I originally did this interview with Tom Ashley (windsurfing Gold Medalist) for the WindSurfer Mag Australia.
Its to long (I wrote too many words
)and I had trouble getting print quality images that a magazine is all about.
So here is the first Question
Dean Barker and Chris Dickson went to the same school as you, that's pretty remarkable, was there anything about your schooling? Or was there anything about your upbringing, did your parents have any particular philosophies that contributed to your later successes? I now have four kids of my own.
I don't know if there was anything about my high school that bred sailors in particular, but it was a great school. We had an amazing headmaster who was passionate about success and excellence, and I had a number of very good teachers. The unique thing about the school (at that time at least) was that they ran an accelerate program so the top 10% or so of students were allowed to study a year ahead. This made school much more challenging and allowed me to get out of there a year early and go windsurfing!
More generally, my parents have always been extremely supportive and motivating. From very young they always insisted that they didn't mind what I chose to do, as long as I did it to the best of my ability. They would both come to sailing every weekend to support me, and devoted a lot of time to making sure I had the best opportunities and support that they could give me. They also encouraged me to work hard in other areas - I played the violin for 10 years, and school was very important. In the end, it was my performance at school that kicked off my professional windsurfing career. My parents suggested that, if I got As in my final year of high school (studying a year ahead) I could take the next year (that should have been my final year) to focus on my sailing. Once that happened I didn't look back, and ended up sailing professionally for the next ten years.
The full interview is at
www.windsurfingreligion.com/blog
