Tweet

ROSS WILLIAMS: LIFE AFTER THE PODIUM.

TRADEWINDS!

Ross Williams has lived the highs and lows of international windsurfing competition and is now navigating a new direction, running a café back at home on the Isle of Wight. In this candid conversation, he reflects on stepping away from the pro circuit, the challenges of dealing with life after competition and finding fulfilment in his life after the podium!

---

WS: So, when was your last PWA event?

RW: The last event was in 2019 in New Caledonia, I believe. I didn’t have a particularly great event, but the last day was good for me. I think we had three full races; I won a loser’s final. I think I sailed over early in another final and won the second-to-last race.

I still have that footage because there was some really nice drone footage from that! I sometimes watch that back and go… wow, you know, like you could still compete at the highest level, when I kind of knew I was going to be stepping back and not doing much. I did plan to do half the tour in 2020, but COVID hit!

WS: COVID kind of accelerated the end your competition career, do you think?

RW: In a way, but not really, because I was already stepping back. Our daughter Sienna was born that year. COVID then happened. I was planning to do half the tour, but I was enjoying not doing it.

I still enjoyed competing, but I enjoyed more being at home with my family. The fresh experience of having your first child, as opposed to traveling, living out of your bags for like the 20th year in a row, felt like the better option. So, I was kind of ready for a change, and I guess COVID, and other factors probably just made me look at life in a different way. I mean, my dad was also on his last legs as well, losing his battle with cancer later on during that year.

It’s just, I was just like, you know what…I’m kind of done with competing. I was still involved with Gaastra/Tabou in the UK and still getting a rider’s salary, but I was just trying to progress onto the next stage of my career while trying to hold on to some sort of career in windsurfing, which was very difficult because I was never very good with social media.

To have that extra bit of career without competing, you kind of needed to be active on social media or doing photo shoots and all that, but I wasn’t really getting the budget to do that. I just kind of stayed at home. I did a few little things around the UK with JC and with Jamie Hancock. I was still going to see the shops and doing the agency side of things, but I could feel the windsurfing career slipping away. It wasn’t really what I was enjoying anymore. I wasn’t getting any enjoyment from it because I just felt like… I don’t know if ‘relevant’ is the word, but I just felt like maybe it was just time to put it to bed.
If I go windsurfing…I wanted to enjoy my windsurfing.

But it took me till 2024 before I completely stopped having a sponsorship and stopped being asked to go to places, do photo shoots, do certain things for the brand. It still took four years from that kind of drop-off-the-cliff…no competing; for it to fully come to an end. And yes, when it finally happened in 2024, I kind of expected it. I felt like I didn’t really deserve to have any sponsorship. I hadn’t really done much. It hadn’t been my focus for a long time. I’d stopped doing the agency. Brexit had happened. A whole bunch of other factors made me stop.

I felt like I had swum against the tide for long enough. I felt that I wasn’t doing this properly and it was bugging me. I couldn’t really give 100%. And it wasn’t worth me giving 100% because I wasn’t getting a full-time salary, which the job was, a full-time thing, but it wasn’t going to provide a full-time salary. I fought for 25 years to have some sort of career in windsurfing, and I was quite happy to step away.

Maybe I can come back in a year or two…right now it’s a precious time of life with the kids at the age they are. And it’s a precious time to develop my other business; Tradewinds Café. I always envisioned going back to windsurfing, not as a pro, but to enjoy it again, like I used to.

I felt more confident I could provide for the family decently through the café than windsurfing. So, we’re just kind of in that process now. And every year I’ve been more involved in it. We’re expanding and the café is getting more successful.

Would I step back into that windsurfing life again? I wouldn’t be surprised if next year I maybe do a couple of trips, if someone offered me some sort of deal. I wouldn’t ask for too much, just something to help if I had a plan to go away and do a trip, maybe not Gaastra and Tabou. Maybe someone else, who knows.

WS: How long did you compete for?

RW: Well, I competed since I was like 9 years old. My first competition was national.
I did go down the Olympic route also, one-design, that kind of RYA route. At 16, I realized I was way more gifted toward doing funboard stuff. There was a moment at Easter camp, Guy Cribb was there. It was just like, “You should 100% just go down this other route.” But I never really had any support from the brands. I won the youth worlds in ’97 and in Australia, again in ’98.

Then, when it all went to Formula windsurfing, I won the U22’s and I was 5th in the world in that big event in Thailand. That’s when I kind of got picked up by Gaastra and Starboard. They gave me a budget to go and do more racing events on the world tour.
There were a few events on the world tour I did… Brighton ’97. I had a delaminated AHD and some old NeilPryde sails, but I still came 14th. I was like 17. I went to Paros in ’98, again on Gaastra and from there I kind of developed a relationship with Gaastra.

There was no racing on the PWA at the time and I wasn’t really well-known enough in waves to take that step internationally, even though I’d beaten Jamie Hawkins, Julian Anderson and Nigel Howell at the end of White Air in 1999 I’d kind of got to the top of wave sailing in the UK. But I still wasn’t getting support to go internationally.

It probably wasn’t until 2002–2003 that there started to be a bit more of a racing tour. I started doing Super-X racing and competing in Europe, with the Euro Cups. They were my bread and butter for 5 to 6 years. We were cleaning up. Yeah, it was great, traveling around, a whole group of us, band of brothers, doing events every couple weeks around Europe all summer. The prize money wasn’t great, but similar to what it is now. If you won, you’d make 3–4 grand and go on to the next one. That prize money paid for off season trips to Hawaii or South Africa.

When the tour came back, I was fortunate…I was looked after by Barry Spanier and the team. Scott Fenton left and I kind of came in as his junior. I learned more about sail development, being part of a team, working together for world titles…maybe not for me, but helping people like Kevin and Matt. I was learning a lot. They were great times.

WS: But for now, your life is all about Tradewinds Café.

RW: Yeah. In 2019, my wife Loreley and I left Hawaii. We were married a couple of years. It sucked that I would go away for eight months and not see her. I said, look, you can come to the UK. I’m a tax resident here. From my windsurfing career I’d saved enough to buy a house and purchase Tradewinds Café. I just kind of threw her in here…she didn’t know how to drive on this side of the road, didn’t know the area, could just about cook and I threw her into the café to run it while I was away competing.

But instead of going all the way to Hawaii, with all the events in Europe, it was easier.
She got pregnant that year…2019. By the end of the season, I was spending more time at the café. The café started out as a seasonal project but now it is open all year around. We had always planned to close in September and go traveling. But with pregnancy, and stepping away from competing, we needed to focus on the business. Then COVID came. You didn’t know where you stood with the brands. Would they still commit to sponsorships? You’d hear stories of people not getting paid. Fortunately, my sponsors, Gaastra and Tabou were always very good and honoured their agreements. I used that time to step more into the café, first into the kitchen. I had never done it before. I enjoyed cooking for myself, but now I was cheffing for everyone and learning on the go. It was trial by fire.

I took the mentality of windsurfing and applied it to the café…never give up, always be prepared. If the café next to you opens at 9 and gets there at 8, I’ll be there at 6 and ready by 8. There were lots of similarities to the way I approached windsurfing. I knew if I wanted to be successful, I couldn’t rely on anyone else.

WS: You’ve got a successful business now, but you don’t have that windsurf competition side fuelling the fire…how do you deal with that?

RW: When it started going into foiling, I could see issues. The number of competitors were dwindling. It became more expensive and more elitist…if you didn’t have the top foil, it was impossible to compete. I could see it coming. The moment we started foiling on the PWA, I kind of checked out. This was going to go one of two ways…the guys working with foil companies would be on top. And they were. You just didn’t stand a chance. So, I lost complete interest. I look at the top guys in foiling and slalom today, they are great, awesome sailors, totally dedicated, but that racing no longer appeals to me.

WS: Does a good day at the café feel the same as winning a race or a good day on the water?

RW: No. F*** no! Definitely not. It’s more like you have a good day at the café, get to the end, and you’re just relieved. Relieved you got through the day. You’re not completely broke. You’ve survived. You’ve got a great family, beautiful wife, beautiful kids…that’s what life is about. Windsurfing was a different high. A self-absorbed high. It’s always about me! And I always struggled with that…the constant banter with your competitors who are also your friends. It was tiring.

WS: When you came back and did a UK racing event…did you feel you had to win?

RW: Yeah. I don’t think I lost for a long time. Maybe in waves I lost a few, but the majority of the time I won in racing. At race events, I would be very dissapointed if I lost. In waves, we had a higher level… Ben Proffitt, Phil Horrocks, Andy king, John Skye, Jamie Hancock, and Coxy! I knew my strong points and weaknesses. If it was wave riding, I could eke it out. If it was jumping, I would struggle to win. I enjoyed that part of the competing.

WS: You won a PWA in Austria, right?

RW: Just one PWA win, yeah…one in Austria. I won another in Hungary but didn’t complete enough races to make it count. It was super light winds! And then I had a string of seconds…maybe four or five seconds. I should have won an event in Sylt, but I went out and partied on the last night. When I think about it, I could have been more focused, more results driven. But I was someone who lived the lifestyle…the lifestyle of a beach sport.

When I was racing, it sucked when you turned up and I knew I wasn’t going to win.
And there were a few years that I knew our gear didn’t suite my style of racing. You do lose interest when you have to do like eight or nine events and you know that your gear is not as fast as it could be. What works for me probably doesn’t work for, for everyone. I think I was quite a unique rider. I felt like I did deserve to maybe have a little bit more say on the equipment side; maybe I didn’t never really pushed it. You know, other people in the team were very much larger than life characters that have very much had a good way of articulating what they wanted in a board, whereas I was like a lot less pushy. I’d always chuck my hat in and go testing. If anyone asked me to go test, I would definitely go test and I’d definitely give me, give my feedback.

I was taught when I worked with the Team to always find your strongest sailor and build the gear for those guys, give them the best equipment and they win titles. That’s the way it was. And it never came. Whether that’s because of my character or whether my sponsors were just hedging their bets! They knew I would do pretty good on whatever gear I was given, but I felt it was a shame that the gear wasn’t built to suite me to give me the best chance of winning more titles.

WS: So how much are you getting out on the water recently?

RW:  I sailed two weeks ago, I think, and that was the first time since December! I’ve never had that long of going without sailing. I do miss it, but at the same time, I’m currently just trying to sell all my windsurfing equipment! I’m ready for a new chapter! I will probably have to buy new gear, so I’m going to choose what I want to ride.

I would like I would like to obviously like to get a deal, but if that’s not available, then I’ll probably just limit my gear and buy one board and three sails and just go sailing whenever I want. I won’t have to post on social media! It’s nice to have that freedom and to windsurf for your pure own pleasure.

WS: So, life after the podium is not too bad?

RW: It has been an adjustment. I do miss, you do miss certain things, you know, the, the fun I had on tour…on the water, off the water and traveling around the world. I don’t miss travelling with those massive amounts of equipment! It was crazy…the crazy things that we were doing on tour was absolutely nuts!

I still have lots of friends from the racing days but like I don’t see that ever happening again. That era is over is over for me! I have the family and my café, and I can sail when I want for fun.