Only a very few obsessed—or perhaps privileged—people

design their lives around surf.

Fort Myers’ Peter Cole, the vice president for Lynx

Services, isn’t quite in that category, but he’s not giving up, either. As the

guy who runs the Fort Myers and Paducah, Ky., offices of Lynx—a PPG-owned

third-party administrator of automotive insurance claims with about 1,000

employees—he often works 12-hour days and travels half the month on job-related

missions. It’s a role he’s proud of, especially when he contemplates his

employees. “We’ve provided a large number of jobs for people—really good jobs,”

he says.

But Cole grew up in Santa Cruz, Calif., better known as

surfer heaven—a place where perfect waves break way out on reefs and go for

hundreds of yards. He learned to surf at 13, and ever since—through his

bachelor’s and master’s in philosophy and his business executive training at

Stanford University—his heart has been tied to wind and waves. “You’re in the

moment when you’re surfing,” he says. “You lose the peripheral stuff.”

The flat Gulf of Mexico leaves much to be desired if you’re

a surfer dude, so Cole—who tried, but doesn’t appreciate the Zen of

golf—recently bought a condo on the east coast at Satellite Beach, just a few

hours’ drive from the office and only steps from the surf.

He tells acquaintances that it’s a real estate investment,

but, he confesses, “It’s really a surf shack.” Now, when he gets the report

that there’s a swell coming in, he can—work permitting—catch the wave. “If the

surf’s good or the wind’s good, I’m on it,” he says.

—Susan Burns