An interview with …
SAVIOUR
AQUILINA
my life now , but I think it was around 2011 when I first got on a paddleboard . I hired one from a local surf shop ; I couldn ’ t stand up , so I proned it in some chop . I wouldn ’ t say I was immediately hooked as I preferred to surf and bodyboard . It wasn ’ t until I started repairing boards and I met a local grind crew BaySUP – without them knowing , they showed me a new way of thinking , a new direction and a new freedom – this changed my life .
DO YOU PADDLE FOR LEISURE , RACING , ADVENTURE OR ALL THREE ? DID YOU COMPETE IN THE GBSUP NATIONAL SERIES – HOW DID YOU FIND IT ? I love all types of SUP , but most of all , race , surf and , more recent , foil surfing . I have taken part in the GBSUP National Series races in 2018 and 2019 . I placed 7th in the flat-water series in my age category in 2019 and 6th in the UK Sprint Championships 2019 .
WHEN DID YOU TRANSFER YOUR PASSION FOR SUP INTO A BUSINESS ? In 2011 , a friend asked me to repair his surfboard . It wasn ’ t a pretty job , or so I thought – after this , I seemed to have a queue of watersports people asking me to repair their crafts . I was doing this
while still working at Sunseekers in my spare time , so I made a Facebook page and website called Saviour Board Repairs . After a year or so , I decided to make some surfboards and SUPs – everything I made I would sell . After three years of absolute graft ( 2014 ), sacrifice and passion , I knew I could make the leap of faith and leave my safe and secure career at Sunseeker . My first workshop had a leaky roof and a rotting door – you could say this was an overpriced shed , but I was living the dream .
CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOUR BUSINESS HAS EVOLVED OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS ? I moved into a new workshop in a marina in 2017 and expanded my board repair / board shaping / manufacturing , and employed a local legend , small wave logger Andy to help out . We started getting boards coming to us from all over the UK – I was hand shaping 14-foot raceboards and playing with shapes which felt like a hobby rather than a job , creating , shaping , glassing and finishing boards ; I learnt a lot . I made some shockers and some great boards but was always learning and moved forward .
I had a great location waterside in Christchurch , Dorset , so I started teaching paddleboarding , renting boards and selling my boards along with boards I
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