DUNCAN COOMBS
“Wednesday’s forecast was one that caught my eye when checking Windguru. Winds that strong from the north are quite rare. The colours were purple meaning winds of storm to extreme storm force with a decent wind swell of around 5m. Porthleven could be on; these days the only time you can sail it without any surfers is when it is blown out. But the other spot that turns on is the breakwater at St Ives; with the biggest tide of the year it can form a super bank with sections linking together from Porthgwidden past the harbour wall and running through to the beach. I got a call from JC and Timo saying Levy was decent but smallish so we headed west to the breakwater.
It was windier than forecast, with structural damage to buildings! Aldi’s roof in Newquay was ripped off and the A30 was closed due to a lorry being blown over. I rigged a 4m on loan from Timo as I had nothing small enough; he was on a 3.7. The wave was medium size but with some decent sections grinding down the point. Blacky was ripping as usual and Timo bashing out 360’s. I picked off a few long ones with the first mutant sections sucking hard on the sand as they rattled down the north Cornish coast.
I was pretty much maxed out on a 4m and getting the rail in on the first bottom turn wasn’t easy. I had a few swims after my kit; the 5 knot rip current that takes it makes getting back onto the first section of the wave 300m upwind a challenge. Once you make it to your gear, you have to sail 2 km out and then tack back in with violent gusts making it more of an extreme endurance session than high performance. Wind chill of 5 degrees and freezing hands forced me in. A challenging but satisfying session. My tips in these conditions are to rig your sail flat, throw caution to the wind and always sail with mates!”