to pick up in May when it gets hot, and it pretty much stays busy all the way through Halloween when it slows back down, and I’m off the water for four months. It’s nonstop until then though.
Me: What do you do in the winter? When you’re off the water.
Austin: For the boats, I winterize them and leave them in storage. In Texas, you don’t really have to winterize them, but I do put stabilizer in the fuel system and run that, and I make sure everything’s covered.
Me: Ok but what about you? What do YOU do in the winter? Since the summer is so packed.
Austin: I travel as much as I can usually, try to see friends and family, spend some time just chilling. But the time goes by quick. I usually do a lot of maintenance, replacing things, making things better, getting them ready for the next season.
Me: What does a normal day in season look like?
Austin: Sometimes I want to sleep on the boat, that’s how busy it is. I usually get on the boat before 8 am, I’m on the boat all day, I’m usually done by 9, and then I clean the boat. On busy holiday weekends, I can put in 14 hours in a day, with my captains doing well over 10 themselves. So often I think, I’m already in a swimsuit, why don’t I just sleep on the boat.
Me: I mean, that only makes sense to me!
Just tie up, have fun, let them get wild.
Austin and I were able to chat just a day after the busy 4th of July weekend. We actually had to delay our chat a few days because of how busy the weekend can be, so I wanted to hear his perspective on what is arguably the largest boating holiday in the country.
Me: Alright I have to know, tell me about the 4th of July. From my own experience at lakes in the summer, the 4th is a wild weekend. So, what does it look like to you?
Austin: From a business standpoint, I deal with all the behind-the-scenes stuff, so I deal with the bookings, the guests, everything. I’m the point of contact for guests before I hand them off to their captain, but once you’re on the water, it’s jam packed. You’ve got little boats, little fishing boats, on up to cruisers that are well over 50 feet, even huge multi-million-dollar yachts throwing huge waves. You’ve got to watch out for kids filling up their surf boats with no idea what they’re doing. Especially on holiday weekends, you just anchor down at Devils Cove, tie up, and have fun, let them get wild. And we do so many charters that we typically take em back to where we picked them up, wipe down the boat, and start all over again.
Me: What’s Devils Cove?
Austin: It’s one of the best party coves in the United States. It’s a big cove here on Lake Travis that since about the 70’s everybody ties up and parties together. The majority of my charters want to go, toss out the lily pad, drink on the water. It’s packed. Typical Saturdays bring in 100 boats, 4th of July can bring in over 300. It gets wild.
Me: I’m sure the boats take a beating with how wild it can get.
Austin: Most of the beating is just cosmetic. It comes with people who don’t typically care about the boats as much as you do. You make people take their shoes off, but there’s always rough housing and breaking stuff.
…add alcohol to it, it’s a disaster.
While boat life is fun, there’s plenty of problems, too. Get online or on Instagram and you can quickly find videos of dangerous situations on boats, sometimes resulting in death. Being a captain with plenty of experience, I wanted to ask Austin his opinions on boating safety and why having a captain is important.
Me: With the popularity of the Instagram account The Qualified Captain, and after seeing all kinds of ridiculous boat behavior, why do you think it’s important to have a captain? Why is that a better experience?
Austin: It’s all about safety. People don’t realize when they ride on the bow how insanely dangerous that is. There’s not a lot of common sense when people are on boats. People have never been on a boat and then they get handed the keys and go. They get in the captain’s seat and they realize there’s no brake. They don’t know who has the right of way, you see people cut others off, you see people running with their motor out of the water and the trim up. Even the simplest things, people don’t know. People leave their brains on the shore. Then you add alcohol to it, it’s a disaster. With my guys, they know how to operate a boat.
Me: What experience does it take to be a captain?
Austin: Honestly, it’s just about getting hours on a boat with people who know what they’re doing. Asking questions, getting behind the wheel but having somebody on the boat with you, the right rules, the etiquette, putting in the time to get comfortable before you go out there by yourself, knowing how to deal with problems.
Me: What are typical problems?
Austin: A lot of it has to do with drinking, or people not understanding their swimming limits. Sometimes people jump in and just don’t come up. And it’s all avoidable. So I keep a safe boat, my captains keep safe boats.
We talked a lot about safety and keeping a good boat, but we also had a lot of laughs about what Austin sees every day on charter. Either way, he’s living a dream, a life of adventure, outside the 9-5.
To book your own charter with True North Charters, check out their website at truenorthatx.com, and follow them on Instagram @truenorthatx.
To follow Austin on his personal Instagram, click here.
