Wild Winds and Walls of Water

by Alan Cole · Monday, November 3rd, 2025

With a windy weekend forecast and a day off on Friday, plans were made for a day of windsurfing with Steve. The wind direction was southerly — a little unusual here and often quite gusty — but with around 30 knots forecast and some swell predicted, it looked set to be good.

Once Steve arrived, we wandered over to the beach for a look. Conditions were just as expected: strong southerlies and big surf. It looked manageable though, so we headed back to get our kit and were soon rigging up as the rain set in. I tend to rig a bit quicker than Steve, so was ready first — but noticed that the swell seemed to have doubled in size since we’d looked earlier. Things were looking decidedly serious out there.

I left my kit on the beach and went to see how Steve was getting on. He’d rigged up but hadn’t yet got into his wetsuit. When he saw the size of the waves, he sensibly decided to shelter in the dunes and watch me go first!

So, off I went into the mêlée. With my 89-litre board underfoot and a 5.0 m sail, I was up and planing straight away. I popped over the first few waves, then stalled a little on a bigger wall of whitewater. That was enough to knock me off the plane, and I couldn’t quite get going again in the strong south-north current that was stealing a few knots of apparent wind. After bobbing over a few more sets, one finally took me down. I water-started, headed back in, gybed, and went for another run.

This time, with a bit more speed, I planed through more cleanly — popping over the whitewater, dodging a few bigger faces, and finally heading out properly. There were some big walls of water out there, but the stronger wind gave me the control I needed to stay upwind or bear away and jump when it felt right. Even small jumps felt big, given the drop-off on the other side of the swell.

Out the back it was windy — really windy — and the 5.0 m sail felt a bit much. It was fine for blasting but a little testing through gybes, so I turned cautiously and headed back in, sticking to the plan of staying upright and out of trouble.

When I reached the beach, I went to see what Steve thought. His expression said it all — he wasn’t convinced! From his higher vantage point he said the waves were well over double head-height, and that even from up there, my entire rig vanished between sets. Having not been out much lately, he wisely decided to give it a miss. I was quietly relieved — it had been pretty wild, and I didn’t really fancy pushing my luck. I’d had two runs in and out, and that felt like enough. The next one might have been Mother Nature’s chance to remind me who’s boss.

We packed up and went for a walk around the dunes under clearing skies. The wind and waves stayed up all day, confirming it was the right call. Perhaps next time we’ll try closer to the estuary, where there’s a bit of shelter from the swell.

Saturday brought more westerly winds — still big seas, but lighter breeze. I had a short session blasting parallel to the beach where the waves were smaller. It was only just windy enough, but it gave me a chance to test my new 5.7 m sail, even if the conditions weren’t ideal.

Sunday wasn’t quite windy enough but it was still nice for a morning run and an afternoon stroll on the beach.