The Olympic Outdoor Center provides a wide variety of kayaking experiences including children’s programs, boat rentals and kayak trips led by professional guides, as well as retail sales of kayaks and supporting equipment. The boat rentals and outfitting for trips bring in many groups from outside our region and is the source of most of the primary tourist business.

Kuntz selected Kitsap County because it had the greatest amount of boatable shoreline in Washington, second only to San Juan County. The business originally offered whitewater kayaking as well as sea kayaking, and has evolved from its inception over 20 years ago into primarily sea kayaking.

To market kayak outfitting, John participates in several organizations that connect him with his potential customer base. He has been a member of the Washington Outfitters & Guides Association for many years and is past Vice President of the water-based outfitters. This is the only association in Washington that represents professionals who supply “outfitted services” to the recreational public in our state, thus providing one of the best sources for customers to locate a kayak outfitter for Kitsap and the Olympic Peninsula.

John maintains phone listings in all the major urban centers in the East Sound area. As his business has grown at over 20 percent per year the mailing list of customers has grown to over 10,000 customers. He maintains contact via regular mailings of kayaking news. Maintaining contact with his customers has built a solid repeat business as well as word of mouth advertising that produces a good portion of his business growth.

Outfitting, as well as the other areas of business, requires close cooperation with the Port of Poulsbo and the Historic Downtown Poulsbo Association (HDPA). This cooperation creates free flowing access for all the kayaking activities as well as meets the needs of his customers who also enjoy the wonderful features of Poulsbo. John understands the importance of providing a total experience for his customers and has supported the HDPA for many years for which he is currently serving as President.

The wide-ranging kayaking trips require a great knowledge of sensitive waters, lands and the regulations that protect these endangered areas. There are inevitable conflicts as kayaking groups desire trips to the sea and enjoy the natural wonders that abound in Kitsap and the Olympic Peninsula. John works with various environmental groups as well as local authorities and the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources to develop environmentally sound trips.

The local labor pool has been adequate though almost all the kayak teachers and guides have been trained from scratch through the company training program. The wonderful success of the kids kayaking program, now over 400 children per summer, has recently begun to produce teachers and guides who are now beginning to work for the company and are fully trained.

The outstanding growth of the kayaking business has created a need for many locations to launch kayaks, which are limited due to a large amount of private ownership of waterfront and high banks. To support a pro-active effort to establish and maintain accessible shoreline John has joined the Washington Water Trails Association. The association has established many accesses and campsites from Olympia up through the San Juan Islands as well as the Hood Canal in a cooperative effort with the state, local and private waterfront owners.

John sees great potential for growth of his business and tourism in general for Kitsap. He understands and supports the tourism industry cluster of businesses, as success requires the close cooperation and support from all of them.