TIMO MULLEN
I guess most people in the windsurfing world know me as Timo the Northern Irish Pro Windsurfer, but I also have another side to my life that basically keeps the whole windsurfing lifestyle dream rolling!! Might shock a lot of people to know this, but I have always had a full time job alongside my life as a Pro Windsurfer. Does that still make me a Pro Windsurfer??? When I left school I realised quite quickly that there seemed to be two ways to become a professional windsurfer, raw talent or shedloads of money to become talented. I guess I did have that element of raw talent, but lacked the financial backing to channel it!!
That was when I realised that if I were to have any chance of realising my dreams, I would have to find a career that could balance both my financial needs and also my windsurfing needs. At university I studied Maritime Law for three years, coming out with a high honours degree. Law was my passion, but a career in London was not, so I started working in the Action Sports industry with first Gul Wetsuits, then Simmer Style and lastly Animal, who I have worked for in sales for the last 21 years!! My job is pretty hectic, but what it does give me is flexibility. I am able to set my own hours, so if it is windy I can hopefully manage to snag a few hours at the beach at the best tide times and peak swell and wind. A lot of people call it the “Timo effect”, where I miraculously turn up at the beach just as it gets good, that isn’t luck, that is a lot of careful time management and research. Like anyone who runs there own business, time is money, so the last thing I need to be doing is hanging around a beach when the conditions are not firing!
Animal is an extremely successful company and that success has its rewards, which is to live in a beautiful part of the UK and be able to afford to travel freely abroad and also hunt out the hidden windsurfing gems in the UK and Ireland. Animal is based in Poole, so that is why I base myself from there. We have epic reefs within 25 minutes from my house and some fun beach breaks like Branksome Chine just 5 minutes away! I think having a fun break close by to where you live, even if it isn’t Ho’okipa, is the key to keeping sane as a working / Pro windsurfer, it keeps you tuned up and extra motivated for the really good days! This was a classic Branksome Chine day, cranking SW wind means super fun cross shore sailing. Best tide is high on the drop or low on the push can work too.
A few years ago I took over the running of the South West of the UK for Animal, so I spend a lot of my time now in Cornwall. We have a house overlooking Gwithian main break, so that makes the work / windsurf balance a lot easier; however windsurfing in the winter on your own from 0700-0900 in the morning before work is a motivational workout on its own!! My wife and family and sponsors are all fully behind what I do, they know windsurfing makes me happy, and a happy dad/husband makes for a more fun and generous Timo. The nice exotic windsurfing locations a couple of times a year is the icing on the cake for them I’m sure!! I think Anti -Social media like Facebook etc. makes out that everyone around you is having this amazing life, the stuff people never talk about is the rubbish bits of life. I’m also guilty of this, people only ever see the Timo ‘good life’, they don’t see the copious amounts of skunkings I have when I missed the wind by 15 minutes or had to pick the kids up from school. Normal life happens to us all at some point, I just try my best to make our version of ‘normal’ as much fun as possible.