MISSION ON
Summer of 2012 was equally fruitless with too many trips away and bad forecasts. Finally, after almost three years, an opportunity materialised and at the beginning of September we sourced a boat driver mad enough to agree to take us. With winter looming, plus upcoming commitments with PWA events in Denmark, Germany and the Red Bull Storm Chase, it was now or never! We needed wind from the south west below 20 knots, otherwise it would be much too rough for a small boat, plus hopefully some sunshine and a whole load of luck to pull this mad mission off. My partners in crime for the day were Nik Baker and his right-hand man [paddleboarder] Jay ‘JSUP’ Manning, plus our trusty boat driver ‘Kev’ – a local fisherman from the Isle of Sheppey.
In order to score the tides for this covert operation, Kev instructed us to rendezvous on the waterfront in Sheppey at 8 a.m. so we could check the weather for the green light to go. For me this meant a covert mission off the Isle of Wight and a train down to Nik’s house in Shoreham so we could be ready for a 5.30 a.m. departure on our own personal D-day. En-route, after a mandatory stop off in McDonalds for Double Egg McMuffins and coffee, the forecast had dipped right down to 6-10 knots and I was starting to wonder if this mad idea had been doomed right from the start. Was there some kind of strange curse coming from those huge metal monsters out to sea?
