While I was walking back to my van a local photographer approached me on the beach, he wasn’t the sort of photographer I’m used to! This guy looked professional, seemed happy and full of enthusiasm – the polar opposite to my partner in crime JC! As it turned out this snapper was from the regional press and travelling along the whole NE coast taking shots of the extreme weather that day. One of the shots he took of me windsurfing appeared in nearly every major newspaper the next day, including even the Sun, not Page 3, but as close as I’m ever going to get to a Page 3 bird!
Despite the cold I quickly rigged-up my 4.2m and by the time I hit the water again the conditions really were firing. The wind had swung more Westerly allowing for a few more jumps and rocket air was unavoidable. The softer, but bigger waves on the outside were perfect for lining up for some sky-high Backloops. I was alternating boards between my Quad 76 and my Evo single fin 81. It was interesting to see the difference between the two setups, and I guess, for JC at least, it made the pictures look a bit more interesting as we were completely on our own the whole day.
I guess ‘normal’ people have to work mid-week! As predicted, the wind started to drop slightly by mid-afternoon. Now, normally I would’ve called it a day having already sailed for nearly five hours already but that is the strange thing about windsurfing. As I was de-rigging I kept looking at the conditions and thinking, ‘That’s still going off – I can’t pack up yet!’
