John Carter and Timo Mullen make a raid on the Normandy coastline, home ground of up-and-coming French stars – the infamous Denel brothers.   

Story John Carter & Timo Mullen Photos JC

WED 21st NOV

6 pm JC: There’s an epic forecast for whole south coast of England and France for Thursday and pretty much every single break either side of the English Channel is going to be firing. Instead of staying local we’re debating whether to head to Wissant, just the other side of the Euro Tunnel, close to Calais, in search of adventure and down-the-line wave riding. 

It’s a big risk to leave wind and surf, but the thought of doing something totally different is appealing – if you never take a punt to seek and explore it is easy to get bored sailing at your home break, so a little spice can fire you up again. Our hosts will be the two French hot-shot brothers Jules and Justin Denel, Wissant locals who have promised a really sick day at their home break. I check the Euro Tunnel website to price up the journey and its only £22 each way by car for a short trip or £43 each way for a van under 6m. Not too bad, time to call Timo for the final decision!

NO FRENCH RESISTANCE

6.30 pm Timo: France has been on the Motley Crew radar for a very long time now. Every year it’s on the ‘to do’ list but for one reason or another, a plan of attack has never really materialized.  The main problem is that any low pressure that will light up the Brittany or Channel spots in France also flicks on all the well-known spots in the UK and, as everyone knows, the golden rule in windsurfing is – never leave wind and waves!

After one of the windiest November and Decembers on record the Motley Crew had logged more water time than usual so it was agreed at Motley HQ that, when the next low pressure hit the South Coast, we would be donning our berets for a covert attack on the wave sailing delights of the Normandy coast. Getting there from the UK could not be easier, the UK and French governments had overheard that the main reason the Motley Crew were avoiding a trip to France was their track record with missing ferries, so they very kindly spent £11 billion and dug a 50km long tunnel 70m underneath the English Channel just to make sure the Motleys could get there on time!

All jokes aside the Channel Tunnel was the main reason for the success and planning of this trip, we’d been speaking with the local windsurfers at Camber Sands a few years ago and they told us how they often, just for variety, jump in their vans and head to Wissant for a day of wave sailing. For them it’s a lot easier to score port tack sailing in France than driving 6 hours to the West Country. The forecast for Wissant was calling 25-35 knots, SSW wind all day and pretty much wall-to-wall sunshine, too good to be true, but exactly what we needed to press the ‘Book Now’ button – now there was no turning back!

THUR 22nd NOV 

2 am JC: Head over to Portsmouth for a 3am rendezvous with Timo. Its cold dark and the wind in the UK is just starting to kick in. It seems an absurd idea to be heading out of the country for a day trip, but on paper the drive, even with the Euro Tunnel crossing is actually closer than driving to Cornwall. Either way its risky business leaving your home spot when you know it is going to be epic but at the same time it is a whole new adventure heading off to another country without the hassle of checking in at an airport or catching a boat.

8.20 am JC: We emerge into Calais on a bright and blustery pre-dawn morning. The sun’s not up yet but sky’s clear overhead and the trees are swaying in the wind. The signs are looking good. All we need now are waves! Wissant is only ten miles west of Calais from the tunnel so making sure we’re on the wrong side of the road we head towards our destination with nervous apprehension.

OU EST LE WIND?

8.45 am JC: We finally roll down the hill into the tiny village of Wissant and gun it straight towards the beach. There’s always that urge on any travel mission to head directly to the coast to check what the swell is doing and after our long journey our excitement was running at an all-time high. Our first view of the water was encouraging but certainly not the perfect windsurfing conditions we’d imagined. There was definitely some swell lurking about but the wind was very light and almost bolt offshore.

It turned out we’d parked less than 100m from the Denel brothers’ apartment so they cruised down the beach to check out the conditions. In the spirit of politeness and local respect, we tried to talk in French as we made our introductions. I managed to blurt out Bonjour and a few other basics but it was soon agreed that we all better talk in English to save time and confusion. The Denel brothers both seemed pretty relaxed about the lack of conditions but Timo and myself were already starting to worry that we’d made one almighty blunder.

9 am Timo: As we pulled up we were greeted by 3-4 foot surf, clear blue skies but not much wind, there were a few surfers in the water, but the promised 30 knots of wind was nowhere to be seen!

9.20 am JC: We spend half an hour in Jules apartment while we wait for the wind and drink a coffee. Both myself and Timo are itching to get back to the beach but the Denel brothers are both confident that the conditions will improve through the day so are happy to chill out.

Another ten minutes pass until Timo finally suggests ‘on y va aux plage?’ The Denel brothers look at each other and whisper ‘Imbeciles’ but reluctantly agree to head out. The spot is about two minutes from the Denel apartment to a little alley way right next to the sea wall.

The wind’s already starting to fill in and it looks like the swell‘s cleaning up on the outgoing tide. The waiting game is over for Timo and he rushes to the van to rig his big sail and set up his floaty board. Once again the Denel brothers shrug their shoulders and relaxed and slowly start to prepare their equipment. As Timo heads of down to the water, the entry route into the sea takes him past a bunch of World War II bunkers, a stark reminder of the military history of this coastline.

ALLIES OF THE WAVES

10.30 am Timo: After a quick coffee and fresh croissants chez Denel we made our way to the beach to go sailing. I was champing at the bit to hit the water. I’d been sat in a van for the last 5 hours and was desperate to get wet!  It looked pretty light but I knew that there was more than enough for my big gear.  The launch itself is like a history lesson on Wissant’s past, with huge barricades set up by the Germans to stop the Allied advance lining the beach. I silently paid my respects to the lives lost on that sand. Sure enough we were all catching waves straight off the bat, they were a pretty good size, a few logo high sets and pretty punchy.

HOME ADVANTAGE

12 pm JC: It took an hour or so before the conditions really started cooking but once the wind had kicked in, it was game on. By this time the Denel brothers were comfortably powered on 4.5s while Timo had to scurry back over the bunkers to grab a smaller rig. The SSW wind was perfect cross-offshore, holding up the bowling waves nicely and this set up was perfect for fast down-the-line sailing and really attacking the waves.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with Jules Denel’s style at his home break. On tour the past few years I’ve mostly seen him sailing in cross or cross-onshore conditions, but his vertical up-and-under top turns at his home spot were blisteringly fast and totally radical. No wonder NeilPryde and JPAustralia have just signed him up, the guy is oozing with talent and only going to improve. Aside from his wave riding style, Denel is also slightly crazy when it comes to wild jumping conditions and although this day was all about wave riding, I’ve seen him in the past boost some of the most ridiculous high back loops in Cape Town and Pozo.

12 pm Timo: It didn’t take long to see where Jules and Justin have learnt all their skills. The boys were ripping, big vertical smacks, one-handed airs – they had this place wired. I was going to have to sail out of my skin today to stand a chance, but it was great though to have a chance to sail with such talented guys.  The waves started to get better as the tide raced out.  JC was even happy, the wispy cloud from the morning session soon disappeared and we were left with literally not a cloud in the sky – not bad for December!  The waves were a lot more like Cornwall than a spot in the Channel, lining up like any other world-class beach-break. Speaking to the boys we’d managed to score one of the best days of the year due to the wind direction being more side off than normal (SW is side/side onshore), and the waves still were a solid size.

The sailing was in my opinion as good as it gets for a beachie, perfect head-to-logo size waves, not too big to get destroyed, but big enough to cut loose and go for it without too much consequence.  Move of the day had to go to Jules. His vertical smacks were what wave sailing should be all about, you won’t see any half turns or ‘freestyle takas’ from him, all his moves are 100% pure wave sailing as it should be – vertical and fast! 

Justin wasn’t far behind. For a young kid his wave knowledge is amazing, constantly picking up the biggest sets and launching huge aerials of the heaviest sections.  I personally had more waves in one day than I can remember. It was so windy it was easy to catch any wave you wanted. By lunchtime I was knackered. The long drive and early start was taking its toll!  A quick refuel back in the van and I was soon back out there. Quite a few local windsurfers had also now turned up to join us, all sailing to a really high standard. Obviously this place produces the goods more than we think!

IN AMONGST IT

3 pm JC: I have already shot from the land for a solid few hours, the sun is still shinning so make the decision to head into the water and try shooting with my housing. The water is not so cold but the rip on the incoming tide is already starting to fly down towards the big cliffs at the end of the beach.

3.30 pm Timo: Considering was the middle of December we’d so much time in the water due to our early start, so much so that JC even had time to swim out for some water shots. It’s not often we have the luxury of time on our side to do this.  I managed to raise my game by this point and landed a pretty sweet Goiter right in front of JC’s lens, a thumbs-up assuring me he’d captured it – a miracle for a Motley trip!

5 pm Timo: By 4pm my legs and arms were cramping up, we’d been sailing for 6 hours pretty much non-stop in ideal conditions, my body had called it a day. In fact so had the wind, perfect timing really, we could now try and catch the earlier Eurotunnel train home and some much needed sleep. But there was one little mission I needed to complete before we head home! French Bangers! I remember from my holidays to France that most shops sell these awesome bangers that are banned in the UK. I even persuade Carter to stump up for a few for his kids.

6.20 pm JC: First bad luck of the day. Our train is broken down or something so they send all of the cars and vans back into the car park. Luckily the problem is not too serious and we catch the next crossing at 6.50pm which brings us back into Folkestone at 6.20pm local time. All we have to do now is make it back to Portsmouth without falling asleep, or being rolled by the storm force winds back in the UK.

9.45 pm JC: Make it in time for the last ferry back to the Isle of Wight, which crosses the Solent despite 60mph gusts. Phew!

One week later!

8 pm JC: Just remembered I have some of those French bangers Timo had persuaded me to buy! The kids and myself gather in excited anticipation outside the house as I set light to a bundle of them. Before I have a chance to run for cover the darn things have exploded like a bomb. A glass-shattering BOOM that has half the neighbours up the street stepping outside to check for a gas explosion! Almost shattering the patio doors, the bangers launched themselves like missiles straight at me as I dove for cover! The kids were in tears (emotionally scarred), our dog has temporarily gone deaf and the wife is livid. ‘Carter, what the hell were you thinking you imbecile!’

Click on to enjoy a few shots from the rest of the day. JC