VICTORY AT SEACLIFF!
VICTORY AT SEACLIFF!
VICTORY AT SEACLIFF!
The sleeping beast of the cold, dark east coast of Scotland woke up at the start of the year and has been firing non-stop ever since! Local rippers Luke Smith, Ruaraidh Somerville and Nick Jupp decided to try and score the elusive Seacliff Beach! They scored, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows… read all about it:
Photos: Richard Whitson…Recommendation…View these on a big screen! Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through the epic photos (they are slightly bigger and even more dramatic in full size!)
RUARAIDH SOMERVILLE
“I’ll leave the forecast science to Luke – when he picks up the red phone and tells me we’re going windsurfing, I just head home from the pub (err I mean university library!) and get an early night for the inevitable score the next day. This time Luke picked me up at a nice 7 o’clock, a lazy lay in for us dedicated Northerners! My thoughts were all over the place going into this session at Seacliff. Just a week previously we had scored pretty enormous and sketchy conditions at the same spot. The wave height had been about logo high at best, which ordinarily would have been a cause for celebration but until the tide gets too high and the spot gets un-sailably mushy, Seacliff is a scary closeout of a wave when it’s big. You get on what you think is a nice peeling right and then the whole thing whacks you in the face. I’d come out of last week’s session a little humbled, and as excited as I was for a second crack at it having had more mental preparation, I was nervous too.
Thankfully as we pulled up to the spot, it looked a lot more manageable than the other day: waves were still coming in at a nice size, but in more ordered lines and with less ominous crashing as they broke! The advantage of the spot when it’s not completely closed out is you can sail as far up next to the upwind peninsula of rocks, which form a handy point break and as you get more confident you can go further down the beach as it bends and tackle the heavier sections. The further advantage of the spot is upwind of the rocks is a relatively long period of open water and flat rocks, so the wind stays as clean as you could hope at such a venue. If you timed it right, you could get out with no real fuss… as Luke discovered the hard way, when he timed it wrong on his first run out and got smashed by a chunky set wave. I followed, laughing at his misfortune like the cruel soul I am, not knowing what karma I was invoking as I did!
The session went well – I began by picking off some of the smaller sets and building confidence, slowly figuring out the spot. It’s very rocky and there’s a ton of current moving about, so the wave tends to be very unpredictable and when you’re messing with chunky waves, rocks, and ice-cold water, this tends to push you into more conservative windsurfing habits.
Still, the session went well and as the tide pushed in and more water filled the bay, the waves got a bit softer and more attackable. The frustrating side of this is as I got more confident in my ability to hit the steep closeout sections, those especially rewarding waves started getting fewer and fewer. I started chasing down the last of the big ones, convinced I would find the perfect section, until I was handed my karma from laughing at Luke at the beginning of the session.
My mantra on each wipeout had been “don’t let go of the kit”, because the current was so strong and swimming was a very uninviting option. The wave that hit me didn’t even give me the chance to hold on! I found myself swimming right in the worst of the current, and when the set that had taken me out finally dissipated on the shore and I caught sight of the sand, I realised I wasn’t even treading water… despite swimming as hard as I could, I realised I was very definitely moving backwards, and out to sea. This was not good! Luckily, there was another set closing in on me quickly, and there was enough force in the wave to let me bodysurf most of the way in. Even walking in thru the waist deep water, which looks pretty relaxing in Richard’s photos, felt like trying to walk through quick-dry cement!
My gear had been washed clear of the rocks, Luke had caught it, and the maintenance costs were still at a nice zero pounds and zero pence. I think we all got lucky that day – Nick, after getting a sick wave, got hammered on the rocks on the inside and escaped to tell the tale, kit and body unscathed! My ego was a bit knocked by the swim, and I weighed up my options – accept discretion as the greater part of valour, or get one last good one so my enduring memory of the session would be a good one. I figured, since the waves were getting softer, what could be the risk?! I’m glad I did, because I headed back out and got a nice wee air off a gentle foamy section to round off the day. With a good wave under my belt, a rapidly disappearing memory of a spooky swim, and what I knew would be a good album of dramatic keepsakes from Richard, I reckoned I’d had my fill.
Throughout the session I was on my old trusty combo – 4.2 Goya Banzai 11, and 75l Quatro Pyramid, with a 17cm and 9cm Incinerator thruster setup from K4 Fins. I’ve spent a lot of time on that sail and board combination and it’s been very good to me, especially in unpredictable conditions. Neoprene wise it was 6mm wetsuit and for my first time, equally thick boots… a surprising one given I loathe windsurfing in boots, but for some reason super thick boots feel better to me than thin ones! Maybe because they’re less flexible, so they can’t move around as much on your feet? I’m open to explanations! Anyways, there’s plenty more swell and wind hitting the East Coast over the coming weeks, and I reckon we’ll have more tales to tell! Until next time.”
LUKE SMITH
“Well day 1,000,000 on this run of east coast swell was great fun!! For the past what-seems-like-ages, a bitter easterly has been blowing the full width of the North Sea giving us around 12ft @ 10 seconds of straight east swell, and this day was very much the same. I’m a firm believer that the North Sea delivers the same ‘whallop’ with less swell period than the Atlantic – although I’m not sure how much science my hypothesis is based on!
We’re more used to storms passing higher north around Norway so this swell angle is fairly rare, all the same we’ve had a few goes recently here at ‘Sea Cliff’ to get our ‘eyes in’.
So, pulling up seeing what looked a touch smaller and more ‘rip-able’ than the last time I was super excited. That excitement lasted all of the first run out when, after getting separated from my kit and swimming against an almighty rip, I noticed that the beach was getting further away rather than closer… Option B being swimming parallel to the shore was out given that down-wind was ‘mast high’ and given the still very low tide, breaking onto dry rock… Option C was in, body surf as well as possible – and hope the kit gets pushed back out to you!
I’m not sure I fully got over that initial scare, but did manage to pick off some nice fun ones. Leaving the biggest of them for Ru – who definitely won ‘Man of the Match’ in my eyes.
With no signs of this East Coast run finishing soon, am looking forwards to more of the same coming up! Have to say the new Severne ‘Stone’ board makes me feel every bit ‘Jaeger Stone’ when sailing. Paired with the S1, at least the kit was ready for it!!”
NICK JUPP
“After a pretty exciting session the week before we invited Richard along to do some photos, hoping the conditions would be more manageable, I woke up nervous after seeing last week and just filming the boys in those really big waves . The issue was not just the size but how hollow and brutal closeouts some of them were. However, I really wanted to get a sail and I was hoping the size and the conditions would allow for some nice down the line.
We arrived pretty early to catch the tide and it looked more doable, don’t get me wrong it still looked dangerous in that there was some heavy waves breaking on the rocks but I was determined to give it a go so I rigged up 4.5 and went out. Luke warned me about the rip and so I was determined to stay up wind but also that at all cost to keep my gear so it’s a fairly nervous first run but I got out straight away and got on a wave straight away. Clearly they have loads of power in the wave and after a tentative top turn and managing to not get crushed by the powerful lip I tried one more run.. this didn’t go so well and I spent some time getting munched and the rip was unbelievable, but I held out to my gear and got back to the beach. I knew it was time to tactically withdraw and grab the camera. Overall, this was a great experience. What I really get from it is respect for the sea and appreciation of conditions where you can really go for it.
It was a great crew spanning 50 years, I am looking forward to more missions.”
The filmed footage is available for both sessions on my you tube channel @juppster5980
RICHARD WHITSON
“Just a few miles East of North Berwick on the Firth of Forth, under cliffs and against a stunning backdrop of the Bass-Rock and Tantallon Castle, lies the hidden gem of Seacliff Beach. After a prolonged spell of strong easterly winds and building swell an intrepid trio Nick, Ru, Luke, venture out to put themselves to the test.
Photo-wise:
Had been keen to shoot some extreme windsurfing action on the East-Lothian coast for an age so was delighted to get the call from the guys for a 30knt session with a 3m swell at Seacliff. My first visit and what a stunning venue it proved to be. I always like to get context in my shots by including background and wider views of the conditions, not just isolated shots of jumping, so as usual on a first visit I did a quick assessment of the possible shooting angles. Luckily the tide was a spring one and I arrived mid-tide so managed to get part way out on the rocky headland (St Baldred’s Boat) so as catch the action either with the Bass-Rock or with Tantallon Castle as a backdrop.
I would usually use a 600mm lens for shooting but ended up shooting mostly at 200mm given the majesty of the conditions and the backdrops. I could tell the conditions were a challenge for the guys and, given that it was only 5C air and 6C water temperature, I felt at some points I was on beach patrol keeping an eye on each of them in turn as they got rinsed or separated from their kit.
Fortunately, with a flooding tide all ended up safely back on the beach but stresses the importance in challenging or risky conditions of not sailing on your own and having a lookout on the beach. So much great action and nail-biting moments to capture but shot-wise, those with the castle as a backdrop were my choice picks of the day: but to get those you would need to shoot at mid or low-tide in order to get out on the rocks to get the angle. Overall, what a stunning venue given the right conditions and can’t wait to catch the next session!”
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