Tim Mattson: What Happened to the Kids? The Story of SSTIKS

Check out the NEW DUBCAST MERCH at the DUBCAST SHOP at Fourthwall! https://the-dubcast-with-dubside-shop... In this episode of The Dubcast with Dubside, Dubside sits down with SSTIKS co-founder Tim Mattson at SSTIKS 2026. Tim looks back at the symposium’s beginnings in 2002 and its original mission to build a strong community around Greenland kayaking skills, instruction, and tradition. He recalls one of the things that made the early SSTIKS especially unique: its dedicated kids program, complete with kid-sized Greenland kayaks, which allowed a generation of young paddlers to grow up together at the event. From there, the conversation takes some classic Dubcast detours. Drawing on his career in theoretical chemistry and high-performance computing, Tim shares his thoughts on quantum computing, nuclear fusion, climate change, and even human travel to Mars. Eventually they make their way back to kayaking, with Tim discussing kayak surfing, Greenland paddles, wing paddles, and a lifetime spent on the water.