8.30am: JC: It is definitely way colder than on the south coast up here. We park the van up to check the conditions with mystical sheer cliffs surrounding us. The place already has an intimidating feel about it even without any sign of hostile surfers. It is way too windy for surfing today, that’s for sure. The crisp morning light turns everything golden including a North Sea barreling wave breaking out to the left of us. My hands are numb moments after I am outside the van. God knows how Timo will manage sailing in this icy weather. The wind is really kicking in already and Timo is debating between a 4 and a 4.2 as we both watch huge spray lifting from the waves in the distance.
8.30am: Timo: I have sailed this spot quite a few times now, it is a full on hard-core, horrendous launch over rocks, gusty cross-off winds and then the wave itself is probably one of the heaviest, barreling surfing waves in Europe! That might sound like hell to most windsurfers but having sailed this spot on smaller swells and seen its power I really wanted to tackle it on a macking day.
9.am: JC: I have been hiking around the coast for half an hour. Timo had given me instructions to head downwind round the base of the cliffs to shoot the wave. The wind swirling round must be forty to fifty knots while crumbling rocks falling from above add to the hazardous conditions’. There does not seem like too much room at the base of these cliffs even at low tide. Maybe the water is already flooding in? Out on the water it’s howling cross-offshore, with plumes of spray flying high in the air as the waves smash onto the reefs. It is survival conditions both on and off the water, make no bones about it. If anything goes wrong for Timo, there don’t seem too many options to make it back in especially with the ferocious looking rips and lack of landing spots at the base of the cliffs.