Story by Al Bentley Pics Clare Brown
Meet Rob Harrison, a 40 year old software engineer working in the computer games industry. Rob lives in Wellington, New Zealand with his girlfriend, Clare.
They emigrated from the UK in 2009. After meeting Rob at the New Zealand Freestyle Nationals in 2012 I found his story so simple, yet inspiring, that I would like to share it today.
HOOKED
Rob started windsurfing back in 1986 after being forced into it by his elder brother. Like many people he started off dinghy sailing, but was hooked after his first few sessions windsurfing despite the freezing conditions and baggy sails. Not being particularly into team sports also helped, but it was mainly the challenge of learning which attracted him, and appears to be the fundamental reason he is still doing it today.
In 1993 Rob moved to Leicestershire to begin work as a Computer Games Developer. The job demanded long hours and he was enjoying the work, it started to become difficult to find time for anything else. Welcome to the rat race.
The closest suitable lake was at least an hour drive away and it was almost a 3 hour journey to the coast. Rob never intentionally gave it up, it just happened, and back then freestyle wasn’t anywhere near as exciting and diverse as it is now.
At this stage Rob had already already mastered most of the tricks from that period such as Downwind 360s and Duck Tacks. He didn’t feel the sport was challenging enough – little did he know how things would change!
It wasn’t all bad – whenever he could fit it into his schedule he took flying lessons and managed to gain his pilot’s license in 2001. Combined with the odd snowboarding holiday, Rob almost forgot about spending time on the water.