• Wear2 owner Jay Wild helps Tim Gourlay prepare for his epic Movember windsurfing challenge.

MOSMAN PARK’S Tim Gourlay will raise money for charity by windsurfing 1000km during Movember, culminating in an epic 240km sail from Cape Naturaliste to Perth.

A former windsurfing world champion, Gourlay says lots of people do long-distance bike rides to raise funds for the Movember Foundation, so he thought he’d mix it up with a windsurfing challenge.

“I’ll have to be out pretty much every day,” he says.

“It will mainly be around Fremantle and out to the islands; I’ll do trips out to Garden Island, Carnac and Rottnest. 

“I work in ship hydrodynamics, so I know to stay out of the way of the ships!

“The board is an old racing windsurfer which goes well upwind, so I’ll probably do some trips up and down the river between Fremantle and Perth too.

“I’ll try to windsurf from Cape Naturaliste back to Perth: I’ll sail as far as I can each day, and sleep in a campground or on the beach at night. I expect to be pretty sore at the end of that.”

Gourlay is a bit of a modest wind-surfing ace – he won the Windsurfer LT lightweight world title in 2019 at Lake Garda in Italy, and is not long back from the 2022 windsurfing world championships in Italy, where at the age of 49 he came third in the lightweight division.

He says he first started raising money for the Movember Foundation, which highlights men’s health issues, back in his uni days in Adelaide in the 1990s.

“Since then, it’s become a major charity, raising money for men’s mental health and suicide prevention,” Gourley says. 

“Talking to your mates is good and talking to someone independent is also good. 

“Movember works on other men’s health issues, such as testicular cancer and prostate cancer.”

Fellow wind-surfing ace and friend Jay Wild – who also competed at the 2022 windsurfing world championships and came fourth in the medium light division – has donated $1000 to the challenge.

“We recently had a mate from the windsurfing community take his own life back in July so it make this mission even more poignant,” he says.

For the past 13 years, Wild has run Wear2 in Fremantle, a clothes shop with an eclectic mix of surfwear, vintage clothing, rock merch, local brands and footwear.

He says Gourlay came up with the idea for the “crazy” 1000km challenge when they were in Sicily competing at the world championships. 

“It’s a great cause to be involved with and it will be a very challenging month for him especially the run from Cape Nat to Freo,” Wild says. 

“He is an experienced hand at this sort of thing. A couple of years ago as part of Movember, he windsurfed from Perth to Geraldton, camping at remote islands and beaches along the way. 

“He hit some pretty inclement weather along the way but pulled off the stunt nonetheless!”

To donate money to Gourlay’s Movember challenge go to au.movember.com/mospace/14165763

By STEPHEN POLLOCK