34 AUGUST 2019
KIMMERIDGE
TIMO MULLEN
Since moving to Poole in Dorset nearly 24 years
ago, I have had the pleasure of calling Kimmeridge
Bay my home spot. Kimmeridge or K-Bay is well
known for its amazing windsurfing conditions,
epic surf and stunning scenery. Kimmeridge
lies within a World Heritage Site and with its
far reaching views along the spectacular Jurassic
Coast, it’s easy to see why Kimmeridge ranks as
one of the UK’s most beautiful windsurfing spots.
RARE JEWEL
Kimmeridge faces SW, meaning a SE wind is pretty
much side shore port tack, and so can randomly
produce epic wave sailing when most other places
on the south coast are bolt onshore. Now SE wind
is not exactly rare, but a combination of SE wind
and a ground swell is! In fact, I reckon in 24 years
of sailing at Kimmeridge, I have probably only
scored this combination a handful of times, but
have been skunked a lot more times than that!
This forecast had been brewing for a while,
there had been a really solid few days of swell
on the south coast as a stubborn low pressure
had parked itself in the Bay of Biscay and wasn’t
moving thanks to an equally stubborn high
pressure sitting over the UK, providing offshore
light easterly winds. The surfing had been pretty
epic with some locals calling it the best week of
surf they could remember. As the high and low
pressure systems began to try and squeeze each
other out, the isobars began to tighten just enough
to give a glimmer of hope of some stronger wind.
Unfortunately the margin for error in the wind
direction for Kimmeridge is minimal, it has to be
bang on SE, too much east and it is too offshore
as the wind bends away from the land due to the
cliffs, too much south and it is basically onshore!
I gave the heads up to the boys the night
before, they were pretty dubious, I think when
you have been skunked so many times it is hard
to justify driving a long way on a ‘maybe’. I think
that is one of the reasons that living close by
helps a lot at Kimmeridge, it really is one of those
spots you have to just go to on the off chance of
scoring something epic. Kimmeridge rewards
perseverance, I know many a seasoned travelling
windsurfer who has yet to score a good day at
Kimmeridge, but the key is to keep trying!
EARLY BIRD
I arrived pretty early as I knew the surf would be
good, so I was keen to score a few waves before
the wind filled in, but luckily as I pulled up a
few of the local surfers were just coming in and
complaining that the wind was messing up the
clean swell, music to my ears!! However, it was by
no means howling, maybe 10-12 knots, but the
direction was perfect and there was some solid
sets, logo high at least. As the rest of the boys
started to arrive they were not as convinced as I
was, in fairness the wind was very light, but I knew
in this direction the wind always seems a little bit
stronger at the break than on land. The surfers
call it the ‘devil wind’, as it looks perfect from the
beach, but when you actually get out in the surf it
is pretty windy!
I opted for my faithful Severne Mako 91 and
my 5.3 Blade, it was pretty wobbly to get out, but
with a few pumps of my sail I was soon gliding
into the first of many epic rides. I could almost
see the clouds of dust from the rest of the boys
running back to rig up as quickly as possible once
they saw how good it was! I on the other hand was
not as keen for them to get out on the water as it
meant I only had another 15-20 minutes of the
break to myself!BREAKDOWN
There are 3 breaks that we sail on a SE wind. If it
is really big then the break furthest east handles
the swell best, it is called ‘Supertubes’, it is pretty
gnarly and as the name suggests hollow and takes
no prisoners. Then there is ‘Yellow Ledges’, a
mellow looking wave, but can lull you into a
false sense of security as it packs a punch on the
inside section. It also prefers hardly any wind as it
sits quite offshore and can get choppy quickly and
turn into a bit of a mess, but on the flip side the
surfers don’t hang around for long! Lastly there
is the ‘Ledges’, which is the most popular surfing
wave at Kimmeridge; for windsurfing it provides
plenty of bowls to launch aerials and is the easiest
to access as it is straight in front of the launch site.
My first session was at ‘Yellow Ledges’ as the
wind was so light; it was really good as the swell
pulsed to mast high just as I launched. The rides
were very long, 6-7 full speed bottom turns with
plenty of carve and aerial sections; and with the
sun shining it felt more like Western Australia
than the West Country! As the wind picked up a
bit more and the surfers thinned out, we all started
to drift down to the ‘Ledges’ where the waves were
now a lot punchier than ‘Yellow’s’. After a few
solid aerials I started to wonder should we have
been here earlier; the tide plays such an important
part in shaping the wave at Kimmeridge, meaning
an hour can make all the difference to any of
the spots. All the boys were ripping, I think the
knowledge that we might not see a day like this
for a long while made everyone step up their
game! Kimmeridge remains one of my favourite
places to windsurf in the world, not only is it my
home break, but I think the unpredictability of
the spot also adds to the allure. When the weather
forecaster mentions SE winds it definitely gets my
pulse racing!Glorious Kimmeridge Bay. Timo hucks it over a Kimmeridge lip.