SHOREHAM: HURRICANE LEE
John Carter looks back at one of those epic winter storms from 2023 where his day did not exactly go according to plan!
Words John Carter, Nik Baker, Lucas Meldrum and Sarah Jackson.
Photos: John Carter
After a lovely spell of warm weather in early September 2023, it did not take long before the first of the Autumn storms were upon as the remnants of Hurricane Lee battered the south coast of England on the 19th of September. John Carter was dispatched down to Shoreham to photograph the action as Nik Baker, Lucas Meldrum and Sarah Jackson went head to head with the forces of nature! Of course, with JC involved things didn’t go quite to plan…
STORM BREWING
After being away for two weeks at photo shoots in early September, I had four days at home before my next assignment for the PWA in Sylt. I had managed to completely miss the Indian summer and arrived back at home bang on cue with a monster storm, the remnants of Hurricane lee, which was set to hit on the 19th of September. My first thought was to stay at home and avoid any possible travel chaos that is usually associated with such wild weather but then after a message from Sarah Jackson, saying she was assembling her Duotone troops to face up to the wind and waves at ‘Shorekipa’, I felt drawn to head down to document the occasion. After all, I am never particularly happy when I miss shooting epic windsurfing in the UK and then seeing all the pictures and videos afterwards, FOMO they call it.
CHAIN OF CONSEQUENCE
Looking at the tides it seemed the possible best conditions were going to be late in the day so, I decided to head east bound in the early afternoon, which would still give the guys and gal, plenty of time score two wave sessions at Worthing and then Shoreham on the dropping tide. The wind was forecast perfect west southwest gusting over 40 knots for most of the day. With that strength wind waves should not be a problem. I carefully studied all the timetables to make sure I would have a smooth passage of travel and in my estimation, I reckoned I could be from my front door to Worthing in around 2.5 hours.
If you don’t know about some of my previous missions along the south coast, I have a very particular set of travel skills which I have acquired over a long career. Skills which have made such journeys nightmare for myself and all involved. I specialize in missing ferries, losing keys, travel chaos and generally having a miserable time! Sure enough this trip did not disappoint.
As I arrived in Ryde half an hour early, en route to the ferry from the Isle of Wight I was slightly perplexed when I spotted a boat at the end of the pier as they normally arrive ten minutes or so before departure. I immediately realized what I had done. I had looked at the timetable from Portsmouth to Ryde rather than the other way around so was totally out of sync with the times. All the hovercrafts were cancelled so this ferry was my only way of making it to the mainland. So now I had to wait a whole hour for the next ferry and that meant I would miss my scheduled train.
I finally made it to Portsmouth after the frustrating wait, but when I went to buy a train ticket at the machine, there was a message saying that the line to Brighton had just had a problem with the third rail, whatever that is. The guard confidently assured me that if I took the Cardiff train to the next station at Fratton, I would be able to connect with another line and still make it to Worthing on schedule. Of course, at Fratton all the trains were also cancelled but the next guard assured me that if I continued to Havant that there would be another train headed to Worthing. Something was telling me just to turn around and head home but I can be stubborn when I am on a mission so jumped on the next train and made it to Havant. Time was ticking by. I could see outside the station the branches of the trees were swishing around like they do when its hellishly windy and that meant I was missing the action every minute I was stuck at this stupid station. I’d suffered a similar journey at Christmas, last time Lucas Meldrum was involved and I was starting to wonder if he was a jinx!
MISSING OUT
Meanwhile, the messages were pinging through that Worthing was 3.3m conditions and epic jumping. I was already feeling doomed and FOMO was setting in. Every train headed east was flashing up cancelled and the clock was ticking away. Since arriving in Portsmouth, I had made it a mere two train stops in two and a half hours! I decided to call Nik Baker to tell him I was throwing in the towel. So far Nik had not sailed as he was about to go into the dentist to have a root canal procedure, which didn’t sound pleasant either. “Carter its firing down here, just keep on going, you can’t have come this far and then quit!” With his words of encouragement, I decided to soldier on, and after all I thought I would rather be sat on a train than have a dentist drilling into my gums, so my predicament was not that bad after all. Finally, a train headed east, appeared on the screen at Havant, which meant I would have to wait a further forty five minutes, but it was, at least headed to Worthing. I would be arriving late but wasn’t that supposed to be the best time anyway?
When I finally made it to Worthing, Nik Baker, who was fresh out of his torture session at the dentist was there to pick me up in his big silver Duotone van. He reckoned Worthing would be past its best on the dropping tide, so we decided to head straight to Shoreham which should turn on, on the drop.
GAME ON
After hours of frustration, we finally made it to Shoreham and I was relieved when I jumped out the van to be nearly blown over by the force of the wind. I was fearing it would drop off on arrival, knowing my luck or the effects of the Meldrum jinx. After a quick reconnaissance mission to check the waves, Nik was excited to see solid swell lines brewing on the outside, which should keep building with the outgoing tide. We were on! Nik sent a message to the rest of the crew who were packing up at Worthing to head down ASAP!
The weather was overcast with some rain in the air, but the wind was howling and the waves were already solid by the time Nik hit the water, so that was fine by me. After all the angst of the travel chaos, I was content to just be out in the fresh air and was excited to shoot the next hour or two of wild action. Of course, Shoreham is Nik’s home spot and where he learned all the basics of wave sailing in his early days windsurfing. Sailing Shoreham certainly has its own special skill set and Nik knows these conditions like the back of his hand. By the time Nik had hit the water, Lucas Meldrum, Sarah Jackson, Dave Dobrijevic and Hugo Dobrijevic, had all arrived from Worthing and gathered where I was stationed to check the conditions. Now Nik was the focal point for the crowd and my camera, so the pressure was on to raise his game. Of course, he did not disappoint, on his first wave he threw down some beautifully linked backside airs, before bottom turning to hit the inside bowl with a perfectly timed vertical hit. After gybing close to the shore, he was fully powered as he headed out towards the waves, hitting a juicy ramp with perfect precision, he launched into a perfect push loop and landed bolt upright. Seeing that, was enough to send Lucas and the rest of the crew running to their cars to rig up as fast as possible. For Hugo, launching a wing through the shore break was going to be tricky!
By the time Lucas hit the water, the tide was dropping fast and the waves were building nicely. He hit the water on his 3.7m Duotone Super_Hero and Grip 4 SLS to join Nik on the water. What ensued was some great comradery and also a battle of attrition, as each sailor traded off push loops, backside airs and frontside smacks in order to score the best shots. The beaches around the Brighton area are also the home stomping ground for Lucas and with Nik as a mentor, his skills have improved where he can give Nik a solid run for his money. Sarah was not far behind to hit the water and caught some decent waves before a small mission downwind after a crash but she valiantly fought her way back up wind to catch a few more decent rides before it eventually went too dark. Young Hugo Dobrijevic also put in a sterling effort on the water and was nailing some huge jumps out the back on his wing foil.
THE JINX
So, after all that travel frustration, the day did not work out so bad after all with Storm Lee delivering the ingredients for an intense late session at Shorekipa and the Duotone crew obliging with plenty of epic action. With the action over Sarah was kind enough to offer me a ride back to Portsmouth which went very smoothly compared to the Southern Rail journey, although I just missed the 8.20pm ferry by five minutes and had to wait an hour and a half for the next one. Sarah was not quite so lucky! Maybe it is me that is the jinx as the next morning when she woke up her van would not start and she was due in Manchester the next morning to catch her flight to Sylt to work for the PWA. After calling out roadside assistance they eventually managed to get her faithfully van to splutter into life and it made it back to Manchester somehow despite the engine light being on all the way home!
LUCAS MELDRUM
“We have not had much wind this year and I had been a bit out of practise. I thought I would have a bit of a break this summer after university, so I was refreshed and super excited to get back into it. The wind forecast was south-west at about 35-40 knots which was perfect for the south coast. JC came down to Brighton at Christmas with a similar forecast and there was hardly any wind. This time Storm Lee delivered. It was nuking all day. When we turned up it was still a bit too high tide with the shore break but the tide dropped fast and it was just getting better and better by the minute. It was much better downwind where Nik Baker chose to launch. The wind was strong all the way to the beach was the key to making it so epic. It was great to sail with Nik, he is still doing the moves and still has that magic vertical style and power in the waves. That was definitely one of the best sessions I have ever had a Shoreham!”.
NIK BAKER
“I had not really windsurfed that much this year if I am honest, so I was excited when I heard Storm Lee was about to hit. I was keen to ride the new 2024 Duotone kit after the switchover. British rail let us down again for poor old Carter. It was nice to sail at Shoreham, where I was brought up sailing, especially after that horrible root canal. It is awesome to have Lucas around as he has been sailing in Cornwall for a few years, while at university. Hugo took the wing out and boosted some big airs. Shoreham does not look so big from the beach but where the waves were breaking it was solid. It is not an easy place to sail. I was fully powered on my 4.2m Super_Hero SLS, with the new Grip 3 79 litre. You need to be loaded off the beach with all the current that was running. I made sure I was powered. It could have been 3.7m weather but I went 4.2m as I am 92 ‘blimming’ kilos. If you get stuck without power for the first fifty yards, then you are toast. It was a bit more onshore than I had hoped but I managed to get some backside airs, a few decent push loops and a couple of nice back loops. We have not had wind for a while but all in all it was a pretty epic day for Shoreham. That was the first big storm going into the winter and hopefully that lines up for a good season while the water is still warm.”
SARAH JACKSON
“What a day that was! For me it started perfectly – a dawn patrol session at East Wittering was the ideal wake up to get a day of storm chasing started. And from that point onwards, the chaos erupted – of course, that was when JC considered leaving the house. Looking back on our WhatsApp chat from that day still makes me laugh with the back-and-forth messages and photos in which JC seems to blame on the weather on his travel woes although I’m not sure that’s 100% of the story… Yet despite all of the dramas, he turned up exactly at the right time, as always, to capture the end of a wild and stormy day on the South Coast with the DUOTONE crew. I don’t get to sail much in the UK anymore, but I certainly made up for it with 3 sessions in 3 different spots all in one day! I will always be down for an Autumn storm chase if I’m around and this one didn’t disappoint.”
