FIRST TIME
As a teenage kid from Shoreham, Nik’s dream as a windsurfer was always to head to Hawaii to meet his hero Robby Naish. That first trip was the stepping stone to a career that led to multiple world titles and even a victory at the legendary Aloha Classic in 1999 – an event that is usually ruled by Hawaiian locals and down-the-line specialists.
NB: My first time to Maui was when I was sixteen. I came over with one of my best friends at the time, Danny Seales who was also from Shoreham. He was even younger than me, only fourteen and he came with his dad. I had just won the Robby Naish trophy and my dad had promised me that if I won that (He used the bait obviously for motivation) that he would do his best to get me out to Hawaii to possibly meet Robby Naish. Robby was then and to be honest still to this day is my biggest windsurfing hero. True to his word, my dad bought me a ticket to Maui and I tagged along with Danny and his dad. We spent two weeks on Maui and two weeks on Oahu. That was it, within days of being in Hawaii I knew that it was the place I wanted to be and this is what I wanted to do. Not only that we went to Oahu, met Robby Naish and he was a true legend when he met us. That set me on my path and I suppose directed my dedicated to what I wanted to do and be.