I started following Sam because he’s a comedian friend of my friend who is a comedian. Erin, (the comedian), and her soon to be husband, and old rowing chum of mine, Baird, were out for a row one day and started talking about magnate fishing. I’m not sure what brought it up, but pulling up random things from the sea is right in my wheelhouse. Erin mentioned her friend Sam does magnate fishing, and I started following him to see what he would pull up.

This was years ago. Out of the blue, Sam reached out on Instagram and asked, “Do you do comedians?” My reply was, “Now I do.”

I’m a big guy, and it’s rare that I get in the boat with someone bigger than me. Sam is built like an oak tree. He draws comedy from his life, and he’s frank about it. He’s been as low as one can go and still get up. When he did, he dedicated himself and the wealth of knowledge he’d earned from life to 1) helping folks in similar positions and 2) Using it for comedy.

He is funny till it hurts and came off to me as resilient as the oak and with a big, soft heart. He’s also followed his art long and hard enough that he is a full-time comedian.

Our tinyboatsession ended up being three hours of floating conversation, good stories, tough stories, survival stories, changes and second chances. After putting the boat back on the trailer, Sam showed me how to fly one of those sweet two-handed kites on the beach, which besides magnate fishing is one of his hobbies. I don’t always have time to get to know the tinyboatsession folk as well as I would like to at each session, but when fate allows for something longer and more in depth, I am thankful. -Jordan & Clarabelle