ROSS WILLIAMS
“Sailing in Ophelia was always going to be a hard mission. I was tracking the storm for about 5 days before we decided to shoot down to Cornwall, we were originally thinking about heading over to Ireland, but sailing in the eye of the storm seemed risky. As the years go by my desire to do the totally insane might have lowered some, I think having Thomas Traversa on the team is great, as I know he will always go to the extremes and so this allows me to be more selective with my strike missions. I am more into clean waves and lighter winds then just getting blown off the water and not enjoying my sailing. So looking at the forecast I was keen to get close to the storm but maybe tuck away in a more sheltered corner of a bay. Turning up at Gwithian’s that morning was a letdown, the sea was completely flat! We kind of knew this would be the case but still you can’t help but feel a little disappointed and start to second guess your choice of beach. It was tempting to cut and run to the south coast where we were hearing reports of a building swell and very strong winds, but in the end we decided to stick to our guns wait for the real steel to hit and then hopefully score some sort of quality waveriding. During the course of the next few nervous hours, we sat there watching as Ophelia unleashed her power over the water. It was truly a special sight to see. The gusts were so strong that patches of smoky mist were flying across the sea surface, but unfortunately no waves to match the crazy wind.
As it got to about 2-2.30pm we started to see the first signs of the waves picking up and within the space of about an hour we went from flat to over mast high at Gwithian and totally out of control. The forecast was right on the money and we knew with the wind clocking around more westerly we need to drive up more into the corner of St Ives bay. My choice of sail for the session was the smallest in my quiver! 3.3m, well actually 3.7m as stupidly when I picked up my new 2018 Manics from Germany I had mistakenly taken 2 x 3.7m instead of a 3.3m and a 3.7m. Oh dear! So I handed my “spare” to Duncan Coombes who had also timed his arrival to the session perfectly and we both headed out onto the water. I was riding the 80 Da Curve, the first time I had stepped foot on such a small wave board in a couple of seasons! From the moment I rode my first wave I knew it was a sick combo. The board was fast and cut through the chop there was on the wave like a knife through butter! On a board any bigger and I think would have struggled! I think that is the key to riding these extreme windy days. The right equipment can make the difference between a crappy sail and an amazing one! The biggest waves were mainly close outs and didn’t really allow for the smooth linking turns and airs that I was hunting for. So I was selective to take the more peaky waves that would allow me to push the high performance equipment I was riding to the limits of my abilities.
As the session went on, it became clear that we had made the right call to come here and wait it out. I had a few lovely rides on smooth clean waves and critical hits pushing spray and my fins through the lip. When we eventually packed up it was just about dark! I was stoked. Job done! We had seen the power of Ophelia, but still managed to find the right spot to enjoy and push our sailing and for me this was the most important thing!”