47
MIXING
IT
UP:
THE COOKIE INTERVIEW
WORDS: SIMON WINKLEY
PICS: WWW.PROTOGRAPHYOFFICIAL.COM
WHILST ON HOLIDAY IN VASSILIKI, GREECE LAST YEAR IN EARLY SEPTEMBER I HEADED
TO THE COSMOS HOTEL TO GRAB A COFFEE WITH COOKIE (SIMON) FROM NEILSON, A
LONG-STANDING, PROFESSIONAL SEASONAIRE. I wanted to find out about his
windsurfing journey and the eye-catching stunts that I had seen filtering through the
social media channels all season. The temperatures were lovely, beginners were
progressing in the early morning light onshore winds and the week had delivered
reasonably strong cross-shore winds every afternoon, filling the
bay with good energy.
Hey Cookie, thanks very much for agreeing to the interview. To
start – how long have you been into windsurfing and what got you
involved in the first place?
A pleasure. It’s been about 15 years. I started dinghy sailing on the South
Coast when I was at college. I then went to work for Sunsail at Club Vounaki
(now Neilson) in the Kirki Bar in the evenings. I worked late, slept in, windsurfed
then worked late again. That gave me loads of on-water time. I just
loved windsurfing and I’ve done it ever since.
Do you do much in the UK now?
No I’m overseas all the time – visiting the UK for a week at the
most between seasons. I can’t even remember the last time I
windsurfed in the UK actually. I don’t even own a wetsuit!
That’s awesome. So when you’re out here in Vass
what’s the main style of windsurfing that you’re into.
You know I’d love to say it’s freestyle but it’s not actually
been regularly windy this year, as in really windy. It’s
been more like steady 6.5, 7.5 weather so we’ve been
doing big sail blasting/freeride things and the old school
stuff has come back in. I’m loving back-winded gybes,
donkey gybes, Essex ducks, all the stuff that you can do happily
on a 6.5-8.0m sail and a big board. People are looking and going,
“Wow that’s cool.” It feels great and the guests can relate to it.
uk
WIND
SURFING