CAMERA BLUNDERS
Geoff had been on camera duty, so we had some evidence of Thurso East windsurfing in-the-can and now it was Geoffs turn to head out. I’d neatly stitched him up with sailing at low tide when the waves are smallest – and he’d neatly stitched me up by setting the camera to ‘bulb’. After my story of the last person drowning my camera, he’d kindly used the rain guard and spun all the dials on the top of the camera as he pulled it over. Program ‘Bulb’, aperture ‘20’ and not much light doesn’t make for discernible pics it seems …
Geoff had the place almost to himself for a couple of hours, screaming along the lovely Thurso East walls, before I decided I just had to head back out. It was now really starting to turn on. The tide was pushing in, the 10-ft. at 17-seconds swell was really starting to show itself. The wind was perfectly east and 30 mph., there were logo-high, logo-wide barrels – and the surfers were also heading back out. Pointing your board at the lip of a barreling nearly-mast-high wave, trying to backdoor it for an air with an approach speed of 35 mph. is perhaps one of the hardest things we as windsurfers ever have to do? I can tell you [from my motorbike experience] that taking a corner at 120 mph. on the edge of your tyres, within feet of other peoples’ elbows and your knee on the grass, really isn’t that trick. But, lining up moving, heavy lips with surfers bobbing about in the mix is really more than my brain can compute. Which brings us back to the beginning of my tale. My one and only hit on the heaviest part of the wave and the 10 seconds that truly made the whole 48 hrs. worthwhile – even if I did have my eyes closed!
As ever, my first thought is ‘when will it ever happen again?’ Imagine if it was bigger, less surfers, more wind? It’s such a fantastic wave, I’ll be checking the forecast daily and crossing my fingers for a long time to come.