MOTIVATION
Sitting in the warmth of my van the conditions looked incredible. Logo-high waves perfectly groomed by a 30-knot cross-off Westerly wind. It was mid-tide (perfect) and wall-to-wall sunshine, the only drawback being the wind-chill factor! To be fair, even in winter, a bit of sunshine boosts my enthusiasm tenfold, so it didn’t take me long to rig-up my 4.0m Severne Blade and hit the water.
The fact was that, anywhere else in the world, these conditions would be described as epic! Hitting the water it was immediately apparent that the wind was nuking, but pretty gusty due to it being cross-off. It was probably more WSW than pure W wind. As I dropped into my first wave, a glassy-smooth logo-high wall, any thoughts of shifty wind and freezing temperatures were long gone! As far as beachbreaks go, the spot is right up there with the likes of Cornwall and Wales’ best. Many people are surprised to hear how good the waves are in the North East but you have to remember the North Sea is a pretty huge expanse of water and groundswells from way North of Scotland focus their power all along this stretch of coastline.
It took me quite a few waves to get fully dialled into the conditions as the peak was shifting around a fair bit. The outside section was quite soft but the faster inside section was pretty heavy with a throwing lip to smack airs and Goiters. I soon found out just how heavy one of those inside sections really was – mistiming a late hit I was sent back to my van with a trashed rig!
