Along with floods, super storms have been a major theme of the UK 2015/16 winter and Imogen, the ninth to be named, swept in 50 foot waves from the Atlantic and battered the south coast of England with winds gusting over 100 knots! For once JC, Timo Mullen and Paul Hunt, aka the Motley Crew, avoided the biggest, gnarliest location but instead chose to hunt down a gold mine of waves at Branksome Dene, Poole and take shelter from the brunt of the wild conditions! Here is the story of their Black Monday mission.
Words & Photos John Carter
SUPER SIZED
On the Beaufort scale, a ‘Storm’ is force 10 with a mean wind speed of 52 knots and a probable maximum wave height of 12m. One notch up from this is a ‘Violent Storm’, force 11, which requires 60 knot mean winds and gigantic 16m or 52 feet waves. Imogen comfortably slotted into the ‘Violent Storm’ category and was even compared to the January 2014 storm, Hercules, which triggered some of the biggest waves ever recorded and ridden down at Nazaré in Portugal.
STORM TRACK
Imogen started its life in the warm waters off the coast of Florida and, unlike most low pressures, its energy was directed further south than typical storms headed straight towards the Bay of Biscay. Magicseaweed was showing a huge black blob on its swell chart which means the potential for waves in the 50 feet range. As for the impact on the UK, the major factor here was the severity of the winds forecast. Along the south coast we were talking 60 knots plus with a six metre swell, which all sounded great in theory but when reality strikes the chances of clean waves and down the line perfection for most spots were off the cards. With almost zero chance of a break in the winds, this was a storm shouting out for wrap around spots and shelter. Maybe we were not going to ride the biggest waves but quality was possible and for us, that was the name of the game!
MISSION UNDERWAY!
West winds made Cornwall pretty much a write off and luckily for Timo it looked like his local beach Branksome Dene just up from Bournemouth was going to be the call. Taking no chances I set out the night before from the Isle of Wight and even then, the Red Jet ferry service from Cowes to Southampton was dubious as the winds in the Solent were already registering force 8 and over, but fortunately I managed to make it! That night the storm really kicked in and the channel buoy was showing 18 feet and rising, while down off of Cornwall the Sevenstones Lightship was a mind boggling 38 feet!
Come the morning, the news was already awash with stories of travel disruption and storm damage. Over 19,000 homes were reported without power, ferries cancelled (including all of mine!) and trees uprooted. Sandstorms and floods were making life a misery for most normal folk. The met office were already calling phenomenal sea conditions from several points offshore; one wave was recorded at 19.1m or 63 feet off of St Ives, that’s absolutely massive! Yep Imogen was doing exactly what it said on the tin, causing havoc, chaos and bringing severe weather right across the south coast of England.
GAME PLAN
The Motley crew are normally known to hunt down the ‘biggest and baddest’ waves humanly possible (cough cough!) but today we were forced to run for cover. Now the smart move here would have been to look at the charts and find somewhere in Europe or beyond, catching the outfall of the centre of this storm with a location that could handle a huge long period swell. That’s exactly what Thomas Traversa was planning way down in the ‘Basque Country’ in Spain. The day of the storm he sailed huge mast and a half high waves in light winds but the following day he nailed it with double mast high perfection. But instead of the Basque Country, which I must admit sounds rather appealing, our plan was to kick off the day at Branksome, head down to Avon for the outgoing tide and then possibly look elsewhere for one last session.
Down at Branksome we were treated to solid lines of half-mast to logo high swell, not as big as I was anticipating but the conditions were looking pretty epic and definitely sailable on a 4m. With the cliffs sheltering the inside, it was gusty close to the shore but that just meant the waves were clean and walling up nicely and not too blown out. The boys geared up for battle and a battle it was! Hunty dropped into a chunky set wave straight off the bat, headed vertically into the lip and then, as a stark reminder that even a logo high beach break can pack a wallop, was slammed back down in an avalanche of white water. Timo was picking off most of the prime waves and looked to be having a ball. Though when he came back to the beach with a nasty bump on his head, it showed that this wave was packing a pretty strong punch!
AVON CALLING
By midday we had scored plenty of waves and we had to make a call whether to head down to Avon, where Hunty reckoned it could be cranking on the outgoing tide. Leaving a spot that is firing and heading to another location where the conditions are unknown is a huge gamble. With nobody on location answering calls we assumed it must be going off and so rolled the dice and headed down the coast. When we arrived at Avon the conditions were a completely different story to those we had left. Without the shelter of the cliffs at Branksome the winds were an incredible velocity, gusting easily 50 knots on the water. When you see a skilled sailor like Andy Chambers totally flattened by a gust you know that it must be nuking and extremely difficult sailing. Hunty and his brother Jack, who had just arrived, rigged their smallest sails and headed out once again into the battlefield. Timo meanwhile took a rare back seat in the proceedings, and watched from the warmth of the van before committing to the water. Within half an hour, the boys were heading in battered and bruised from being slammed and hammered by the force ten gusts. Jack declared it un-sailable while Hunty reckoned it was the windiest conditions he has ever sailed in. With that info, we made the call to head back to Branksome for another session but poor Jack received an emergency call from work while Hunty had injured his foot and decided to call it a day; Timo would have to go it alone!
BACK ON TRACK WITH THE PAP’!
Back at Branksome the waves had picked up to solid logo high in the sets with a few starting to creep through close to mast. By the time Timo was back on the water, a whole bunch of local photographers had gathered up by the beach huts, it was like an invasion from the paparazzi. Timo was certainly under pressure to deliver the goods. Never one to shy away from the camera, Timo did not disappoint and set about hurling himself at any lip storm Imogen could throw his way. Motor drives were clicking away furiously from the photographers as Timo obliged to fill up their memory cards with one hot move after another. By 3.30pm Timo was just about done, plus he had an appointment for his daughter’s parents evening at 3.40pm, so it was a rush to derig and off to school! Better not miss that one! By 4pm Timo was back from the appointment looking as proud as a father can be after a glowing report. Rather than drop me back at the station, he looked at me and remarked ‘I’m up for another session!’ With only an hour or so of daylight remaining I agreed to chance it, so we headed back to Branksome for the third session of the day!
LAST BLAST
By this time, the wind had dropped dramatically but the swell was up another level with solid mast high sets rolling through in orderly lines. From reports of those that hung on at Avon the conditions also cranked in there at the same time with building swell and more manageable wind. Wearily, Timo headed out for one last encounter with Imogen, this time on a 5m sail and floaty wave board! His first wave looked solid with a barrelling lip, Timo went at it full vertical but the power and speed of the wave literally engulfed his sail and spat him down into the sand. That was pretty much game over for the day. With the wind dropping and more bashes and bruises, it was time to throw in the towel to this mighty storm. At least the wind had dropped off meaning that my ferry would hopefully be running.
Yes storm Imogen certainly did not disappoint in any shape or form. Gusts near St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight reportedly hit over 100 knots and with huge waves crashing over Sennen Cove, Porthcawl and Porthleven, there were plenty of spectacular images posted on social media to bear witness to the storm’s incredible power.
SAFETY FIRST
One thing to always be aware of if you do feel up for the challenge of windsurfing in such mental conditions is that you are sure that your level is good enough to handle such strong winds, ferocious waves and heavy currents! It is all too easy be goaded by your mates to go challenge a storm but remember your limits, sail with company and don’t feel pressured into going out when you know that danger is looming and you are beyond your capabilities! Crazy weather can go down in storms and you never know what might happen if you are swatted by a wild gust. Remember it is winter, the water is cold and playing it safe can be a much wiser option than trying to be a hero in front of your mates.
TIMO MULLEN
“Black Monday was a storm I didn’t need the Met Office to predict, in fact I could have told the Met Office and ‘Magicseaweed’ 3 weeks ago about this storm as around that time I had made a prior work commitment for Monday 8th Feb, attending a trade show at the NEC in Birmingham. I hate commitment, I love the freedom that windsurfing gives you, so making any sort of firm plan kills me but work is different. I can block out windsurfing at work as if I didn’t work I wouldn’t be able to windsurf!
However as I saw the first signs of Storm Imogen on its way I could tell immediately that the Monday I would be in the NEC Birmingham, 150 miles from the nearest beach, was going to be the best day of the year….typical! As luck would have it one of the girls I work with needed to swap the day she was at the show, so like a flash I offered to work Sunday giving me that vital life line to leave Monday free!
With the logistics now in place we needed to decide where to hit – Ireland, Cornwall, Wales or stay close to home on the South Coast. The big issue with this swell was the wind, or more precisely the abundance of wind!! Cornwall looked to have the biggest waves but West wind is pretty much onshore everywhere and any of the reefs that work in a West wind would be too windy for down the line. Ireland was showing epic swell and wind but I believed the swell was too SW to wrap into the primo spots that work in a West wind (reports afterwards confirmed it was epic but not huge) and Wales looked again too windy. So reluctantly and happily I decided on staying local to tackle this beast. My home break near my house in Poole is Branksome Chine, a pretty fun beach break that always delivers the goods, nothing too radical but being 5 mins from my front door, I’ll take it!! It is also dead side shore in a SW wind and pretty much handles any size swell.
My thoughts were that this booming 50ft swell should see conditions at Branksome that we may never see there again. With the wind forecast WSW, which would mean perfect side offshore, and the cliffs able to take the sting out of the 60 knot gusts, it looked the spot to be. As it played out, it looked like we made the right call; we sailed all day in some pretty chunky, logo high plus waves and the extra swell period added to the power of what is normally a pretty safe wave. I rode my 4.2 Blade and mixed it up between my Starboard Koster Kode and then my Quad as the waves started to dredge later. I love the hollow lip at Branksome, it is a great place to learn new moves, not many sailors like the wave but Hunty seemed to be showing his worth, throwing buckets and generally sending it on every wave he took off on.
As the day wore on, the wind eased a little bit and by the evening it had swung more offshore and the swell was macking; this was probably the best conditions of the day but unfortunately I only lasted 2 waves, hitting the lip slightly too late on a throaty hollow one and proving that Imogen certainly did pack a punch!”
PAUL HUNT
“I hate to say it, Timo was all over Branksome, you could tell he sails it a lot, had the timing down and knew which waves to take. I was floundering about a bit but managed to drop into a few primo waves in the end. Branksome is proper heavy, dredging off the sand then breaking top to bottom. Really it was the best call, being sheltered from the full strength of the wind!
When we arrived at Avon that shelter had gone; while I was sailing they
recorded 80-100 knots at St Catherine’s point. I have no idea how windy it was at Christchurch, but I’ve been out in 65 knots in Ireland and it was way more than that. My body was already broken from the best winter I can remember and Imogen left me in pieces!”
