LIVING THE DREAM
Time on water and consistent conditions are everything when you’re trying to learn new tricks, so having that has opened the door to moves he had no chance of learning before emigrating.
One thing many people don’t realise about Wellington is that the typical conditions are pretty tough for sailing in general, let alone freestyle. Super windy, choppy and gusty – it’s all or nothing. Knowing where to sail is key, especially at the spots near the city it’s unusual for sailors to be on anything bigger than 4.2m. Sometimes the wind is too strong to sail.
Since making the move 4 years ago, Rob and his partner have built their own house in Seatoun (only 20 meters walk from his back door to a secret freestyle spot!) and Rob successfully managed to convince his employer to let him work on a more flexible, part-time basis. The standard office hours of 9am – 6pm meant no windsurfing during the week in winter – obviously unacceptable – but the new arrangement means he can enjoy afternoon sessions throughout the year. It’s this kind of dedication to the sport, and sacrifice (if you can call it that!) of other aspects of Rob’s life which took him to New Zealand in the first place.
Being a software designer for a living, and generally technical person, Rob has also been involved in some interesting personal projects during downtime from sailing. A number of years back he wrote a sail design software package. Of course to test the software he needed the associated equipment. After purchasing an industrial sewing machine, building a CNC plotter and batten grinder he was able to create his own sails. He confesses the early versions were ‘truly awful’, but the last 4 or 5 were decent enough. He ended up sailing on them for 3 years before switching back to off-the-shelf products. Interestingly he realised it was not only proving un-economical to produce them, but also that they weren’t comparable in performance to modern production sails.