Not all windsurfing heroes ride big waves or win world championships. Damien Jordan sings the praises of a true ambassador for windsurfing – Nick Blackburn, a.k.a. ‘’Nick the windsurf bloke’.

Words Damien Jordan // Photos courtesy Nick Blackburn

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One man has made it his mission to single-handedly make windsurfing cool again and to get people out on boards with the wind in their hair- if they have any. And it isn’t a former world champion or famous sporting hero. It is Nick Blackburn. A chippy (carpenter) from Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club who just loves windsurfing.

Nick can be often heard moaning about “dingy sailors”. Telling you he “doesn’t get the point of jam” when making breakfast for an early ‘Cadet Week’ start. And most weekends he can be found on his trusty mower keeping the berths and walkways of his beloved Piddinghoe Pond cut with his dog Bob in his role as Rear Commodore of Piddinghoe.

Over a year ago the club had just a few “old” windsurfers. However for the last year Nick has made it his mission to turn up every weekend (come rain, shine and most importantly wind) to open the windsurf shed, get out all the equipment and encourage the “other lot” to come and have a go at windsurfing.

He isn’t paid. The club doesn’t charge for this. Some even say quietly that he isn’t a windsurfing instructor. He doesn’t get anything more than the satisfaction of seeing windsurfers fill the pond. A true windsurfing ambassador is what you do hear people say. ‘Nick the windsurf bloke’ is what anyone who turns up calls him.

He does not care if you have never windsurfed before. If you’re old or young. He even doesn’t care if you normally sail a Laser, an Opie and even a Catamaran (blooming dingy sailors!!). He wants to get you out windsurfing. And it has worked.

Most Saturdays Piddinghoe Pond is full of windsurfers. A club sailing pond that is shared with a fishing club, gig rowers and sailors. However now windsurfers often outnumber them all.

And the younger members of the club love it, youngsters who compete in national sailing competitions. Some who are barely big enough to hold the sail. They are all there windsurfing.

Thomas is one such younger member who is an extremely competent and successful young sailor who regularly competes against and beats much older members and says, “It was a real life saver when we first came out of lockdown. I don’t know where we’d all be without his generosity with gear and commitment to sorting us goons out every week. The improvement we have all made this year, along with all the new sailors who have got into it is brilliant and couldn’t have happened without his encouragement”.

Club sailors have also abandoned another day sailing a boat to take it up. In these tough times for many, when hand washing and risk assessments (he’s a windsurfer and they are not known for their love of risk assessment) take up much of the time of those organising sports, Nick has managed to keep to the rules (yes you heard it here – windsurfers can follow rules) and make windsurfing work. And this has been of great benefit for the health and well-being of sailing club members of all ages. A quick “blow out” or bomb across the pond does wonders and puts a smile on your face. Even if that involves a wipeout and trudge along the muddy bottom of the pond before remounting the board.

Zoe is one such experienced sailor, an instructor for the Cadets and herself a teacher. She says, “Learning how to windsurf this year has been a blessing in these uncertain times. I could not have done it without Nick’s full support. Encouraging me to go back out after a nasty wipeout, sending me pictures of boards for sale to ensure I had the right equipment, and giving me advice on how to set up the kit in different wind conditions means I may not be a great windsurfer but I am however now a windsurfer”.

He finds equipment and rigs it for those wanting to take part from within his windsurf shed, the back of his van or often from his own equipment. His many windsurf contacts give him equipment so that all of these novices can take part.

One young member who has benefited from this generosity is James, he said, “Nick has greatly improved my confidence in windsurfing since I joined the Saturday morning windsurfing club. He inspired me to progress from my F2 Lightning to a Bic Techno 152 litre board, and to try using the harness more (which I now use consistently). Earlier in the year, Nick encouraged me to increase my sail size from a 5.5 sq. metre sail. Shortly afterwards, and out of the blue, he donated a camber-induced 7.2 sq. metre sail to me to try out! I have since gained the confidence to get planing using the sail in force 4-5 winds, which has been great fun. He has since encouraged me to start using the footstraps, which is my next challenge!”

He takes time with everyone. Shows them how to set up their rig, gives them advice, shows them what to do, and this investment of time pays off as they come back week after week.

And don’t think poor Nick doesn’t get to go out and hammer it still himself. He still goes sailing. For him that’s more often when the beginners have gone in because the wind has got too mad or they have fallen in for the twentieth time. He then gets to bomb across the pond and show everyone how it is done.

Many don’t know that he learnt to windsurf on this very same pond a number of years ago himself as a kid, when the wind blew through his long distant head of hair. Now Nick is creating a new generation of windsurfers to follow in his wake.

Windsurfing on the south coast of England is in safe hands with ‘Nick the windsurf bloke’ – a true windsurfing ambassador.

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