Jake Patrick was 15 when he started as an AI at his local club at Pitsford Reservoir in Northampton. Now five years later he is living a life he never imagined thanks to the doors that instructing opened up to him.
Jake, the eldest of four windsurfing siblings, explains: “I started windsurfing at Tallington Lakes when I was about nine, although I’d been on boards since I could walk thanks to our Grandpa Roger! Then we got into Pitsford Pirates Team15, right next to the village where we lived. I started on a 5.5 but only did it for about a year because I was one of the eldest and was also quite heavy for the smaller sails.
“When I was in T15 I looked up to the instructors and volunteer parents and wanted to be doing what they were! Once I became an AI I properly loved it and when I turned 16 two friends encouraged me to go with them to Astbury Watersports to do our Start Windsurfing instructor qualification under Ali Yates.
