STORY

Thomas KOUSioris, GRE78 was born in Athens in 1978. In the last year of high school he started getting involved with windsurfing but only during the summer time. You could notice someone falling all the time. He was up and down all the time trying to learn the balance and how to get planning at his local spot Alepoxori. He was lucky though because Greece’s most famous and recognized Gymnastics academy writer and Professor Mr. John Satratzemis happened to be watching him, having his own countryside house near the beach at Alepoxori. Mr. John Satratzemis had already been windsurfing and offered plenty of help to him during his early progress in the windsurfing arena. After finishing high school he decided to go study in the University of London in order to become Electrical & Electronic Engineer. Being in the centre of London was a hard task planning going in to the sea for windsurfing. So when he finished the BSc degree he continued to complete his studies in the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. As he had more time there he organized the university windsurfing club and when it was windy started training together with Local Scottish windsurfers (Martin and Big Dave) down to Barassie and Troon beach. He traveled all around Scotland and sailed in the North Sea (east), Irish Sea (west) and the Atlantic Ocean. Since then he started being totally addicted to windsurfing. His level went from down the bottom up to a really good standard. In 2000 he created the 1st ever free personal Greek wave windsurfing site while he was in the university. In 2001 he returned back from the cold and rough conditions and started revolutionize the Greek wave windsurfing scene. In 2003 after finishing the army in Greece he worked in Mercedes for one year. He formed a repair and truck seller business in 2004 and runs his own business KOUSgroup regarding Mercedes trucks ever since.

As far as windsurfing is concerned he is the most recognized Greek wave sailor worldwide famous for his trademark JUDAS move (one footed table top) featured in Boards Magazine in June 2004 that revolutionized the Greek wave sailing scene back in 2004. In 2006 he created the 1st ever Greek wave windsurfing team, the wave warriors team that helped the new generation Greek windsurfers in Greece progress further and push their limits more. Nowadays wavewarriors.gr addresses to gre78.gr as the target has been accomplished. He is a local hero and pretty much Greece’s most famous windsurfing wave warrior. Published in more that 150 magazines and newspapers up to the day, has been featured in the European Kite and Windsurfing guide representing Greece, in Red Bull Storm Chase DVD, as a cover in 3S Greek windsurfing magazine in July 2010, in TV and today still gets plenty of coverage through the web in sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Faceboook, Twitter, Instagram and many more. He firmly holds strong the title of the wave warrior in Greece and is by far the most viewed and respected Greek wave windsurfer worldwide.

Excellent moments were captured on film and on photos. He was the 1st to introduce the approach of video and photo shooting while windsurfing in Greece. Nowadays top Greek wave and freestyle windsurfing locals follow his footsteps and are moving Greek wave and freestyle windsurfing forward. “This is definitely a very big step forward and I am very proud about them. In the beginning they misunderstood me for having a cameraman following me around and thought I was doing it in order to get everybody’s attention. Nowadays plenty of good Greek wave and freestyle sailors not only do the same but have a camera in their head also as well and film themselves. I am happy they opened up their eyes and show the benefits. In the area of freestyle we have sailors that are in a very top level and in the wave arena sailors who are pushing the limits more and more. I believe that if they combine a good nutrition with training in the gym, biking and SUP during the non sailing days, then they will be able to challenge the top professional athletes. They are doing a good job also in promoting windsurfing in Greece worldwide so I am really proud about them. You know it’s really strange because I haven’t told them so. I have a really busy schedule trying to combine my business side of life with windsurfing, other activities and family obligations. I am always in a rush and I guess many think that cannot approach me easily but that’s not the truth. I wish the day had 48 hours. Unfortunately, there is not enough time sometimes not even to chat around but overall I am quite happy at least to still windsurf and being active as much as possible.”

KOUS retired in May 2015 and since then is having much more fun and windsurfs only when he wants to. Although retired he still pushes the boundaries harder than ever before and is progressing the Greek wave windsurfing scene. Cooperates with the best of the best for his equipment and promotes radical windsurfing from Greece worldwide through his private video and photo shooting sessions.

When KOUS is not working in his business kousgroup.gr he will be windsurfing (if there is more than force 6), or practising SUP, biking in the mountain or in the road, swimming, playing tennis, beach volleyball and when is cold and rainy he will be in the gym building up his muscles. KOUS also started playing table tennis again after many years and is trying to reach a good level in order to compete in table tennis tournaments. He is training with the best in order to try and achieve that. New generation table tennis is simply an awesome indoor sport. This site is mostly dedicated to windsurfing in waves, promoting Greece, while still capturing the best moments of our own Greek windsurfing wave warrior KOUS and presenting the other activities and lifestyle of THE MAN…Hope you enjoy…