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LIFE BEYOND THE PODIUM: NIK BAKER’S JOURNEY AFTER COMPETITIVE WINDSURFING!

When Nik Baker retired from professional windsurfing at the age of 38, he stepped away from more than just competition; he left behind a way of life. After decades of chasing podiums and carving through waves, the transition wasn’t merely physical; it was deeply emotional and mentally challenging. In this candid interview, Nik reflects on the difficult process of redefining his identity beyond the sport, the struggle to find new purpose and how he’s learning to set fresh goals after life as a professional athlete.

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BEING THE BEST

NB: “Back in the day I was getting the sort of endorphins you get from having that kind of goal or challenge! Obviously that challenge was to be a world champion or to do the best I could in competition. I surrounded myself with people that were like-minded like that. I lived with Polakow for all those years and hung out with Robby Nash and Bjorn Dunkerbeck and you know, they were so driven, that rubbed off on me, I think.

I had this, this burning desire just to be better every day and try harder, and I knew a lot of them had more talent than me. So, I had to try harder and train harder. I was working on my gear, working on my body, working on my sailing, I had to do more than everybody else! That was the way I approached it. Lots and lots or most sports people from what I gather…football players, boxers, Olympians, they all do the same thing. They all wake up with the same goal each morning to be better than they were yesterday, to get better than the rest ultimately.

CAREER SWITCH

Chasing those goals is a difficult thing to replace and as you know, I had some tough years, if I’m honest! I went straight from competing into, working with Boards and More and being a sort of representative for them and the agent for them in the UK.

Obviously that job kept me involved in the sports that I love, which ultimately was windsurfing. I went from one part of windsurfing to another part of it, which I sort of understood to a point for working in the industry for so long. But obviously life is different when you’re stuck in one country and rather than traveling around the world. But, you know, I enjoyed it. I went straight into it and I focused on the business the same as I focused on my competing. I had that drive to make the best brand in the country and ultimately to be, bigger than all the rest of them.

When I took it over, we weren’t! I wanted to sell more windsurfing boards and then sell more paddle boards and then sell more wing boards now and more wetsuits and whatever and have a good team as well. I of based a lot of it around having a nice productive and professional type of team, whether it be fully sponsored guys or shop team rider guys, opinion leaders we call them. We are the K66 team, and we’ve got around 60 odd team riders across all the different sports now! From windsurfing to surfing and paddle boarding to kitesurfing to wing boarding, wing forwarding, wakeboarding and any sort of sort of sports we have that our brands are involved with.

TEAM WORK

We have a big old team across the country, and I love that side of it. I wish I had more time actually to spend, to dedicate to the team riders. They, they do such a good job for us and I’m proud of that side of it, that’s for sure. But yeah, I just focused on being the best I could in a different field today rather than on the water competing. I moved to working in an office, going around the shops, being at demos, and I wanted to have the best demo set up. I wanted to have good relationships with the dealer network and try and communicate as much as we can to the end consumer as well. As a competitor. I had to deal with myself ultimately, my board shaper, my sail designer, you know, and guys that worked on fins. I worked with Mark Nelson and Kai Hoff basically for the most part of my part of my career, you know, those guys were the guys that were my right-hand men and they could make the difference. So it was us three if you like, and my trainer Sanchez, obviously MPG for those last 10-15 years, that was my support network.

They were the group that I worked and now, I have my dealer network, consumers, my team riders and it’s a big network of people that all have a little bit of input into our ultimate goal. That was a hard thing to learn to trust and, accept other people’s opinions and way of doing things, and it’s difficult when you’re so used to doing it yourself. That took me a while.

But, yeah, that the whole Dopamine bit, that’s one thing, selling more than the next brand or being the best brand in the country or the world. But it’s still not the same drug, if you like, as standing on a podium or competing in epic conditions against the athletes I was competing against! It is a hard transition that is pretty much impossible to replicate.

PROBLEMS

I actually struggled for a stage in my life! I ended up getting divorced because I sort of dedicated maybe too much time to work and being successful, because I had too much to learn. I think trying to find that fix, I sort of did more, more, more and more, and that put a strain on my relationship. That ended up obviously in a divorce and then more relationships, which ended up sort of failing a bit and having issues! Cut a long story short, I ended up realizing that, you know, I was going down the wrong route in certain things, and I had to re-evaluate! The things that were benefiting me or maybe helped me in my windsurfing career, were working against me in normal life and my normal career. That was hard to get my head around.

I worked hard, made a mistake, worked a bit harder ultimately, that was the way I always did things and, yeah, that didn’t necessarily work! Sometimes you keep banging your head against the wall and generally the people closest to me were the ones that would suffer with that.

COUNSELLING

That ultimately sent me down a route of going to counselling. I ended up going for six years. The counselling got me into it, realizing that I had to go through a whole plethora of issues to sort out from my childhood. I left the country basically at 16-17 years of age and started traveling the world on my own!  There were reasons why I had these goals and why I try to work so hard at certain thing! Largely what it came down to is I never felt good enough. So, to be a world champion, stand on a podium and be the best in the world at something…I think my way of thinking it was, my subconscious thought, well, you are good enough, you’ve got to be good enough. You are the best in the world…No one is better than you. You are a world champion. The problem is you do that once and it feels good for six months. You achieve it again, it feels good for three months, and eventually you are stood on the podium going, well, what’s next? And you realize that actually that’s not the answer.

BJORN DUNKERBECK

I look at someone like Bjorn and he’s still out there loving windsurfing. He’s hundreds of times to blooming world champion of all disciplines. In my time, riders his size maybe shouldn’t have won, OK, slalom or racing, yes, but waves and indoor, I don’t know how he did it. The guy could do everything because he dominated it and tried so hard to developing equipment and mentally he was so strong.

Later Bjorn got into a bit of partying, a bit of drinking and enjoying himself. Well, the guy deserved it after twenty years of working so hard, but you know, he’s, maybe he went through some tough times after he stopped competing. I don’t know, but I look at him now and he looks like he’s having a great time. He has a lovely family, his kids are into the sport as well, you know, and he’s just enjoying windsurfing!

WINDSURFING

I would say now I’m back to that point the last few years where I go windsurfing because I enjoy it. I work in the industry, but I love it…I really love it. I went through years, a few years where I really didn’t sail that much. When I did, I felt like I was going to work or I had the eyes on me and I had to prove myself when I went on the water! Maybe it was my subconscious telling me that! If anybody did expect something, I mean, that’s their issue, not mine, ultimately! But now when I go windsurfing, I love it; not this winter because I hurt myself last year. The winter before, we had such insane windsurfing around our area, the best I can remember for years and years! It was just incredible sailing…honestly, it was like absolutely going back to my childhood.

When I was 50, I got into a motorbike racing. I’ve always done the odd, you know, track days here and there a little bit over the years as well as motor-crossing in Maui with Jason and the guys. But road bikes was always my thing and I got into competing. I did the rookie mini twins championship and the British Championship and, I managed to win that in my first year, which I was pretty stoked about.

That sort of got me a bit fired up for that competing side. And then I went into the next level up, which is the MROs. I ended up, getting some seconds and doing some really good races, but then you’re pushing much harder. I started crashing quite a bit and I hurt myself breaking my foot pretty badly. So I sort of put a bit of a stop to that because that just sort of stopped me doing all the other things I actually want to do!

I hung out with a guy called Mark who was British motocross champion, years ago, sponsored by Suzuki, etc. He is such a lovely guy, his competitive spirit was incredible, a bit like mine and we really got on well! In the end, I realized that actually we’re just enjoying it…as long as you enjoy the race, that’s actually all that counts.

INJURIES

And now for me, going on the water; as long as I enjoy the session, that’s what counts! My kids are on the water now! I haven’t been windsurfing with them really since they’ve been doing it properly last year and this year, because obviously I split a disc in my back last May. The injury was a year ago and all the fluid from my disc went into my spinal fluid canal! I hurt myself quite a bit in my time but I think that was about the most painful I’ve ever had and its a little frightening when it’s in your spine, if I’m honest!

I am 85% back now. I’ve been winging, foil driving and all that sort of stuff a little bit, not windsurfing because we just had no wind recently, but I think I should be OK. I will  just have to take a little bit of time before I get back into jumping again. I am glad I still have the water sports as well as the business.

Lots of footballers, who retire have so much money, it’s easy to burn through the cash with drinking and drugs. Fortunately for me, I’ve never been a partier really, so drinking and drugs was never a thing for me. I was lucky because that can really send you spiralling! It was more relationships that were a problem for me and it all came out at the counselling. It took a little bit to sort that out, but you know since doing that, I feel like a different human being. I would recommend anybody to do counselling.

THE PHYSICAL SIDE

I mean, we were so fit while we were pro sailors… I think the fitness lasts for a little while. When I first sort of retired, I was still on the water quite a lot, a lot of demos, a lot of events, traveling around and sailing at all the different beaches. Eventually you get busier and busier in the office or driving around seeing the shops. You end up eating a load of shit, not going to the gym and not going on the water as much. Of course, the fitness eventually starts to go. I retired at 38, and now 54.

By the time lockdown hit I was 99 kg! We were locked down, we could not go work. But we could go running, walking and cycling. That was it, I went on a mission to get fit again. When I was racing in the early days, I was 76kg, and I used to have to wear 12 kg of lead on my back. Then the last 10 years I’d say where I stopped the racing and just did freestyle and waves, I was 79 kg. I remember getting my bike out dusted it down and a year later when I was 50, I remember doing 50 miles on my birthday and I was 81kg.

So, the lockdown gave me back time…I really enjoyed it, to be honest with you. I mean, as harsh as it was for many, obviously it sounds awful, but the time we had was amazing. Luckily our industry sort of boomed for a year or two, which was great for us.

TIME

It seems the biggest issue in the world is, you know, everyone sort of goes on about the money side, which of course is important, but for me now it about time too. You can always make more money, find more money, but you can never get the time back.

So now I have got the business to replace the old competitive side and the life balance is time with my family and just being able to enjoy windsurfing purely for fun.

I even play a bit of golf now! That’s quite a nice thing to do to get away from everything. It is so nice to switch off and go for a walk in nature. I used to be pretty competitive with golf even, but now I want to hit a good shot, but I don’t, ai am still just enjoying it. I would also love to be able to go around the world and appreciate the places we went to, you know, sit on the beach and have a beer, looking into the bloody sunset or watch the sunrise and see it for what it is rather than just a training place or competition site. That was the soul focus…I’d love to go back with my partner and travel the world a bit and have a look and see the sights and take in more of the stuff that I probably overlooked for many years.