OLD HARRY! - JURASSIC COAST

OLD HARRY! – JURASSIC COAST

Some of the finest scenery on the planet is right here on our very own doorsteps in the UK. As windsurfers we have the perfect vehicle to take us to unique vantage points, but you can’t really just blast off up or down the coast, miles from your launch point on your own to check out a faraway landmark without some sort of back up. But if you have JC on hand, a RIB with a confident driver armed with communications, a safety plan and mission to go discover, well – then the coast is your oyster!

Words & Photos JOHN CARTER

(This feature originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of Windsurf Magazine. To read more features like this first, Print and Digital subscriptions are available. Prices include delivery globally for 10 x issues a year!)

JC: “This summer I have been constantly tinkering away with ideas of locations around the coast that would be awesome to photograph. Some have been new and some old that I have snapped before but in my books, could have been captured a hell of a lot better. One of my targets has been the Old Harry rocks, a pair of chalk stacks situated close to Handfast Point, a couple of miles north east of Swanage. I had shot there four or five years ago with Timo Mullen in light winds, but we had only been able to score about thirty minutes or so of sailing before our RIB had to return to base. I knew someday, it needed to be done again!

After the Austria PWA World cup I had just arrived home and that perfect sea breezy forecast was on the cards for the next few days. I knew this was a decent window of opportunity and action needed to be taken! There was no problem finding volunteers to come out and windsurf around Old Harry but finding a boat and a driver was a slightly bigger issue. Cue Andy ‘Bubble’ Chambers and his contacts with the Watersports academy in Poole and a shiny six metre RIB was at our disposal, even if it did mean I would have to go without beer for a few weeks to pay for it. One thing I have learned during my years of photographing windsurfing and waiting for weather is that there is no point beating around the bush. If you really want to do something, don’t keep putting it off and finding excuses not to do it; push the green light and go! Yep, the forecast was solid, boat rider in place, ‘no ifs, buts or maybes’; we were on!

We were looking at a pleasant enough spring afternoon; nice ‘n’ sunny and a decent sea breeze, probably 20 knots with no significant swell around. It certainly wasn’t that massive wave forecast that would have you quivering in your boots but nonetheless I was actually tingling with excitement when I left home headed for this adventure out to Old Harry. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, it is not that often that we make the effort to go check out amazing landscapes, even when they are close to home, so this was a chance to see an amazing physical feature with historical significance, with windsurfing action thrown in for good measure.

GEOLOGY
Thousands of years ago there was a ridge of chalk running along the south coast that joined the Isle of Wight to Poole in Dorset. Over the centuries this chalk has been eroded away and the infamous stretch of water known as the Solent was created. Yep this is the very water that keeps yours truly separated from the mainland, providing countless stories of missed ferries and travel mishaps. On my side of the Solent, the Needles majestically poke out from the cliffs on the west side of the island while approximately twelve miles away over the water, Old Harry marks the start of the incredible Jurassic Coast which extends for 95 miles all the way to East Devon. For geologists amongst us, you probably already know that the chalk was formed around 65 million years ago by a layer of calcium deposits from sea creatures dying and falling to the sea bed. ‘Plate tectonics’, ooh I remember that from geography, forced the chalk up above the sea level after the last ice age but at the end of that period the sea level rose and combined with erosion, channelled out the chalk ridge and the Needles and Old Harry in the process. To this day the chalk stacks are constantly eroding with regular cliff falls between Studland and Swanage. The sea exploits cracks in the chalk, eats away to form caves, these eventually form an arch and then collapse to form a stack! Next to Old Harry, there used to be another stack known as ‘Old Harrys Wife’ which fell into the sea back in 1896. Rather than be a widower, nature has provided Harry with a new wife, a smaller stack formed by more recent erosion. The larger clump of chalk that lies adjacent to Old Harry is known as ‘No man’s land’ while round the corner towards Swanage are the Pinnacles known as the ‘Haystack’ and the ‘Wedge’ respectively. Due to their isolation the stacks have been colonized by many breeding seabirds and even peregrine falcons.

“ Old Harry marks the start of the incredible Jurassic Coast which extends for 95 miles all the way to East Devon ” ^JC

RICH AND FAMOUS
We set off from Salterns Marina in Poole with our 6.5m RIB full to the brim with freestyle and freeride equipment to cover all eventualities, plus an experienced driver and myself. I have spent a lot of time in and around boats over the years and generally most canny captains instantly recognize I am not a seafaring type and tell me to just sit out of the way while the others cast off and do all the important jobs. Normally it goes something along the lines of ‘Carter, you just stay out of the way!’: I know my place so just behave accordingly!

Exiting Poole Harbour, we were treated to a decent view of some of the expensive home along Sandbanks, reportedly the fourth most expensive area in the world to live. Fifteen homes were up for sale in September of 2013 and their combined asking price amounted to 80 million pounds! Notable residents include, Tony Pulis (manager of West Bromwich FC), Harry Redknapp, Jamie Redknapp and Graham Souness to name but a few. After cruising past the Sandbanks chain ferry , five minutes later we were flying out of the harbour headed towards the unmistakable outline of Old Harry and the surrounding rocks. Now rewind right back to the beginning of this piece and sometimes it is really worthwhile just taking a moment to sit back and just soak up the stunning surroundings that our diverse coast has to offer. As we approached Old Harry, it really hit me what an outstanding piece of scenery this Dorset landmark is, The Needles obviously have the upper hand in my books, but the white cliffs coated in greenery on this side of the Solent are certainly not too far behind! We finally pulled up in the boat in the shelter of the cliffs, with the wind swirling around Old Harry at a solid twenty knots. Over to ‘Bubble’ to fill us in on the juicy windsurfing details.’’
WHEN HARRY MET BUBBLE

ANDY CHAMBERS
“It’s pretty hard to get the all the stars to align for a windsurfing photoshoot in the UK! JC had wanted to do this for ages and so scoring a day when we were both in the UK at the same time, a boat, wind and sun was quite tricky! We had a pretty strong North Westerly breeze blowing which meant most of the south Coast was pretty offshore. However, this direction worked out pretty perfect for sailing around Old Harry. It only took about 10 minutes to get to Studland Bay which was nice and sheltered from the wind. We could see it was pretty windy out by Old Harry so I rigged the smallest free ride gear I had which was a Neil Pryde Ryde 6.5 and a JP Magic Ride 104. Rigging up free ride gear on a small boat was harder than I thought it would be! At one point the top of the sail got caught in the water which then caused the sail to power up and fly out of the boat! Amazingly the spare mast extension got hooked in the bottom of the uphaul as it all flew out of the boat! I then piled into the sea with the board and finished off rigging in the water! Luckily the extension was still hooked in the uphaul! The boat drove out to Old Harry whilst I drifted into the wind line and then started reaching downwind to join them. As I sailed closer I could see how windy and choppy it was! It was bloody howling! I had never sailed out to Old Harry
before and seeing it so close up was pretty spectacular. The water was turquoise blue and really clear with lots of sea birds on the beach.

“ The water was turquoise blue and really clear with lots of sea birds on the beach. For a moment it definitely felt like I was windsurfing somewhere abroad ”
^{Andy Chambers}

For a moment it definitely felt like I was windsurfing somewhere abroad, then I hit some seaweed mid gybe and when I hit the cold water I was well reminded that I was definitely in the UK! It was such a buzz to do something different and sail somewhere new which is so close to where I live. We tried lots of different angles trying to jump and gybe in-between Old Harry and the main cliff. As the wind was pretty offshore it was pretty flukey and gusty when I sailed around the other side of the cliff towards Lulworth but sailing against the backdrop of the cliffs was awesome. We had a decent amount of time out there to savour the surroundings until the boat had to head back to the marina. I am already hungry to go out there again as the colours and the back drop would make for some epic freestyle pics! For the return journey, I decided to sail back to Shell Bay where the chain ferry goes across instead of trying to de-rig on the boat. It didn’t take me long to fly back! It was the perfect angle to head in towards the beach at Shell Bay and then bear off along the flat water towards the chain ferry. There are definitely some secret little spots for windsurfing in and around that side of the Harbour and I plan on doing some more exploring this summer! A big thanks to Ross and the guys at Jetski Safaris in Poole and also the guys at the FC Watersports Academy for the loan of Guy Cribb’s Freeride gear!”

FINAL WORD
JC – ‘’I am one of those guys that is always wondering what is around the next headland and I like to explore. So this sojourn out to Old Harry which provided us some unique vantage points was right up my street, especially in a decent boat. Next time you venture down to your local beach for a session, just remember to take your time, sit back and enjoy the surroundings while you are out there. Windsurfing is a natural buzz on its own; but but being able to enjoy and appreciate the nature around you while you are doing it is what makes it such an extra special sport. Plus if you do get the chance to go explore with some sort of safety back up, then why not use your windsurfer as a mode of transport to take you to places few people are able to appreciate from the water!’’

“ It is really worthwhile just taking a moment to sit back and just soak up the stunning surroundings that our diverse coast has to offer ” ^JC

OLD WIVES’ TALES
Old Harry Rocks are almost like an old friend to local Dorset folk who live nearby. Yet there are many tales of how the name was derived to make this natural feature have a far less inviting appeal. This iconic landmark is steeped in myth, magic, legend and even the Devil himself making a shady contribution to its darker side in the history books. One tale from the past claims that the stack of Old Harry is named because of the Devil, for whom ‘Old Harry’ is his age old nickname and that he once had a sleep on these fabled rocks. Another myth talks of a pirate ‘Harry Paye’ who made the daunting cliffs his base, a place for terror, attacking passing ships and a hiding place for his loot. Maybe this reckless vigilante was even regarded as the devil by locals as he inevitably slept on the rocks after squirreling away his contraband. Either way there are plenty of ways to let your imagination wander and these rocks, caves, stacks and arches make a perfect backdrop for a real windsurfing adventure.