The great Jimmy Buffet sang it best, “ As a son of a son of a sailor, I went out on the sea for adventure.” and there is no song lyric that tells the story of our shop co owner, Steve LeVine better.

Steve

Steve and his lineage are no strangers to water. His father served in the United States Navy while his grand father served in the United States Coast guard. Both of these brave men served during Would War 2 and it was with these great examples of leadership that Steve would build the foundations for success at an early age. From the moment he could walk he was in the water, weather it was above the water on a pair of skis or below the surface taking pictures and spearing fish.

As he grew older he worked at his fathers dive shop, and that is where he learned about the sport of windsurfing. Windsurfing became the spark that caught Steve’s life on fire. He became an instructor and hosted many windsurf races and it was on a hot Saturday of teaching that he met this crazy lady with a squirt gun filled with ice water. That Lady would become the love of his life and the mother of their amazing child.  

MARY

The crazy lady with a squirt gun is Mary LeVine, Co Owner of Watersports West. Mary is no stranger to watersports or fun! Moving to the area 37 years ago, Mary has never left. She started wind surfing when she was 18 years old and it was her love for the sport that caused her to move here.  Mary and her sister started making handmade bikinis and that later evolved into a surf shop in Palm Harbor. The surf shop was going great but then she met her competition, Steve, at the beach and had to mess with him, and that is were the water gun came into play and then the rest is history.  

Mary and Steve would go on to open Watersports West in July of 2001, where they would start off with Mary heading up the soft good aspect of the shop and Steve in charge of the hard good side. The starting goods included wetsuits, a small run of clothing, wakeboards and of course windsurfing gear. They both would work tirelessly for years building up the store to branch off into many categories of watersports gear including, kayaks, paddleboards, kiteboarding gear, surfboards, and the newest edition hydrofoils and wing foiling gear. To this day, Steve and Mary stay true to their original vision by giving the best customer service, carrying the best quality products they can get their hands on and by doing so with a big smile on their face, because every day they are living their dream.