Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 567 is my conversation with professional captain, spearfisherman, and Skiff Challenge founder Toby Hansen. We trace his path from growing up as the son of a commercial fisherman in Cape Canaveral, through the Coast Guard, into a full-time captain's life that he partly funded with an unlikely mail-Jeep hustle, and into the conservation-driven endurance event he created, the Skiff Challenge.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Toby Hansen is a professional captain, spearfisherman, and the founder of the Skiff Challenge. He grew up as the son of a commercial fisherman in Cape Canaveral, Florida, served in the Coast Guard, and built a career on the water.
The Skiff Challenge is an endurance event Toby founded that pushes small skiffs over long, demanding routes, built around raising awareness and support for marine conservation. In the episode he explains how the idea came together and what it asks of the people who take it on.
To help fund his transition into a full-time captain's life, Toby leaned on an unconventional mail-Jeep hustle. He describes it in the conversation as one of the resourceful side moves that kept him afloat financially while he built his career on the water.
Toby's Coast Guard service gave him deep on-water experience, discipline, and seamanship that carried directly into his work as a professional captain. He talks about how that background shaped the way he runs boats and approaches risk.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 567 with Toby Hansen is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
Toby's story is the kind I love, because nothing about his path was handed to him. He grew up around commercial fishing, served in the Coast Guard, and then pieced together a captain's career with grit and a side hustle most people would never think of. On top of that he built the Skiff Challenge, an endurance event with a real conservation purpose. I wanted him to walk me through how all of it connects, because the throughline is pure resourcefulness.
Toby did not stumble into this life. He was raised in it, in Cape Canaveral, watching his father work as a commercial fisherman. That upbringing set the tone for everything that came after, including his comfort with hard, uncertain work on the water. He talks about what those early years taught him. Press play to hear where the foundation was laid.
The detail that made me grin was the mail-Jeep hustle. Becoming a full-time captain is not cheap, and Toby found an unconventional way to bridge the gap. It is a great example of the resourcefulness that runs through his whole story. He explains how it worked and what it bought him. Listen to that part of the conversation.
The Skiff Challenge is where Toby's love of the water meets a real purpose. He created an endurance event that is genuinely brutal and tied it to conservation. He walks through how the idea started, what it takes to pull off, and why the cause matters to him. Hear him explain it in the episode.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
The thread through Toby's whole story is that he just figures it out. Coast Guard, captain, spearfisherman, event founder, side-hustler, he keeps stacking skills and finding a way.
The Skiff Challenge is the part I admire most, because it turns all that grit toward something bigger than himself. Press play to hear how the pieces fit together.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Toby Hansen is a professional captain, spearfisherman, and the founder of the Skiff Challenge. The son of a commercial fisherman from Cape Canaveral, Florida, he served in the Coast Guard before building a career on the water and creating the Skiff Challenge, an endurance event tied to marine conservation.
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