West Hansen
AUTHOR

West Hansen

Biographies & Memoirs
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West Hansen was born and raised in Texas, where he obtained a degree in Psychology at Southwest Texas State University. During his younger years he worked construction jobs, primarily as a carpenter, and in the cattle business – on ranches and at livestock auctions. He also spent a fair amount of time as a short order cook and as a mental health worker in a psychiatric treatment center. After graduation, he worked in the public mental health arena until opening a construction company specializing in custom horse barns. Currently, he’s a social worker specializing in helping mature citizens negotiate the quagmire of public/private healthcare issues. West has been married to his wife, Lizet, since 1991 and their daughter is a pre-med student. During his time on the board of the Texas Canoe Racing Association, West organized twice yearly clean ups of the entire San Marcos River and has been involved in clean water initiatives and environmental concerns for decades. Currently, he’s strongly urging, cajoling, pushing, shaming and intimidating people and businesses into abstaining from using straws, plastic bags, single use plastics, “to-go” cups and other unnecessary items that seemingly add convenience to our already overly cushy daily existence, but are rapidly destroying whales, dolphins, otters, sea turtles and, ultimately, humans. Bottom line: just get a travel mug and stop using plastics. West’s first time out of the country was in 2008, at the age of 46, when he travelled to Peru to race in the Great River Amazon Raft Race, from Nauta to Iquitos on the Maranon River (aka the Amazon River). Team Easy Living (David Kelly, Carter Johnson, Mike Scales and West Hansen) set a new speed record for the 87-mile raft race, which still holds in 2019. The 2012 National Geographic Amazon Express Expedition was West’s first expedition. This followed a natural progression of ultra-marathon canoe/kayak racing, in which he participated since 1992, winning several overall and class categories and setting course records. Cutting his teeth on the Texas Water Safari and the Missouri River 340, West transferred what he learned about nutrition, gear, boat handling and pacing to the expedition level. In 2014, with his expedition partner Jeff Wueste, they completed the first kayak source to sea navigation of Europe’s longest river, the 2100-mile Volga River in Russia. West lives in Austin, Texas and can often be found at his favorite haunts: Julio’s Café, Pacos Tacos and the New World Deli.
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