It was pretty windy last night. We’re used to the wind here and it is quite often windier than you can imagine but it’s been so long since we’ve had any proper wind that it actually kept us a wake last night.
According to the Borth and Ynyslas Weather Station it hit 46.9 knots which is the biggest gust so far this year. Still quite a way off the 62.2 knots recorded on 12th Mar 2008. It’s nice having the weather station there so that I can check these stats and historic records from time to time.
I should really go windsurfing this morning to make the most of the wind that’s left, but I hurt my ribs whilst windsurfing yesterday and don’t think I’ll be able to manage it. The wind is beginning to ease a little now, once it’s dropped off properly my next job will be to get out in the garden and and check the damage done.
It’s just not fair. Since buying my speed kit, there just hasn’t been any suitable wind to use it.
This week looked promising with NE’s forecast all week, but as the days have gone by there just hasn’t been enough. It has got close from time to time with the odd gust but never filled in properly.
Today, Anna had planned to have the car all day so I wouldn’t have been able to get to the estuary with my kit even if the wind did arrive. As we were getting ready for school and work this morning, the wind seemed to be gradually increasing and just before Anna left it had over the course of an hour increased steadily from around 5 knots to 15 knots and was still building.
I quickly changed the plans and decided to give them a lift into work and school (which means driving in again later to collect them) so that I could have the car. I got back here at around 9 am to find the wind was now at about 20 knots with gusts in the estuary of 25 knots. Just enough so it was time to at last give my new kit a go.
I got back home and was about to load up the car when within the course of 10 minutes the wind dropped back down to 10 knots. What have I done to deserve that?
24 hour wind trace - 10am to 10am
Typical isn’t it, I get a load of new windsurfing kit in my quest to hit 40 knots before I’m 40 and then there’s a conmplete lack of wind forecast.
I’ve just taken a look at the forecast on Windguru for the next week and there isn’t a single star showing. Oh well, I’ll just have to hope that Ivor out katabatic wind can do something about that!
Wind Forecast for the week ahead
I’ve just got back from an adrenalin packed windsurf session here in Wales. I posted a session log on Forces-of-Nature as usual, but as it was such a mad session thought I’d share it here as well.
Woohoo, what a session. Went out with my big wave board and 4.5m sail and soon realised that it was a lot bigger out there than it looked from the beach!
The first run wasn’t too bad, some nice big jumps and then managed to sail out the back and have a good blast over the swell before gybing and sailing back in amongst some pretty big lumps of water. But then it just seemed to get bigger and bigger. I’m not sure why, but it was dead on high tide so that may have had something to do with it.
On about my 5th run out it was easily the biggest I’ve ever sailed in, way over mast high and not only were they huge but they had become snarling monsters that seemed intent on punishing me. At one point I had been sailing out, well powered for ages but still wasn’t out beyond the breaking waves. I was at least half a mile out to sea and still surrounded by big waves and walls of whitewater with nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide.
Then I thought it was all over as a huge waved reared up in front of me, pitched and exploded into a wall of white-water. I had no option but to hit it flat out and try to sail up and over it despite the fact that it was mast high. I hit the whitewater head on, sailed vertically up it and managed to pop out onto the top. By this staged I’d lost some momentum and it had me. I was travelling backwards on top of the white-water in its grip, pumping frantically to try to get going and not get sucked backwards over the falls. Somehow I made it, but there was another wave in front of me.
Still in the straps I pumped as hard as I could, pushed with my front foot and tried to get going again, back on the plane and the next wave was jacking up. Thankfully it hadn’t broken yet and I managed to sail up its face (I’ve never sailed so far uphill before) and just about managed to punch out over the top of it as the lip pitched forwards behind me. There were still more waves beyond it so once again it was back onto the plane and keep sailing out until eventually there was a break in the waves and I could gybe and head back to the beach.
By now I was miles out to sea and down towards the estuary. It was about now that I decided that maybe enough was (more than) enough. If I came off here and got parted from my kit or broke something then it was going to take me hours to get home. I was out on my own with no-one else around so maybe the sensible option was to sail back to the beach and call it a day.
I did of course ride some of the waves on the way back in just to show them that they may have beaten me into submission today but they hadn’t completely beaten me.
Only a short session, but a full on, scary, adenalin rush of a session!
What a weekend. Lots of DIY on Saturday for me so our new ensuite shower-room is just about finished. This meant I could reward myself with a windsurf session on Sunday. Simon and I had a pretty mad sail in the estuary. The weather station was recording gusts of 50 knots.
It was just about perfect with my 4m sail, but not quite windy enough in the lulls. The worst / best part was the rain. When the squalls came through it was complete white-out conditions and sailing along at 30 knots without being able to see anything becomes quite a challenge. It was good fun though!
I did have a bit of a problem when packing up though. The back door on my car decided to jam itself stuck. I did manage to get thing shome, but I can’t open the door and much of my windsurfing kit is now stuck in the car.
It was nice to be able to come back, straight into the beach room and into the new shower though.
The wind continued to blow all evening meaning that we couldn’t hear the TV over the wind outside. It is kind of funny sitting in the living room barely able to talk to each other because of the noise of the wind and rain.
I love living here when the weather is wild.
One of the reasons we built a house here is that its such a good location for windsurfing. With 4 miles of sandy beach on our doorstep and plenty of Westerly winds and waves, the seafront from Borth to Ynyslas is perfect. But that isn’t all, we also have the more sheltered waters of the Dyfi Estuary which can be good when the wind is from the east. This is especially true in the Spring when Ivor, out local katabatic wind, comes howling down the valley.
On Friday, another combination of local effects allowed us to have a good windsurf session too. The wind was South-Westerly at about 18-25 knots. Plenty windy enough for most people, but us windsurfers like it windier so that we can use our smaller sails and boards. However, there had been loads of rain and lots of flooding inland. The Dyfi bridge was closed due to the flooding and the Dyfi River was in full flow. Coupled with an outgoing tide, this results in a very strong tidal flow through the channel in the Dyfi Estuary. The water flowing through here was moving at 10 knots or more and flowing out to sea – in the opposite direction to the wind. This results in an effective windspeed (for someone on the water) of 28-35 knots… Perfect.
Andy and I launched from the Ynyslas side of the estuary, sailed out through the channel, walked across the point and into the channel where we spent a couple of hours blasting around perfectly powered up with 5m sails and smallish boards in really good conditions. For a change, sailing downwind was a problem though due to the speed of the current.
Once again, West Wales provides perfect windsurfing conditions.
Here’s my diary entry and here’s Andy’s diary entry.
Expectations for Saturday 14th November have been high in the UK Windsurfing scene. The first major storm of the year and one that look set to produce some epic conditions. For me personally it was exciting too; for a change I would have some people to sail with as Steve, Simon and Jon had all said they would be at Ynyslas for 10am.
So, when the weather came on the news last night I wanted to listen to it. I ‘shhhhsed’ Morgan and the first thing I hear them say is ‘don’t even think about going out on the sea tomorrow‘. Hmmmm, are they mad? This is what we wait for.
Well, it isn’t looking too bad out there at the moment. We had lots of rain overnight and gusts up to 44 knots, but at the moment its around 25 knots and southerly. The forecast is for it to pick up and go pretty mad around midday and then swing westerly later in the afternoon and ease of slightly.
There’s a huge swell as well and lots of rain. It’s going to be scary out there!
Todays Playground
Windy Miller!
And so the wind keeps blowing!
It’s always windy here, but until the last week or so, the autumn had been fairly quiet. All that has changed now and autumn has shown its true colours. After a good windsurf session at the weekend, it has stayed windy all week so far. I was at work on Monday so couldn’t get out, but did go for a sail on Tuesday. It was then my last day at work on Wednesday and although I couldn’t get out for a windsurf I did go for a Mountain Bike ride in the evening.
I met Dave at Angler’s Retreat where it was dark, cold, blowing a gale and pouring with rain. It didn’t take us long to decide to head to the relative shelter of Nant yr Arian for our ride. It wasn’t much better there, still pouring with rain, one degree warmer but it was a little sheltered from the winds. Once we were out and riding it wasn’t too bad though, and as usual it was enjoyable and I felt better for it. As I said a couple of days ago “Just get out there and do it!”
When I got home it was as usual extra windy. I’m sure this is one of the windiest places around, which is afterall one of the reson we picked this location to build our house. I could tell it was wild outside as Anna was snuggled up indoors watching the TV with the subtitles on. No matter how loud she had the volume she couldn’t hear the TV over the howling wind and hammering rain, so subtitles were the only option!
It’s still blowing a hoolie today as well and I’ve just got back from a brilliant windsurf session. Challenging conditions and therefore a very satisfying session for me as I coped well and had a sense of achievement after every run. I felt a little sorry for Simon though as he didn’t fare quite so well.
Not a bad way to spend my first day back as a full-time freelancer.
What a day!!
After a dry, still evening for the Machynlleth lantern parade yesterday, the wind and rain arrived in earnest this morning. Perfect for me as I had intended to go windsurfing. With gusts to 52.6 knots recorded on the Borth and Ynyslas Weather Station it looked as though it was going to be wild out there. Thankfully the rain eased off and the sun even came out, but the wind kept blowing and Simon and I had an excellent windsurf session at Ynyslas.
Me, Windsurfing at Ynyslas
It isn’t all good though. I was only commenting the other day how good the pampas grass was looking, but one day of ‘proper weather’ and it’s now looking a little sorry for itself. Most of the seed heads have snapped off and are strewn around the garden.
There is more to come as well. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all look pretty windy at the moment.
When you think of the problems affecting coastal gardens the first issue that springs to mind is the wind. Living on the coast means that there is an uninterrupted flow of wind from the sea straight into your garden and the affects can be dramatic.
Very few people live right on the coast and it only takes a few obstacles such as trees, buildings or small hills to provide some protection. However, we do live on the coast and there is nothing between us and the beach so we experience the full force of the winds. You only have to go inland a little way to see how things change with a little bit of protection. Gardens just a short distance away are awash with colour and have a wide variety of plants and flowers thriving in them. Things aren’t quite so rosy in most gardens here.
Very little shelter from a cold North wind
I’ve worked for many years helping people out in their gardens and almost everyone seems to think their garden is exposed and windy, but until you’ve experienced living right on the coast you can’t understand the meaning of a truly exposed and windy garden. It isn’t just the strength of the wind but the incessant nature of it. We have a weather station in the garden that uploads live data to the internet every minute and it shows just how much wind we get. Whereas most people start thinking things are getting windy when the anemometer reaches around force 4-5 it is rare for us to ever have a day where it doesn’t reach this and more often than not it is much windier. Worse still, it just doesn’t stop blowing. We often get weeks on end where the wind just doesn’t drop.
Sounds bad? Well it gets worse. Most coastal gardens are affected to a greater or lesser degree by winds coming in off the sea. For people living on the west coast such as us this means that the prevailing wind is from the west so at least there should be a respite from the wind if it swings around and comes from another direction. Not so here. In fact, we have a special katabatic wind (known affectionately as Ivor) that funnels down through the Dovey Valley and blasts us with cold, dry winds from the East. This wind is stronger and just as persistant as winds off the sea and means that there isn’t a wind direction that doesn’t affect us. There is no getting away from the fact that this really is a windy place (which is why, as a windsurfer I wanted to live here).
Effects of the wind
The effects of big storms on your garden are easy to see. Broken plants, snapped branches, uprooted trees, overturned containers, broken panes in the greenhouse and such like. Lesser winds also have an effect, drying out plants and creating wind burn, the visual effects of which are burnt leaves and blackened stems. It can impede plant growth, stops young seedlings in their tracks, severely stunts trees and shrubs, and forms dramatic windswept shapes to larger trees. Many plants simply can’t cope with the extreme winds we experience here.
What can be done?
The obvious thing to do in order to protect from the wind is to create a shelter belt. Few of us have room for a full-on shelter belt consisting of a thick plantation of wind resistant trees, but just a single row of such plants can help create some shelter. Every little bit helps and as the number of plants you have in the garden increases you can produce your own little micro-climate in which the less wind-resistant plants can survive. Of course, you don’t want to go over the top otherwise your garden will soon feel over-shadowed and too enclosed. Another option is to build small banks that help protect from the wind. Again this may take up a little too much room in a small garden.
Fences and other garden structures can also be used to good effect to provide shelter. Open structures are better than solid ones as they dissipate the wind rather than deflect it. When wind hits a solid barrier such as a brick wall or panel fence it tends to deflect upwards only to descend with greater turbulence on the other side. Where possible several lines of defense are best. For instance an open fence with wind resistant hedging behind it.
The other thing is to choose your plants carefully and pick those that are more resistant to winds.
Wind Resistant Plants
Trees that will put up with the worst wind conditions and ones traditionally used in coastal shelter belts, include pines such as Pinus nigra, P. pinaster and the Scots pine (P. sylvestris). We have pines here and although they survive they are prone to wind burn and tend to be very lop-sided. It is also difficult to get them to grow straight as they tend to adopt the typical windswept look of a coastal tree.
Willow and White Poplar (Populus alba) also do well here. The willow grows well, but can look a little untidy once windburnt and can become a little too invasive. The Poplar again does well but the new growth is easily damaged by summer winds. If both are kept under control with some hard pruning though they do offer good protection from the wind. The willow has little ornamental appeal but the leaves of the Poplar are fairly attractive. Both are deciduous though so don’t offer much in the way of protection or decoration in the winter.
Cordylines such as Cordyline australis (Autralian or Manx Cabbage tree) fare well and add a tropical touch
When it comes to shrubs, Escallonia is the obvious choice for creating shelter, but it is a little common around here. Even this gets pretty badly windburnt and despite its pretty pink flowers in the summer can look a little ugly in the winter. The evergreen Griselina littoralis, with its glossy, lime-green leaves is a good choice. I’m also having success with Olearia sp. (Daisy Bush) which does well, but again can look a little worse for wear due to windburn in the winter.
Other shrubs that are doing well in the wind although not creating much in the way of shelter are various Hebes and a lovely Golden Elder (Sambucus nigra).
As well as creating shelter from the wind it is also worthwhile making the most of it and planting grasses and bamboos that not only tolerate the wind but are at their best when being whipped about by it. The movement and sounds created by these plants can bring the garden alive. We have a large pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) that is doing well and adds just such life to the garden. As with many things that do well though it can become a little too large and needs to be kept under control. Stipa sp. and Miscanthus sp. are also likely to relish such conditions although I’ve yet to try them.
It takes time for smaller plants to grow large enough to provide suitable shelter so progress is slow but the results make it worthwhile. For those with deeper pockets then larger plants can be bought to speed up the process and more use could be made of the faster growing varieties. The willow and Poplar are particularly fast growing.
As you can see, the wind can be a problem for coastal gardens but with some careful planning it is possible to both limit its effects and work with it. As our garden matures hopefully it will become less of an issue. The addition of various tress and shrubs to create shelter has helped already and structures such as a pergola with some climbing plants is helping too. We’re now able to grow some less wind-resistant plants in the lee of these.
White Poplar and Golden Elder providing some summer shelter
Variegated Hebe providing all year interest
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This article is part of a series on Extreme Coastal Gardening
