About Robin the Instructor

Brought up in land-locked Hertfordshire, August school holidays camping in Cornwall with an occasional day hire of an original plywood bodyboard, were the closest glimpses of waves offered to childhood. A fortunate opportunity to join the London Sailing Project  started a seed of thought that perhaps being near the sea could actually be a real thing.

A degree in Sport Science, teacher training, and exceptionally good fortune landed me into the world of Special Education which became career, passion and eventually home on the sea front . School holidays enabled the travelling windsurfer/ teacher to broaden global horizons, landing at Ho’okipa for an exceptional few weeks and surfing with personal heroes in tropical paradise.

Inevitable early links into kitesurfing led me to joining the first kitesurfing instructor course and setting up my personalised kite school - an awesome setup as summer sea breezes here generally kick in as schools kick out. Ten Winter Kite adventures with ex-students later and hydrofoils  blew the water world sky high. Foiling on anything that we could get moving fast enough became a hunger and total obsession. Reading, researching, travelling and talking excessive detail with world leading hydrodynamic experts resulted in high speed wipeouts, splintering carbon and bruised egos - kit was needing to progress quickly. Thank you Slingshot!!!

Kite foiling, Sup foiling, tow foiling behind my boat, wing foiling and travel to far reaches of the world to ‘tow-in foil’ on massive Southern Ocean swell along the coast of Peru - I’m literally chuckling to myself with the same childish grin  found at Bedruthan Steps as my 7year old  self with a plank of wood.

Throughout my life, sharing my joy of play through teaching  has been my waking motivation. Wether it has been navigating  Special Education life with children (and their families) for 25 yrs, exploring tropical reef breaks with their hidden agendas, surfing small south coast wind blown swell with pals, or sharing knowledge with interested people at the beach regarding local weather patterns, this is home. Learning to play here is individually tailored  to the needs of the learner with a high degree of safety, fun and developing independence.