EAST WINDS - UNLEASHED IN THE EAST

East winds on the South Coast of England might not be the prevailing wind direction but they still offer the chance for some quality wave sailing, if you know where to look! John Carter and crew expose some of their favorite spots and show just how good the port tack sailing on offer can be!

Words John Carter, Jamie Hancock, Paul Hunt, Timo Mullen and Tris Best

// Photos John Carter

Originally published within the June ’17 edition

JC – “Easterly and north east winds on the south coast of England provide an equation that in theory does not add up for most wavesailors. This predominantly offshore direction pushes the swell away from the coast at the majority of beaches apart from one or two nooks and crannies that can accommodate these weather patterns. Personally I had endured a busy year on the road in 2016 and had earmarked November and December to track down UK storms. For some reason my payback was a big freeze right through the majority of the prime autumn season. Instead of southerly gales and chunky groundswells the weather was stuck in an easterly pattern of frosty mornings and chilly high pressure generated winds.

Hungry to score any possible action, it seemed there was no alternative but to grind out whatever pickings these easterlies had to offer. After researching the possibilities with chief Motley Crew scouts Timo Mullen, Paul Hunt and Jamie Hancock, I came to the conclusion that there were actually a few hidden gems that light up when the wind clocks round to the east. In fact a few of them are pretty much within walking distance from my front door, namely Sandown Bay and Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.

SANDOWN SUNDOWNER
With a solid high pressure locked over the UK causing east winds to rattle up the channel for several days, Jamie Hancock and Paul Hunt decided to bite the bullet and head over to the Isle of Wight. Spurred on by local Scott ‘I never exaggerate!’ Gardener promising down the line conditions at Bonchurch, which is about half a mile before Ventnor, the crew headed over on the morning Wightlink Ferry. I was slightly sceptical about the forecast, but being so close to home it would have been rude not to let the boys come over to my side of the water for once. Arriving at the spot the conditions were not quite there for some reason. An outgoing tide had exposed plenty of rocks in the line-up, the wind was fickle and there was no real swell worth smacking. I heard last year that Guy Cribb was on one of his clinics in Brandon Bay with a complete windless forecast. Once again east winds were the culprit. In desperation they loaded up the vans, drove across Ireland, drove all the way across the UK and then over to Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight, the only possible location with promising conditions. Rumour has it they scored an amazing session so fair play to them for attempting that crazy mission!

After a quick cappuccino break at the Mill Bay Inn on Ventnor Sea Front while we waited for the tide to turn, we headed back to Bonchurch only to see absolutely no improvement in the conditions. I could tell by the looks on Hunty and Jamie’s faces that they were already counting the cost of the ferry ticket and a wasted day! The only option was to head back into Sandown Bay, which is my local spot and more known as a summer time bucket and spade style beach, normally only offering completely flat water. Not today though as back in Sandown bay, which is about four miles round the coast from Bonchurch, the east winds had kicked up a far better swell which did not seem so affected by the tides. I was quite astonished when we pulled up next to Sandown Pier on how decent the conditions were looking. Perfect light and perfect waves, Sandown was pumping! All of a sudden the mood changed and we were on! The boys charged for one and a half hours in side off conditions in the last golden hour of sunshine. I could not believe how we had pulled this session out of the bag. From a point where we had pretty much written off the day completely we had turned it around to score some pretty solid conditions!”

JAMIE HANCOCK
“East winds can sometimes be a fickle affair in the UK, but the rare days can often work out to be the best. Believe it or not, east winds can kick up a fairly decent pulse of swell along the south coast with the IOW generally the prime location for it to hit along with the cleanest winds. I’ve sailed the IOW a few times in an east wind and it has sometimes been hit and miss. This time we ended up late in the day at Sandown after searching around a few breaks. As someone who has an eye for video, the sun and clouds were kicking up this amazingly lit backdrop and it looked like we were on for some incredible pictures. I wasn’t even too fussed about the conditions and just wanted to be on the water and sailing during this epic sunset.

For me, sunsets and being on the water windsurfing is the ultimate and always has me smiling ear to ear. As soon as I hit the water I realised the conditions were actually a lot of fun with small punchy waves feathered by light offshore winds. As the sun went down I just wanted it to stay light to enjoy more waves. Earlier that day I was worried that the ferry costs and day trip over to the island was a waste of time. As the sun set I realised there was literally nowhere else I wanted to be more in the world than at Sandown beach on the Isle of Wight!”

PAUL HUNT
With no swell really forecast we were relying on the fetch up the English Channel to whip up a wave up. The forecast I didn’t think was special but if you are desperate like we were this day you start to hallucinate that maybe it might be worth trying! Jamie called Scott that night and he talked up Bonchurch, be amazing he said, I’d never heard of it but it’s just east of Ventnor. It made sense to me, as that part of island is very exposed to anything coming down the channel. I called JC to see if he was around and he said you will probably just end up at Sandown, what does he know any way I thought, he only lives there! Next morning I was at Jamie’s house early, Timo had already bailed to go to Weymouth, its was starting to fall apart already. So we are in the ferry queue, and I get a call from Scott, today is rubbish you boys want to be here tomorrow, great! Literally just going up the ramp. Too late we are committed. I now remember Scott does have a history of over exaggerating.

Turned up and it was small, but you could see the potential, we went to Ventnor to talk rubbish and get a coffee and see if it had changed, it didn’t, so JC was right, Sandown for a bit of jumping it was. Surprisingly the direction was really side shore so it ended up being a super fun session. Head high and punchy, Sandown delivered and I will definitely sail it again, but maybe after a few days of wind to really build the swell.

Weymouth / Overcombe
JC – “The Isle of Wight isn’t the only spot that fires in East winds. At the end of the day I heard that Timo had also scored an awesome session at Weymouth / Overcombe. With more east winds looming I decided to head over the following day to check out what the home spot of windsurf tester-in-chief Tris Best had to offer!”

TRIS BEST
“Overcombe is a fickle beast in a prevailing SW wind … gusty on the inside, often detracting from a session even if the waves are clean. However it transforms into one of the best locations along the south coast when the wind direction swings round to the east. It can be really special if there is a bit of groundswell and the wind swings NE; cold but worth it more often than not. The waves clean up and can connect all the way down to the groin at Greenhill … even the Bandstand. They’re never chunky, but are long and fun for extended rides. The wind is also a lot cleaner than it is in a SW in my opinion. Best tide state is a dropping tide, but 2 hours either side of low will work. If parking in the car park at Oasis Café be sure to pop into the Jurassic Coast Activities shop and say hello to owner Terry Sallows – super friendly and the local oracle as far the conditions go. He can be seen on his kite more often these days (we won’t hold it against him) but his sons Dan and Chris are the local hotshots and make up for Terry’s indiscretions. Be sure to pay for your parking in the car park … the fee for which can be redeemed in the café (their coffees and hot chocolates are some of the best around).”

TIMO MULLEN
“East winds are normally seen as an evil curse to windsurfers on the South Coast, generally they fail to deliver what they promise or can blow tantalisingly close to the planing limit for us wave heads. However there are some golden spots if you know where to look. As I live in Poole I find that every time I see any east in a forecast I find myself heading towards Overcombe, Weymouth, where it seems not only does the east wind get accelerated but also it produces a short period localised wind swell that can offer some pretty tasty waves, sometimes even down the line perfection that would not seem out of place in Cornwall.

The best wind direction to look for is any thing from NE, ENE, E or ESE. The ultimate combination is a strong E wind backing to NE. East wind is side shore with a hint of cross on and north east wind is perfect cross offshore. You really need a strong east wind to build the swell, but most importantly you need a lower tide to expose the sandbars that cause the wind swell to break. You really need quite a big swell or neap tides for the waves to break on a high tide. Weymouth Bay has a lot of great spots, generally Overcombe is my first spot to check, if the waves are small then I venture further down the bay and launch from the beach opposite the Sea Life Centre car park, or if you can get a space you can try launching from the bandstand in Weymouth town centre. When parking at Overcombe be mindful of the charge, as the owner of the café is pretty hot on anyone not paying, so have plenty of spare change ready! Making the switch to port tack from the usual starboard tack conditions we have on the south coast is pretty natural for me as I love to sail both tacks equally as well. When I grew up learning to wave sail it was bred into us that to be good at wavesailing and succeed in competition you had to be able to perform equally well on both tacks. I guess events like Tiree, which was the most prestigious wavesailing event at the time, the conditions could equally be port or starboard so we all trained with that in mind. Thankfully that now means I’m not bothered if it is starboard or port tack, I just want it to be windy and waves!

This particular day at Overcombe the wind had been blowing hard ENE all night so I knew there would be waves. The wind backed to NE which meant we would have perfect down the line, unfortunately the wind was pretty light, but my motto is always be prepared, so armed with my 5.3 Severne Blade and my 104L Quad I can pretty much sail in no wind. It turned out to be a really fun session, sunny, fun sized waves lining up for aerials, goiters and some super long rides! A few guys from the Witterings made the drive on my call and fortunately they scored and left with happy, smiling and sun kissed faces!”