UNI-LAD
At university I studied the closest subject I could find to windsurfing, Maritime studies, which was basically yacht design, yacht surveying and an in depth education on yacht construction. One year of that course was sail theory and sail design, but in reality the designs for yacht sails weren’t so close to windsurfing sails at that time. It was all useful theory though and university at least gave me a great background to the concepts behind design. During my course, at every possibility I’d relate and steer my projects towards windsurfing design. I have always been into technical subjects and enjoyed designing; my dad was a research scientist at Kodak, which was basically an inventor so I guess it was in my genes. I really enjoyed the course and I learned a lot not just about design but also about materials. When I first finished Uni and became a pro windsurfer, the course didn’t help me much at the time, but actually now my career has turned full circle and that background has become very useful. It wasn’t the reason I became the designer for RRD, that was more about being in the right place at the right time, with the right attitude but I would say the course has put me in good stead for where I am at right now.