JC: My plan for the latter part of winter was to be on hold for the Red Bull Storm Chase and hopefully hunting down the mother of Atlantic storms. By late February though, the only significant system was the so-called ‘Beast from the East’, with bitter cold winds from Siberia causing havoc across the country. The Met Office had issued a red warning, its most severe alert, as temperatures plunged and up to 50cm of snow fell while biting easterly winds caused snow drifts and made it all feel even colder! Yep, it was miserable and with no sight of the Red Bull Storm chase on the horizon all the UK had to offer was a snow chase! At least my children were happy with the threat of school and college shutdowns!
It was so cold that the Motley Crew red phone was barely able to flicker into action, but showing some true British spirit, Ross Williams and Ben Page had independently sent out messages to see if anyone was up for taking on the beast! After a few days of east winds, Ross’s home break of Ventnor can fire up nicely with wind swell and cross off conditions and I knew he would be keen to sail no matter what. The problem though was the town is an English version of San Francisco and so the only access to the beach is on steep winding roads and with black ice on the forecast, driving was looking tricky. A plan was hatched to try and go for it and head to Ventnor before the worst of the weather set in.