Q: Will you be able to accommodate beginners with the kit and tuition they will need?
Will: Students are notoriously poor and windsurfing kit is definitely not cheap. A student going to a shop and buying a new set of gear is pretty much out of the question. We are talking to local reservoirs at the moment about the possibility of running sessions with them and being able to use their gear. From what they are saying it sounds like if we can regularly bring a good size group of people they should be able to help us out without the cost going through the roof. We are also going to get involved with Newcastle Uni. We’re in the same city as them and they already have a club up and running. To start us off hopefully we can go windsurfing with them and borrow some of their kit from time to time.

Some other clubs at the Uni get a grant from the Union. So hopefully if I can get sufficient interest, we will be able to do the same. That would really help to get us started. Also I am looking to local shops to see if any of them might be interested in sponsoring us.

Tuition for beginners shouldn’t be a problem. I can teach up to intermediate level so I’m keen to teach people. I know quite a few of the guys at Newcastle Uni are instructors and there a couple at Northumbria. There are other instructors around Northumbria who would come and teach on a freelance basis.

As we get more people involved we will be able to share transport and it will reduce the cost so we will be able to get to more SWA events. That’s a good way to get people involved because there is plenty kit to use and tuition at the events.

Q: To people who already regularly windsurf around your area what’s the advantage to them of joining the new club?
Will: Meeting other windsurfers who are like minded people I suppose. Having more people to go windsurfing with is always a good thing. I hope to get a good social side going also. I think that is an important part and a good way to draw more people into the club. I reckon if we get a crowd along to some SWA events they will see its worth getting involved even if it’s just for the social.

Thanks Will and keep me up to date with how it goes.

That all sounds pretty promising. Will is enthusiastic and he seems to have been pretty active in talking to people and making useful contacts. Before Will appeared with Northumbria the most recent club to appear on the SWA radar was Bangor University. I thought I would have a quick chat with the founder and president of the club Duncan Dumbreck to get his advice on starting a new club.

Q: Why did you decide to start a club in Bangor?
Duncan: I’d heard about SWA events from friends on a season in Greece. I had heard about Aussie Kiss and its reputation and so wanted to get involved. I got in touch with Taffy from the SWA committee and set up the club.

Q: What challenges did you face  setting up the club?
Duncan: Where to start really. Taffy and the SWA were very helpful. They helped me arrange it with the University Athletic Union who said that I had to get 15 members to be an official club.

Q: Does the AU provide any support for the club?
Duncan: Yeah we are affiliated with the AU and we get a grant from them. The grant is proportional to how active the club is. The more members we have and the more trips we do the more money they will send our way. Especially things like nationals, they will put lots towards that because it gets BUCS points for the Uni.

Q: How do you encourage people who are new to the sport to come and try windsurfing?
Duncan: Well we have a fresher’s fair every term where we have a stall and advertise. People can come along to that and find out about how to get involved. Then really it’s just word of mouth. When people join they have a good time and they bring their friends along. We don’t really have any gimmicks or anything, we just try to be open and approachable and that seems to work pretty well.

Q: Are you able to provide kit for beginners to use?
Duncan: Yes, we were pretty lucky really. For some reason when we started the surf club had some kit which had been sitting in their lock up and never got used. They were happy to give it to us, so that was good to get us started. There were a few bits missing but they were easy to get hold of cheap.

We have a social sponsor (www.Patricksbar.com) who we picked up when the club started. We host all our socials in there and they are always really good to us. If we have a big social there they give us free food, they were really helpful when we hosted the SWA event here and they put some money towards funding the club, which is amazing.

With the money we get from the AU each year and our sponsors there is enough to buy a few new bits of kit and subsidise some of the transport costs.

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