NIK BAKER - PIER PRESSURE

NIK BAKER – PIER PRESSURE

Built way back in 1866 and closed to the public since 1975, Brighton’s West Pier has been reduced to a wreck of iron girders after two fires and an almighty storm. In his quest to capture windsurfing in front of its ghostly silhouette, John Carter persuaded Nik Baker to venture onto the water to set his sail against what remains of this Victorian engineering triumph. Unfortunately JC’s plans had about as much luck as the pier’s dilapidation during the last quarter of a century and after two separate missions he almost had to concede defeat to this metal skeleton. Read on to find out how the curse of the West Pier continues to wreak havoc on its eerie surrounding waters and those that dare venture near it.

Words & Photos JOHN CARTER

THE WEST PIER
Our seaside piers dotted around the coast of Britain, stand proud as a reminder of the entrepreneurial feats of the Victorian era. At the turn of the century almost one hundred piers existed around our shores, but sadly today only half that number remain and the future of several face a very uncertain outlook. The West Pier today is nothing more than a burned out wreck. The cast iron piles that once supported this marvel of eloquent design, now just hold up a rusted outline of its famous pavilion. This derelict pier still remains a fascinating attraction though for the tourists who flock to Brighton. While the Grand Pier a mile or so to the east, boasts itself as one of the top ten visited attractions in the country, the remnants of the old West Pier is probably the most photographed and still draws more than its own fair share of the limelight. For decades, thousands of starlings have made their roost on the old pier and at sunset they stream around in all directions in a giant swarm. But in 2003 after two arson attacks an estimated 20,000 birds fled to the Grand Pier, leaving only 3000 remaining in their original habitat. The pier was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened back in 1866, but it was not until 1916 that the great concert hall was added. During the decades after the war, seaside holidays in the UK started to go out of fashion with the advent of foreign holidays, especially to Spain. High costs of maintenance and viability eventually meant the pier had to be shut down in 1975 and a great storm in December 2002 resulted in the collapse of the great hall.

I always remember back in the days of the PBA world cup at Brighton, one of my very best shots was of Dunkerbeck, the world champion at the time, sailing out in front of the old West Pier. It was a grey overcast day but somehow a shaft of light managed to find a small hole and its rays shined down directly onto the red and yellow sail of Dunky as he headed out. What made the shot however was the shabby run down back drop of the concert hall of the old West Pier and even through to today, it still is one of the most distinctive shots I’ve taken during my whole career. In 2003, the chances of ever recapturing a similar photograph were thwarted after two separate arson attacks burned the structure to a mere outline and now what is left will be reclaimed by nature and will inevitably degenerate and decay.

NO DOUBT!
Nik Baker is a busy man these days; between running around after his two boys, managing the Baker Academy and being in charge of distribution for Fanatic, North and ION equipment, he still finds the time to hit the water whenever possible. But throw in a random call from yours truly to join me on one of my hair brained schemes to windsurf in front of the West Pier ruins and I was hoping not to upset his overloaded schedule with a wasted venture. So to be sure to nail my mission one hundred per cent, I waited for a forecast so concrete, nothing could possibly go wrong. Now, I am not one to believe in curses, superstition or anything like that, but after two separate missions both promising 30 knot plus gales, I was starting to wonder whether that darned shell of a pier really does have some sort of inexplicable power in that rusting metal chassis!

MISSION ONE!
It’s early spring, a stunning sunny day with force 7 plus westerly winds blowing right down the English Channel, the perfect forecast to head to Brighton and capture the rusting girders of the remnants of the infamous West Pier. Leaving the Isle of Wight, the Solent is awash with whitecaps as yachts crawl back into Portsmouth with their sails reefed due to the high winds. A few hours later I arrive in Worthing and we head down to the Baker Academy so Nik can show me around his latest enterprise that he runs with his brother and former PWA world cup star Anthony.
It is an impressive centre they have set up, right on the water, all the toys and of course two of the best sailors in the country to promote it. Out in front a few guys are blasting around on 4.2’s, so with a building forecast it should be perfect a few miles up the coast in Brighton. We hook up with Fanatic young gun Sam Latham in Brighton and pay the extortionate parking fee to have the van right on the promenade. To cut a long story short, despite the most glorious of afternoons, the wind never blew above ten knots around the piers. We waited, and we waited, and we…I guess you are getting the picture, but that darned wind never blew. Fair play to Nik, he was quite calm and composed about the situation, joking and laughing during our frustrating three hour wait. Eventually we were forced to call it a day and wrote it off to bad luck. Despite a pleasant enough afternoon in Brighton wandering up and down the seafront, I made my way back to the Isle of Wight totally dejected. The weird thing was, just about every spot along the south coast that day scored force six winds and above; even a mere ten miles down the coast they were still out on 4.7’s in the afternoon!

MISSION TWO!
I am not one who likes to be beaten by a mere kink in the isobars or whatever dashed my plans, so I waited patiently for a mega forecast that no curse could possibly overcome. Sure enough, a few months later, one of those perfect dart board lows appeared on the charts with the whole south coast set to be battered by storm force winds. Another call was made to the Baker HQ and he was once again affirmative to give it another shot. One way or another we were going to beat the spell of that West Pier even if it meant poor Nik was going to have his arms wrenched out of their sockets in the process. Leaving the Island, I was thankful the ferry was even running, as forty knot plus winds lashed against Ryde Pier! All along the journey, the trees were clinging to their roots in the surrounding fields and reports from up the coast towards Bournemouth were that it was nuking 3.3m weather; surely this was game on! This time round we headed straight to Brighton, although Nik did warn me that at high tide the shore dump might be a little ferocious and we may have to wait. I seem to remember from back in the day of the PBA at Brighton, the infamous bone crunching shore dump took down a multitude of victims, snapping masts like matchsticks and ripping sails into shreds. I am sure Peter Hart was one of the guys caught in the massacre, although I doubt he will admit it, but either way, ask anyone what they remember about the Brighton World Cups and the shore dump will no doubt feature top of the list!

Down along Brighton shorefront after another extortionate amount for parking; Baker was indeed correct – “What did I tell you Carter, we will have to wait it out”. I suppose he had a point as we stared at a logo high, barrelling shore dump which was sending evil waves crashing onto the shingle. At least it looked and felt windy, so an hour or so for the tide to recede was not really going to be an issue. After a quick lunch Nik proceeded to rig a 4.2, attach the latest Fanatic Stubby and head cautiously down towards the water’s edge. From my angle, just even him launching was going to be interesting, the tide had gone down a fraction but the waves looked equally heavy and were still folding, sucking up the shingle and spitting back down on the shore line. After ten minutes of waiting, Nik finally chose an opportune moment, jumped onto the board and just made it through the first line of surf. The down side here was that he was barely planing on the outside, somehow there was little or no wind on the water even though it felt like it was blowing thirty knots. Half an hour later, Nik repeated the process with a 5.0, surely this time he could make it out with solid power in the sail. Another fifteen minutes of death defying antics with the shore break ensued with another fruitless mission thwarted by the lack of wind. All the time those darn iron girders of the West Pier loomed dauntingly in the background; now I was really starting to think something mysterious was going down. It did not help that while this was all happening I received a text from Timo informing me that he was forced off the water on his 3.3m at Branksome Chine because it was too windy!

LIFELINE!
So we had now fathomed the wind was only blowing about fifteen knots on the water and it looked like it was game over since Nik had only brought along his tiniest quiver. Feeling totally gutted we headed back to Nik’s van to pack up. Just as Nik slid the Stubby into the racks and was about to shut the van door he exclaimed – “Hang on a minute Carter, look what I have just found hidden in here!” Lo and behold deep inside his ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of windsurfing equipment, there on the rack was a bright green Gecko 98L and sitting next to it a sail bag containing a 6.4m Volt all round sail. A quick scurry around for a fin, boom and appropriate mast and yes, we had enough equipment on hand to cobble together a freeride set up that would enable Baker one last shot at hitting the water. Ok it was not quite what I had envisaged shooting at the beginning of the day, but if this combo was offering an escape from jail card I was first in line to take it. All of a sudden we were back on, in a roundabout way, although ironically the rest of the south coast was still literally being blown off the water on tiny sails. But hey it was summer, sunny and windy (ish) and with the Gecko, probably Fanatic’s most popular board in the range, why not let Nik cut loose and show what he could do on it!

With the wind swinging quite south west and very onshore, it was a struggle for Nik to work his way into the wind line but once he was up and planing he looked comfortable enough on this user friendly set up. With an undisputed British legend on board there was plenty of world class moves and an inimitable style emerging from the Baker quiver of tricks. Yep you name it, the arched back jump, forward loops, huge chop hops and no handed blasting, Baker rattled through his armoury of moves despite a pretty churned up playing field. All said and done, I have to say this project is still open ended. In some ways it was cool to shoot some freeride action during the summer at home with one of the best sailors in the county. Freeride windsurfing is certainly more tangible to the masses than a forty foot contorted push loop and now at least I have the excuse that some point down the line I’ll be back in Brighton to shoot that cursed pier and mark my words, ‘next time it will definitely not get the better of me!’

Meanwhile the ‘powers that be’ have granted permission for the i360 lookout tower which is currently under construction and sighted right at the root of the old West Pier. The tower will stand proud 162 metres tall, with an observation pod at 138 metres which will provide awesome views spanning twenty five miles across Brighton and its surroundings. The pier in the sea may be headed to rack and ruin but this new futuristic pier into the sky is expected to attract 750,000 visitors a year and will at least help promote the West Pier’s heritage!