3 P.M.
JC: On the bright side we hit a glorious initial hour of sunshine despite the tricky conditions. The tide soon sweeps in over the rocks and there is no shortage of wind with Timo well powered on a 4.2m. But the side shore wind is not quite what we came to Lewis for! We have something in the bag but we need Bragar to fire or we will be driving home disappointed! Timo smashes his face into his sail attempting a goiter but doesn’t seem too phased!
6 P.M.
JC: Just as we are packing up, we spot a soul windsurfer on the loch blasting around on some ancient slalom gear. ‘That must be Roy’ declares Timo, he is one of the two windsurfers on the island. We watch for a while as he battles with the violent gusts before he returns to shore battered and bruised from a few nasty wipeouts. The offer of some hot soup and a coffee is welcome and we spend an hour or two at his house talking story about the island and tales of windsurfing exploits over the years.
8 P.M.
JC: After another check at Bragar, which is still flat, it’s back to Bus Stops, the next break down from Bru for another battle with the elements. With thick cloud overhead, I’m not too motivated but know that Timo will want to clock up some more hours on the water. As Timo launches he gets nailed by the shore dump, which dutifully smashes his prized Severne Nano on the rocks; not a great start. I decide to hike out to the point with my camera gear just in case of a burst of sunshine but know there won’t be much cover if the heavens open.
