KEVIN GREENSLADE
“I was really excited about doing this down winder, I’ve been along this coastline a number of times on yachts so was well aware of its natural beauty. To windsurf along it with four close mates and with JC hopefully catching some great shots for the memories was an amazing opportunity. With the wind blowing WNW it was always going to be gusty so I decided to rig for the lulls and hang on in the squalls taking my 8.6 GA Vapour and my 135 Tabou Manta (little did I know I could never have rigged for some of the lulls where the wind went right down to zero). Leaving Portland was awesome we had a solid breeze and were just having to wait around for the sun to play ball occasionally. We all blasted down to Overcombe pretty quickly as the first squall hit us on the way. When it rained we seemed to be left with massive lulls and after drifting down to Ringstead with only a few opportunities to get planing I have to admit we were all laughing about being completely becalmed in a massive hail storm. Deep down I was feeling pretty disappointed, thinking we had been skunked with the most beautiful part of the coast line still to come. We all drifted and carried on despite a reasonable swell making wallowing around in close to zero wind pretty tricky.
Ross had gone down the inside, in under the cliffs hoping for the wind and sun to arrive while Tris had ventured way out back in the search of a gust. With this I spotted that Tris had scored decent wind on the outside and it just happened to be followed by clearing blue skies. This was the stand out moment for me going from feeling a little bit pissed that we had been skunked by the wind, to blasting around in the sunshine whooping and hollering with the boys along what is probably the most beautiful area along the Jurassic coast. The colour of the water right under the chalk cliffs was just incredible by itself let alone with that scenery behind it. Rocking up at Lulworth cove was a great feeling with the mission accomplished and to no surprise the sun came out and the wind blew solid for the rest of the day!
There was plenty of the usual banter on the way home and for me, this was a really inspiring trip. I am pretty into the idea of the whole adventure side of our sport and have wanted to have a go at doing a cross channel trip from Weymouth to Cherbourg for charity for a few years now, so this has given me a small insight of what to expect. For sure I plan on doing more trips like this so if there are any other stretches of the coast JC wants to explore just give me a shout and I am in!”