BEST LAID PLANS
Jamie, by now our established logistics man, managed to source a fantastic deal in the lovely Royal Hotel in Stornaway so at last we could score a decent night’s sleep in a real bed, thank the Lord! Unfortunately in the room there were only two luxurious beds and a pull out sofa, with Yours Truly doomed to the sofa bed after a heated debate. The next morning, fuelled-up with a full Scottish breakfast, we headed back across the Island hoping for our just rewards after all this ridiculous travel. Our rough plan was, a full day on the water, another night in the hotel and then a morning session on Saturday before catching the 2pm ferry to Ullapool followed by the final hellish twelve-hour drive back to the English south coast! The forecast was calling for 35-knot south west winds and 4m swell, rising to 5m on Saturday with west wind, so we were all confident of scoring. We were all screaming as we pulled over the hill at Brager and stared down on perfect peeling waves. But the reality turned out that the wind was bolt offshore and much lighter than the predicted thirty knots. Next stop was Barvas, a classic set-up with logo-high peeling waves wrapping round a point and into the bay. The wind was still on the light side on the inside and not helped by the huge rain squalls passing through, but it looked like enough for our first Scottish session. Out on the water the waves were way bigger than they looked from the beach and when Timo dropped into his first bomb it took us all by surprise. The wave was solid mast-high and packed with power. Looking upwind towards the next break, called Bru, the sets were really starting to grind in with huge plumes of spray billowing off their tops. We scored a pretty heavy session for the next two hours before one almighty rain squall forced the crew off the water and me to run for cover.
Next stop we were back at Brager hoping that the wind had flicked around from earlier being bolt offshore, but Timo was not too bothered at the sight of feathering, peeling barrels spitting across the reef so once again it was an epic surf session to finish of a solid day. That evening we feasted at the local curry house in Stornaway along with a few pints of fine Scottish Ale to wash it all down. Despite not scoring strong winds we were all pumped that the waves were smoking and we had scored Barvas at solid mast high.