ROBBY NAISH THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM

Robby Naish is still the king of windsurfing. At over 50 years old he shows no sign of slowing down or indeed wanting to. When Robby talks, we listen, so when the opportunity came for an audience with the king while promoting a movie on the history and rise of freesports which he stars in, ‘The Search for Freedom’, we took it. Life, business and his own search for freedom, Robby sits down for a revealing interview.

Words Finn Mullen & Piers Stephenson // Photos John Carter

With such a busy life how do you manage to slow down enough to appreciate being in the moment?
I think it is just a matter of being conscious of it. I don’t have to be off on a trip to the South Pacific or on a giant wave at Jaws to “tune in” to it. For example I have my Naish International importer meeting going on this week on Maui. It is busy and stressful with a lot going on to say the least. I grabbed a freeride board and sail and zipped out for a quick run at Kanaha and just sailed straight out to sea on one tack for about two miles… jibed, and blasted back in. It was awesome, and washed the whole day off… just feeling the trim of the board, trying to get the power right onto the fin..maximizing speed. The run only lasted ten minutes or so. But for a good eight or nine minutes I was “totally there” in the zone, so to speak.

You seem to love windsurfing, kitesurfing and sup equally. For those of us that don’t do all three, do you find them all equally freeing in their own way?
I know that I am really lucky to be able to do all three sports, and for sure don’t take that for granted. They are all different, but very similar at the same time. Getting out on the water, standing on a board, and using nothing but your own balance, strength, coordination, and the power of the wind or a wave is simply a very rewarding and satisfying experience. They can all be as little or as much exercise as you want them to be depending on how hard you ride, and can be anything from a nice relaxing cruise to an intense workout.

Everything about you – your riding, your business, your team – seems unconventional. You not only seem to live the idea of freedom but you succeed. How do you do it?
I think that I am plain and simply very lucky. I have more often than not been in the right place at the right time. I try to learn from the past, live in the moment and hope… rather than plan for the future. I love these sports… and this life is the only one I know. I have no business education. I turned pro when I was 18, right out of high school. What I know I learned from experience, and I have made plenty of mistakes along the way. But luck has again more often than not followed me along in both my sporting career and my business career. Freedom is what has driven me to work hard all my life; the freedom to be my own boss, to wake up in the morning and decide what I will do that day and not what someone else tells me to do. Financial freedom. The freedom that being fit and healthy allows. I have always been totally aware of how good my life is and just how much freedom I have compared to many if not most people in the world… and that awareness has kept me working my ass off my whole life in order to hopefully keep things that way.

“ Simplicity of life is a form of freedom. Things, wants, desires, and communication can suck the freedom right out of you if you are not careful ’’

The movie title is Search For Freedom. Robby, have you found it?
In most ways, yes. I tend to put more limitations and boundaries on myself than those coming from the outside. One needs to be careful not to let life’s complexities slowly catch up and overwhelm you. Simplicity of life is a form of freedom. Things, wants, desires, and communication can suck the freedom right out of you if you are not careful. I am still ok, but I see a lot of people that have become slaves to their quest for “more” or even just to their iphones and social media lives.

What are your thoughts on the movie and the inclusion of windsurf and sup on such a large production?
I really enjoyed the movie. There is some amazing footage of all of the sports and compelling stories throughout. Having windsurfing and sup included is great…. And they should be. Windsurfing was one of the real pioneer professional freesports…. And sup is the newest of all of them.

What are your thoughts on the rise of the freesports movement?
I love it. Having more sporting options, especially for young people, is a great thing! They are also not bound by rules and tradition. They offer an evolving, progressing playing field where personal expression can be a big part of it. “Traditional sports” are also fantastic… but different people thrive in different environments and in different ways. It is good to have options!

What inspiration do you get from other freesports?
Tons. We look at the equipment trends in different sports as well as the riding and moves. There is a lot of cross pollination and influence from one sport to another, especially in the realm of board sports.

How have you maintained a career in action sports that has surpassed a normal athlete’s shelf life?
I absolutely love what I do. The sports have evolved a lot over the past forty years since I started, which has kept things interesting. The equipment and the way we ride it is always evolving and changing. The wind and waves are always changing and challenging you. It never gets boring. I was also lucky to have chosen sports where water is the medium… making injury much less a factor than in most action sports. I have been calculated in my approach to my riding and to learning new tricks over the years… and have also been very lucky…. The combination has made it so that my entire career has been almost injury free. That has really helped to allow me to go on for so long. If every time I crashed I was landing in snow, or on dirt, or on pavement rather than in water my days as a professional sportsman would have been over decades ago.

What are your specific tips for older watermen to keep ripping?
Ride hard but ride smart. Injury is the enemy. Never slow down… because I am sure that getting back up to speed isn’t easy.

How do you juggle work and play?
Recklessly.

What do you see as the future of the windsurf, sup, kite and free sports movement?
There is no doubt that freesports are growing and growing and becoming much more mainstream. They will continue to do so. Windsurfing will never die, but I do not think that it will ever be a hugely popular sport again…. I like to call it “exclusive.” Kitesurfing is still growing, and I think it still has room to grow. SUP both as a recreational activity and as a competitive sport is going to be huge.

Finally, describe your perfect day of windsurf, sup and kite – conditions and location?
A perfect day of windsurfing for me these days is sideshore winds blowing about twenty knots with mast high surf..warm wind and water = no wetsuit.
Kitesurfing I would take fifteen knots of sideshore wind from the left with head to double over head surf. SUP would be no wind at all and double overhead to mast high left hand pealing point break waves….

THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM is out now on DVD.

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