sSs Team Rider, Russ Tetlow is possibly one of the most addicted windsurfing amateurs in the UK. Here's a brief excerpt from his windsurfing diary from June:
''Last weekend (Sat 19 June) saw the second of two twin trips covering East Runton and Wells Next the Sea, three weeks ago (Bank Holiday Monday 31st May) it was that way round, and this weekend juss gone it was Wells 1st.
My travelling partner was the aged Richard Jayes (61 years young), plumber by trade but keen as old mustard, don't know where he gets the energy, but he does and I salute him. Not your most radical sailor so he'll never be the best partner to push ones level of ability, but he joins me for most ventures, and usually manages to at least give it a go, which is admirable. Best thing is, he's finally seen the light and is now on RRD, he has two boards here, and one over in New Zealand. Sporting a Spartan wetsuit and an RRD harness, me thinks I may finally be having a little influence, he's even got one of my old Ezzy's.
Three week ago, when we turned up at Runton, I didn't even rig up, uninspired by the constantly changing conditions and regular rig changes other folk were perfoming. This one chap, finally gave up and headed off to Wells, which inspired us to follow some time later. It's weird, anyone who sails Wells oughta know that you can only sail it a couple or three hours each side of high tide, due to their being no water, but when we turned up and spoke to the one or two peeps sat rigging up, the car park had been chocka with windsurfers not long before we arrived only to clear a half hour before the tide got in and the wind went bonkers, fully loaded 4.7 mtr weather. In the car park there was hardly a breath, but 150 yards away, down the slip way the water was humming, sweet.
Cross off from the left, and only the second time I've sailed the place, I was aware of the sand bar effect of the water providing some nice bumps to accompany the strong and constant wind. The last time I sailed Wells was a loooooooong time ago, well before I ever dreamt of looping, and it was here that I first ever half rotated a back loop? I had no idea what I had done at the time, I only knew I had done something, and it felt pretty cool.
The first trip had not prepared me for what I was to encounter out the back! It was weird, there I am reaching, tacking etc to make it up wind to I had no idea what, when I noticed out on the horizon, what looked like a wall of water breaking out on a reef, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Its a very surreal experience when you've sailed the likes of Mauritius, the horizon is flat, but between the sky line and the water is this area of white stuff, I thought I was seeing things. I was following this one guy out, so I was not on my own (god knows where Rich was at this stage), but I couldn't help but worry, the break water is a long, long way out, and the light was fading, once I finally made it to where the action was I went over to this other sailor to tell him we best keep our eye out for one another, but it turned out that the tip of where the REAL stuff was, was as far as this guy was heading, so I may as well have been talking to my self.
The waves were BIG, 3/4 to mast easy, going vertical for some really nice back/push loop ramps, big, but weird, as you had one wave coming in from the left, and then another coming straight at you!? So two waves, from two different dirctions? With the wind being quite onshore, there were times when the waves stole the wind and you'd be blubbing in what amounted to a kind of a whirl pool effect under your feet, and with no wind in your sail, add to that the fact that you were miles out to sea, at an unfamiliar shore with diminishing light and on your own and I have to confess, I was a little concerned. But concern be damned, I still hit the ramps a full tilt, tucking at the top to nail some pretty impressive feeling back rotations.
It was a relief when Rich finally turned up however, and my anxieties be damned, Rich was loving it, having finally got through to him that our reaches should be short, wanting to turn just past the impact zone, firstly to maximize the fun and secondly to keep each other within sight, ish, we managed another good half hour to 45 mins. The last time I'd sailed was at Rhosneigr in April where I'd be doing my stuff, and even managed to get the Missus to take some pics, amazingly, I even got some I liked, which is unusual, I like the vertical under the board thing going on (see photos) but on the two East coast days, the shutter never got a look in, which is a shame. At Rhos, I'd dragged Potter along who encouraged me to do one of those injury bound push loop things, and as if full-filling some pre determined path, I landed on the boom at the bottom of a one handed pushie, and bust a rib, which I'm still feeling the effects of!
Anyway, back to the story.... At Wells, half way through our final half hour I went to take off this thigh high ramp, I was going at it maxed out, no big deal, imagine yourself, just on the outbound reach and you come across a small wave to pop over. Only all of a sudden, it went over vertical and when I hit it, it was like hitting a brick wall! Ghaw the pain!!! I felt like I'd broken my leg. as a testement to what I had done to myself, let me say that I very rarely bruise, but bizzarely, a day later, and even though I hit the wave left leg leading, and the pain was all at that leading edge, I got a black, purple bruise on the inner right side of my left calf, even more bizzare, a day after that and the bruise had gone? Weird. What is it with me and injuries? I digress, we finished, or rather I did, blasting in, duck, race out, loop, bla bla bla cozz I thought I had me an ordience, right there on the slip way, then Rich starts waving me in, and I find it was the coast guard guys tapping their feet trying to get me off the water as it was now dark, oops. Secretly, and this is just between me and you, it felt good to be bad, kinda felt like I was back, yeah.
Any way last week, we sailed the locations the other way round, about three hours at Wells, and a Couple of hours at a dropping tide at East Runton.
When we turned up at Wells I was speaking to this old boy who I know (but forget his name) who told me that he knew that I'd been there at Wells on the previous Bank Holiday Monday, which is weird because he hadn't been there? Apparently my antics (back loops etc) had waranted a mention on some forum somewhere and although the unknown sailor riding Ezzy/RRD was thought to have been an electrician, this fella had connected the dots or something and had drawn the conclusion that it was me. Its nice when people can automatically pin point a set of moves to you as an individual, just out of thin air, nice to know your still making an impression.
Any way, although really windy again at Wells on this second trip, it was too onshore for the big stuff out the back to come into play, although there seemed like there was tons of wind, once you got out into the impact zone, the rip and wind shadow caused by the waves, meant all forward momentum was lost, leaving you in the impact zone of some big harsh tumblers which you wouldn't want to be playing with. So just blasting backwards and forwards with some mini back attempts and not too impressive forwards was the order of the day. It was fun, but not terrible stimulating and after three hours though, I was ready to pack up and go home, I was knackered, but not Rich, he wanted to go on to East Runton, so we kept the wet suits on and off we went. God bless his stamina.
Runton Looked Brilliant! Nice, big - waves, good spacing and bathed in brilliant sunshine. Runton. People suffer at Runton, it doesn't take a lot to bust your gear, and one sorry son and father combo, first broke their sail battens, and then they broke a mast. Mind you they were using Pryde's!
Some guy was out on some really old gear, stuff you would have seen on the water twenty to thirty years ago, but he was getting out, doing his stuff. At one point on the way down to the water I passed him and he had blood trickling down his head from an impact with something or other, but you godda love him, he was just changing his sail to get back out there. I've seen plenty of people who are good lake sailors, not manage to launch at Runton. The shore dump can be savage, get your mast pointing at the shore and it catches the hard lines of flint under the water line and snap, you don't stand a chance! Fall in, just once, and the rip starts to whip you off around the corner, dump, swim, dump, swim, snap, brutal. Its enough to make you hate the place, its a pain in the ass underfoot on the sharp flint once you get down onto the beach, its hard work getting down the slip way to the beach as the slipway funnels the wind and it really does make you wonder why on earth any one would voluntarily go sailing there in the first place, we even had to be called in to rescue this fella after he had been sailing. No word of a lie, his missus came to us asking for our help, he was down at the bottom of the slipway, collapsed onto his sail. We had to help him up the walk way, carry and derig his kit and everything, he'd just totally over done it, dude.
That said, I had a wicked good time, I tried the 4.2, but went back on the 4.7 It was a very difficult rigging choice, you would have not power enough going out, but too much coming in? The 4.7 had it though and for all its idiosyncrasies, Saturday the 19th June 2010 was probably the best day I've ever had at East Runton. Usually, I stear clear of the waves that break on the right hand side as you look out to sea, because you loose wind courtesy of the cliffe and the rip tide can be a real bugger, but, all on my lonesum, I stuck with it and had me some quality hard core wave action, I didn't get under no pealing lips, didn't score no arials and didn't try no 360's but the bits I did do were just so nice, scary, but such fun, what a joy.
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Cromer when the rip calls, ya gotta answer.
Russ at Rhos 05.04.2010
Richard Jayes 2010
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