V I M A J WAVE
WaveJam III went down as the best of all time. Gwithian in March, firing on all cylinders. So just how do you follow that? We guess you can’t, so you’re probably thinking “Why the hell call a WaveJam in August – it’s madness!” You could well be right. Simon Crowther reports... t’s hard to believe it now, but back at the start of the summer it did seem like it was setting itself up as a typical windless British season. Things weren’t looking too good, and if you’re like me, July/August is usually written off. Call me a pessimist with a half-empty pint, but the east coast feels like the last place in Britain to get wind. It usually takes a strong weather system to get our eastern shores blowing – especially in the summer. Endless
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forecast scouring is futile, and, quite frankly, a bloody wind-up. Anyway, Steve Thorp, Russ Tetlow and I were making good use of windless time, looking afresh at the WaveJam concept, working out what to improve and hammering out the best way forward. Time-consuming stuff, and when you know you might be onto something good it’s all too easy to get carried away. Russ in particular was really going for it, but his passion
and enthusiasm took its toll. WaveJam was taking up so much of his time (given freely) that he felt it might affect his day job, so regretfully he decided to hang up the gloves. It’s a loss as Russ is a real card and an asset to the team, but he’s is still very much part of WaveJam, and now he gets to attend and sail all weekend. (I have to say that I’m a little bit jealous!) Internal affairs sorted, Steve and I were busy with the new WaveJam website / logo and
WAVEJAM IV
‘Big Davey’
WaveJam is flexible and diverse; while storm chasing is a driving factor, WaveJam should not be without contrast and flavour, and what this forecast could give was classic cross-on jumping, at the height of summer, in manageable and fun conditions. We were on!
THEY CAME FROM FAR AND WIDE This ’Jam attracted people from all four corners of the British Isles, many driving 6-7 hours. With the arriving weather lighting up the whole west and south coasts we feared that only the locals would show. After all, with juice at £1.30 a litre why would anyone leave a firing home break?
Ben Proffitt
putting material together for a promotional drive to secure us a sponsor. In the middle of another long phone chat, Steve suddenly says: “You seen the forecast Si? Rhossy could be good if that holds”. What? WIND? We’d been so wrapped up in the other stuff that we’d been completely curve-balled. Was it too late to call it? Was it good enough to call? Given WaveJam III, should we wait for something better? Had Gwithian pushed the bar too high? Hell no!
solid lines. A surprise entrant for us, and just the type of sailor WaveJam is keen to attract. Lewis is yet another capable amateur who’d chanced a showing at a national wavesailing event only to spend the whole weekend on a windless beach. His first and last competition experience. When he first read about WaveJam in BOARDS back in February, he knew it was for him and immediately registered on the mailing list. Ending a late shift at work on the Friday. Lewis tipped his boss off that he wouldn’t be in the following night, jumped in the car and headed for Rhossy. Now I’m going to have to buy this guy a map for the next one, ’cos his journey was both random and monumental. He
THE WAVES WERE CONVEXING SO MUCH THAT JUMPING WAS POSSIBLE ON BOTH TACKS! Well, it would seem that Steve and I aren’t the only idiots out there. Representing Team Scotland were Scott ‘Self Appointed Clan Leader’ McDowell, Ian ‘Hard Man’ Gibson, and Davey and Gregor all the way from Troon, crossing the border with arses out and faces painted blue. South east nutter Mark Bell made one of the longest journeys of the weekend – Anglesey is a fair old drive from Essex! Nottingham’s very own Crazy Horse also put in a show, and was keen to get right in on the action. One guy in particular deserves a special mention for turning up – Lewis Merrony. A member of the Pembrokeshire Massive, on impulse he dropped everything to attend, even though West Wales was getting pounded by
set off on what should have been a 4-hour journey and headed vaguely for the valleys. A journey full of detours based on ad-hoc local directions followed. The people of Bala hadn’t heard of Rhosneigr, so pointed Lewis to the hills. A few hours later and the hill men of Snowdonia provided a route worthy of a Top Gear road test. Six hours total journey time with endless views of hills and sheep – I think James May would have made it quicker in a Morris Minor... Many of the usual suspects were missing though. It seems we’re in silly season – stag dos and weddings almost every weekend. Half the sailors were otherwise engaged, including è Steve, who left me to run the show alone.
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THE SCOTTISH CONTINGENT CROSSED THE BORDER WITH ARSES OUT AND FACES PAINTED BLUE...
Saturday, 9 August As Saturday dawned, Rhossy was being blasted with strong southerly winds – the beach was under siege! The Scots hit the water at 7.00am fully tooled up with 3.5s as the waves steadily built up to create a classic jumping paradise. Feeling ‘the quickening’, cries of “There can be only one!” were ringing out on each of Scotty McDowell’s jumps. And with conditions improving fast, it was time for the locals to take back their beach. The expression session was scheduled for 1.00pm to accommodate late arrivals, so I had a rare chance to get out there. Result! I was rigged and ready in a jiffy – Proffitt reckons he’s never seen me move so quick! The morning session was alive with aerial antics; locals were answering the call and fighting back with an impressive array of consistent forwards, backies and pushies. Greg Martin was hunting down every ramp,
making effortless back loops. Dave Horrocks was stamping his authority on the Welsh waters with some fast, clean push loops. Even Funsport’s owner Dave ‘Bucky’ Buckland managed to get out for an hour. Proffitt was warming up and now reaching for top gear, busting out one-handed backies, well-timed stalled forwards, and some of the cleanest doubles I’ve seen for a while. Not one to be outdone, Phil Horrocks looked like he meant business, and it’s clear to see why he’s enjoyed some solid PWA results of late. He really has found good form and the consistency crucial for scored competition heats. Looking to inject a bit of sparkle into his jump arsenal, he’s taken to throwing down the amazing push loop forward. Much respect! He’s not just flirting with it, either – the forward rotation is fully committed, and although he’s still landing wet I don’t think it’ll be long before he has this seemingly impossible trick nailed.
Expression Session At 1.00pm the plan was to meet at Funsport for a quick briefing. The cameras would come out, and the show would begin – only it didn’t quite work like that. While some sailors had kept an eye on the time, others were so enthralled with the conditions that getting them off the water would be virtually impossible. The conditions had already peaked – most people had pitted and changed up to 4.5s/4.7s and were determined to squeeze every ounce out of the waves in a now backing wind. Being low key and off the radar has its problems; we had no signalling system on the beach to call the sailors in, so just had to go for it and hope everyone would soon realise it was 1.00pm and we were on. Lewis arrived just in the nick of time, frantically rigged... And within seconds of hitting the water a deep thick sea fog descended on the bay. (Lewis, you’re a jinx!) Ten minutes on and a fine mist lay on the front of my lens. All my lens cloths were soon soaked and the water build-up was
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WAVEJAM IV both impressive and odd, and from a photographer’s viewpoint it was hard to keep up! The Power Hour didn’t pass without incident. A freakish move occurred involving two of the big guns, Scotty McDowell and Russ ‘Crazy Horse’ Tetlow. Both were heading for the same wave on different tacks. Both had spotted the same takeoff... Let’s go over to Crazy Horse for his account. “I’d already as good as collided with another sailor at about 11.00am, so was wary as hell of other water users. My sails are still not stickered
two nutters, shiiiiiiiiiiiit! Our masts touched ten foot up. Funny how we both had the same thing to say on lift off and how we both laughed our arses off after landing unceremoniously at the back of the wave. ‘Close call’ now has a whole new meaning.” So this had been an altogether different WaveJam. Much busier with the warmer August temperatures and more manageable conditions, and a refreshing mix of both amateurs and pros putting on a really good show, with the jumping proving particularly entertaining.
THE SCOTS HIT THE WATER AT 7.00AM AND WERE OUT TO SLASH AND RIP, FULLY TOOLED UP WITH 3.5M SABRES... up, so I can slightly forgive everybody else for not giving me complete right of way at all times – it’s an over-inflated ego thing, or OIE – but the last thing I was expecting as I went for a push loop was another OIE-afflicted idiot coming in the opposite direction. I mean, talk about near misses! “I’m having this ramp. It’s mine! The other fella’ll shift, yeah no problem. We got closer... Nah, he’ll shift... Only he didn’t. To go for a back or push loop you wanna be travelling flat out, and little did I know that idiot number two was also going for a back rotation. “The closer you get, the quicker you’re travelling, and the sooner your options run dry. There was simply nothing else for it – same ramp,
The Standouts In the Power Hour Phil Horrocks and Ben Proffitt clearly stood out. Phil headed out the back of the bay to pick off the larger, more infrequent ramps, putting in some big back loops and forwards on both tacks. Ben concentrated on the more frequent, perfectly formed stunt ramps in the bay’s mid-section, mixing it up with welltimed smacks, takas, and clew-first ponches alongside his impressive array of port tack forwards and backies. Mark Bell showed good skills attacking the waves on both tacks, putting in some impressive and consistent jumping. For the amateurs, having intimidated everyone else on the water daring to challenge him, Scotty è
Phil Horrocks
playing havoc with the camera’s autofocus. The light was deteriorating rapidly and an eerie mood lay over the bay. I was unable to continue shooting and the session had to be abandoned. If only we’d started earlier...
M IV Sunday 10 August
Sunday was altogether different. The wind was lighter and more onshore, the sun was up – and Troon’s troops were already out. Again. Christ these Scotsmen are keen! By 10.00am both beach and water were a hive of activity. The morning’s briefing was for an 11.00am start and all-out ‘Power Hour’, with jumping being the primary focus given the conditions. The wind was so onshore, and the waves (which were quite sizeable due to the overnight wind) convexing so much that jumping was possible on both tacks! This produced a melee of jumping manoeuvres, riders appeared to come from all angles, and where they converged it was mayhem. It looked
Phil Horrocks and Scott McDowell
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WAVEJAM IV
LOCALS ANSWERED THE CALL AND FOUGHT BACK WITH AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF CONSISTENT FORWARDS, BACKIES AND PUSHIES...
Ian Gibson
McDowell shone through in first place. Particularly memorable was a huge stalled forward – I guess he figured he’d go over the top of people as opposed to round or through them. Ian Gibson was also on form in second, and put in a strong performance for Team Scotland. Lewis ‘I’ve Finally Made It’ Merrony showed great skills too; his big jumps and smooth waveriding placed him third. You could see that, given more favourable conditions, this guy could really rip. Overall standout from the pros? From the Power Hour alone this was an impossible call. Had we been forced to choose a winner based on that, it would likely have been a split decision between Phil and Ben. It was a similar situation for the whole weekend’s sailing, but in the end we felt Phil had edged it with his truly crazy push-forward attempts. Well done Phil!
Mark Bell
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Thanks to everyone who made the trip on such a late call. Rhosneigr proved to be a great WaveJam location. Thanks must go out to Bucky and Lucas from Funsport for donating amateur prizes and being such great hosts. If you love your port tack jumping, you simply have to get yourself to Rhosneigr in a southerly to south-westerly, when the wind almost always produces great ramps and big moves.Û