COMPUTER teacher Tamsin Green spends her school days surfing the internet – and her days off boarding on the waves.

Tamsin hit the surf at America’s North Carolina coast to see off competitors from across the globe and claim the one prize missing from her trophy cabinet.

Yet the story could have had an unhappy ending, with the IT teacher having to rely on a roll of sticky tape to plug the holes in her battered and broken boat.

“I was slightly concerned after knocking holes in it, and for the final it was stuck together with duct tape,” said the 36-year-old, from High Hauxley, Northumberland.

“My boat wouldn’t have taken another hit without coming apart and sinking.”

However, fortune was clearly on the side of the adventurous teacher, who had already enjoyed a stroke of luck before the contest began when organisers were forced to move the championships because Hurricane Irene wiped out roads in the region.

“Where we were, the waves were awesome – I think they averaged 4-7ft – and conditions were quite similar to the North East,” said Mrs Green, who previously claimed the European and World Cup titles in 2008 and the British title on numerous occasions.

She was introduced to the sport six years ago by her husband Dan, a former Army engineer who now works with the search and rescue helicopters at RAF Boulmer.

As well as winning the high-performance short boat class, Mrs Green also came fourth in the long boat section, while Dan, 33, who at one stage in the competition believed he’d dislocated his shoulder, came 25th in the men’s contest.

However, England failed to defend their team title from 2009, losing out to the Basque Spaniards.