SQUIRES Tom

General
FOLLOWING NICK DEMPSEY
If he competes at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo he will become the second British male to compete in the RS:X class of windsurfing at an Olympic Games, after Nick Dempsey who competed in the RS:X class at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games. He has said that he owes much of his development as a windsurfer to Dempsey. "Nick really helped because he's older and had done so many regattas so he showed me how to prepare. He was almost like a fatherly figure, although he could be a nightmare as well. He was super helpful and I learnt so much from him. I wouldn't be here without him, that's for sure. [But] I don't feel pressure following on from Nick. All the pressure I feel is just what I put on myself every day. You have to try and rise to the occasion, grit your teeth and work hard, and because of that you don't really feel pressure because you are just training so hard." (oxfordmail.co.uk, 02 Oct 2019; rsxclass.org, 10 Dec 2016)

GREEN THUMB
He studied horticulture and attempted a career as a gardener prior to pursuing his sport full-time. "I left school and wanted to be a gardener. I studied horticulture, big word for gardening, and loved it. I soon started to work as a groundsman at Oxford Brookes University, until I earned enough money to sofa surf down in Weymouth & Portland. It was the hardest decision to give that all up and be crazy enough to be a full-time windsurfer away from home and chasing my dream." (windsurf.co.uk, 08 Jun 2020; sailweb.co.uk, 24 Apr 2020)

KITESURFING
He began kitesurfing in 2012 when the International Sailing Federation announced it would replace windsurfing with kitesurfing for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a move that was ultimately reversed and windsurfing remained in Rio. "I really love windsurfing, back in 2012 when windsurfing was [temporarily] replaced for kitesurfing, I spent a huge amount of time learning to kite then kite race and was determined to be the best at it. I still kitesurf a lot now [in 2020], but I never truly had the passion for it as I do for windsurfing." (windsurf.co.uk, 08 Jun 2020; kitegeneration.com, 09 Nov 2012)

SKIMPY JOGGING
In 2019 and 2020 he began producing a video blog entitled 'Jog In Ur Undies', in which he films himself using a selfie stick jogging in his underwear in exotic locations, such as the Algarve coast in Portugal. (YouTube channel, 03 Dec 2019)

CRUSHED BOARD
In 2016 his board was crushed in the cargo hold of an international flight. "The life of an RSX windsurfer is mainly spent behind a check-in desk bending baggage allowance rules and unpacking bubble wrapped boards. Sometimes resulting in, as I'm sure you've seen, some seriously busted boards. Only the feeling of windsurfing can beat the relief of a whole, unscratched board when you get out to a regatta." (boards.co.uk, 08 Mar 2016)