WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017
5 P.M.
JC: It’s the hottest, stillest day you can imagine at home on the Isle of Wight with the temperature soaring to well over 30 degrees. I had just been for an after school SUP session with my son and Sandown Bay was as glassy as I have ever seen it. So thoughts of windsurfing and road trips were pretty much completely off my mind. Just as I was contemplating an icy cold beer and firing up the barbeque, my phone rings…it’s Timo! “It looks on for Scotland at the weekend and it’s the longest day of the year!” Not to be drawn in too early I agreed to check the weather and call him back. To be honest the last thing I wanted to do was drive up to Scotland as it was my eldest son’s school prom on Saturday night, marking the end of his time at school and I kind of wanted to be there to see him off!
8 P.M.
JC: Looking at the forecast I decided Timo was clutching at straws! The swell looked very questionable, 1.8M at 9 seconds with moderate WSW winds, so I decided to give him the cold shoulder! No way was I going to endure 24 hours of driving and two and a half days on the road just to shoot Timo scoring his windsurf fix in waist high waves!
9 P.M.
JC: Oh Lordy, it is all change within an hour! The updated forecast has turned into a potential pot of gold with this rare summer low pressure all wound up to deliver 5M waves and 30 knots of WSW wind. I had no idea how that forecast had jacked up in the space of 60 minutes but even so I decided to bide my time and wait until another update in the morning.