TIMO MULLEN
T
his low pressure system was like the elephant in the room, it just
wouldn’t go away! Normally when these sort of weather systems
show up they promise the world but quickly disappear. But this
system just kept getting better, in fact, I don’t think I have ever
seen such a perfect low. Bigbury is a popular windsurfing and
surf spot, it picks up loads of SW swell, but in my experience (I lived at
Bigbury for a few years) it rarely gets epic as it needs a very specific and
elusive combination of wind and swell to fire. In fact the last time it worked
perfectly was about 15 years ago!! Myself and JC both use the webcam
at Bigbury as our go-to webcam to check for surf on the south coast of
England, so we are pretty familiar on what sort of swell works here and the
forecast 6-8 feet @ 17 seconds we knew would be epic. Obviously we needed
wind too and we were not to be disappointed, this rare low was producing
E/NE winds at 20-25 knots which is perfect cross-offshore at Bigbury. We
knew the swell was due to hit late and last for two days, but when we pulled
up to the beach at about 11 a.m. it was flat, and when I say flat, I mean flat,
barely 1 foot! Suddenly our decision was not looking so good, but we knew
the swell was coming, we just had to wait! Within two hours the swell really
started to pick up and at 2 p.m. I hit the water. My first wave was logo high
and just perfect, and within half an hour the swell was pumping - solid mast
high and getting bigger!
I was using my Severne Blade 4.7, teamed up with my trusty Severne
Mako 91 litre, a perfect combo. for the day. My Mako 91 is such a reliable
bit of kit as it is super floaty but works perfectly even when it is hollow and
pumping! And it really was pumping, the wind was pretty offshore so it was
really difficult to catch waves as the swell had so much energy and speed you
really had to work hard as otherwise the waves would just push through and
you could get blown out the back, which is why I opted for a slightly bigger
board. It was a day for big aerials, the lip just was being held up perfectly
to give a very hollow and sucky target that just begged to be hit! Bigbury is
a river mouth style break, which means the wave does peel, but as it was so
offshore it was actually pretty hard to get some good turns in, but like I said,
the aerials were insane!!
I sailed until dark and by the end of the day the swell had fully hit with
every set consistently mast high. With the forecast for more wind and waves,
we booked a hotel close by so we would be on it the following morning. I
went to university in nearby Plymouth, so it was tempting to hit the town
for a few beers, but we decided to be sensible and save our energy for the
next day and opted instead for a quiet local pub. Well, out of all the beautiful
pubs that we could have chosen, we managed to pick the roughest, dingiest
pub in England, where the best looking women was a man! Fortunately that
would help us stay for just a few beers and home for an early night. The next
day at the beach it was still pumping, maybe slightly smaller than the night
before, so we knew we had to make the most of a now dying swell, the wind
was also pretty light. As it was a Saturday there was a lot of windsurfers and
surfers already at the beach. My friend Paul Hunt had been at a big party the
night before and fair play had managed to make it to the beach early despite
a long drive and by the sounds of things a very heavy night! Unfortunately
for Paul he didn’t last longer than 2 waves and after a pretty hungover aerial
he twisted his foot badly and suffered a Lisfranc injury, likely putting him
out of action for a year!
We sailed all day again in logo to mast high perfect conditions, it was
great to see so many old faces from the last great day here 15 years ago,
with everyone shocked at how long it has been since that last epic session.
Personally I have never had so many good waves in 2 days, it was flawless
and even sunny, by 1 p.m. the swell had almost dropped completely with the
filling tide, so it even turned out that we were able to make our way home
early, keeping wives and family happy. Could this have been the first Motley
Crew trip without mishap? Well if you ignore the dodgy pub, missing my
mate’s 40th birthday party, and the fact Hunty broke his foot, I guess this
did turn out to be a perfect trip!
BIGBURY
“ WE KNEW THE SWELL WAS
COMING, WE JUST HAD TO WAIT!.”
20 JULY 2019
Timo clocking up his air miles.