News
The Wildwind team, on and off the race course
The people who teach at Wildwind have something in common: they genuinely love sailing. Not just teaching it, talking about it or fixing boats, but getting out on the water whenever they can. Which means it's not unusual for an instructor to disappear for a championship one week... and be back on the beach teaching the next.
More than just instructors
Our 2026 instructor team is led by Centre Manager Aaron Smith, and between the instructors and senior staff there's a remarkable amount of sailing experience.
As of 11 June, the team has clocked up more than 117 years of teaching experience. Along the way they've collected 14 national championship titles, a European Great Grand Masters title and a World Championship, with seven members having competed at World or European Championship level and eleven racing regularly at national championships.
They're an impressive set of numbers, but they're not really the point.
Still out there racing
One of the things that sets the team apart is that they haven't stopped racing once they became instructors.
Hec Bunclark and Phil Deeley recently returned from Carnac, France, competing in the Dart 18 World Championships.
Laura Elms and her sister competed at the 29er World Championship, and founder Simon Morgan is hoping to retain his European Great Grand Masters title at the Hobie 16 European Championships in Lake Maubisson, France.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Greenough has been flying north to Foiling Week on Lake Garda, one of the biggest gatherings of high-performance sailing anywhere.
For most of them, racing isn't something they used to do. It's simply what they're doing next weekend.
Why it matters
Championship medals don't automatically make someone a great instructor.
The real skill is helping someone land their first proper tack, build confidence in stronger winds or finally crack that gybe they've been working on all week.
But instructors who still race, compete and keep learning themselves tend to bring something extra. They're constantly picking up new ideas, refining techniques and reminding themselves what it feels like to learn, improve and occasionally get things wrong.
That makes for better coaching — whether you're stepping into a boat for the very first time or looking to squeeze a little more speed out of your favourite class.
The best part of the job
Of course, qualifications and results only tell part of the story.
Spend a day on the beach and you'll find people swapping tuning tips, helping each other rig boats, debating wind shifts over lunch and inevitably telling stories that become slightly more dramatic every time they're repeated.
It's a team that lives and breathes sailing.
And we're pretty sure that if you gathered together all the trophies, medals and questionable sailing stories accumulated over the years, we'd need another equipment container.