WINDSURFING SUPERS - KBAY | TIMO MULLEN:

The Setup
I’ve been living about 20 minutes away from it now for about 15 years, and for me it’s about as good as it gets in the UK for diversity of wavesailing conditions. Normally it’s insane jumping conditions, but on the special dayswe can get amazing down the line starboard tack akin to somewhere like Punta Preta - it’s that good! Sometimes we also get port tack wavesailing, but this usually only happens once a year as the swell and wind direction have to be exactly right, and to this day we’ve never really scored it good. We’ve had a really good run of surf lately with massive lows in the Atlantic pushing huge, long-period W and SW groundswells our way. The set up at Kimmeridge is all slate reefs and point breaks, which means it can cope with some pretty big swells, anything up to mast and a half. Where I normally surf is a break called Yellows. Over the years on big days I’ve looked further up the coast whilst sat out the back and all I see is an endless left hand reef break absolutely firing but just too far out and too exposed to the currents to make them surfable. A few of the big wave local surfers have given them a go but most of the time the currents beat them or they snapped their boards. During one of the big swells of February 2011, I think it was the same swell that hit the Billabong Ireland tow-in contest, Morocco, Cape Verde and the Fuerteventura Wave Classic; we had a window when it was peaking at 15ft@18secs with the right wind direction for cross-off port tack waveriding. The wind would be mega light but knew it wouldn’t take much to get on the wave. I stuck a call into Jamie ‘Mini George’ Hancock and thankfully he managed to persuade Brendan from umi pictures to come and video the session.

The Day
As luck would have it I was stuck in work until lunchtime. Yes - I have to work to sustain this lifestyle! Fortunately, I work for Animal and the customer I was seeing that day was pretty understanding about why i needed to escape as quickly as possible - she has kids who surf so she knew the score! I got to K Bay about the same time as Mini George. The swell was pumping but the wind was mega light, like, it was 8 knots if we were lucky, but the kit’s so good now that’s all the wind you need. Plus, I knew the peak we'd be sailing was exposed to even more breeze. It was game on!

The break’s a pretty long walk from the main reefs of K Bay. It takes about 30 minutes to lug your gear along the cliffs to the bay where you launch. I opted for my trusty Starboard Quad 92 and 5.3 Severne S1. This set up is perfect for light wind wavesailing and probably the one I use the most anyway. Mini G, who weighs about 5 kilos, was on a toothpick as usual and probably a 3.2m sail. It’s unbelievable how small his gear is even for light wind!

I was first on the water, and instantly I knew we were going to have a classic session. The wind was perfect cross-off, but not strong enough to screw up the wave, which was pretty glassy on the face! My first few waves were all about working out where to be but after a few warm ups I was soon in the groove! It breaks about 500m out from the launch spot but then peels perfectly along the reef getting a little more vertical as it hits the shallower reef sections on the inside, but it was the length of rides that were amazing rather than the overall quality. I’d say on some waves I had maybe 8-9 bottom turns, with the wave just reforming for more and more hits as it hugged its way down the reef. Some waves were a bit fat at first but still good fun. A few opened-up for a good aerial but the ones I was looking for were the ones with the nicest long open faces.

As the wind was so light, you couldn't really give it the full power on the rail but a few still felt good, definitely got me smiling and hooting! Try to imagine this spot with clear blue skies and shorts on - it’d be wavesailing paradise! The great thing about this spot was the way the wave broke, it was a near perfect lefthander, I don't think I had to negotiate any white-water the whole day, in fact I reckon if the swell had been bigger it would have been even better as the outside section would’ve been less fat. I think we’ll be waiting at least 5 years before we score it again though!

Worth the wait?
I’ve been watching for this sort of opportunity for 5 years. That’s how rare the spot works, living only 20 minutes away helps a lot, it’s not a big deal for me to check the spot and only miss an hour of work. I probably surf and windsurf K Bay at least 4 times a week in the winter, so I know the place like the back of my hand and feel safe in anything the place can throw at me. We were lucky, as this day was pretty warm - for the middle of February - I think the air temp was about 9 degrees and the water about 8 degrees, which is pretty good for that time of year, we didn't really need our hoods. We sailed it for about 3 hours before the wind died away to nothing, but with such long rides to be had I wasn’t capable of riding one more wave!!Since we sailed that day I’ve literally been in the water every day surfing and the swell hasn’t dropped below 6ft!

Mini George On Fire
Jamie was ripping as usual, like I said, God knows how he uses such small kit - I’d need one of his boards for each foot! Looking back on the footage though I’m sure he will regret his little fist pump claim, although to be fair to him some of the waves that came through that day were worthy of a claim of some sorts - just maybe not a fist pump!

Shared Showers?
I bought this portable shower device from the USA 2 years ago and it’s been a lifesaver during the winter. It’s called a HotJugz! It basically operates under air pressure and lasts for about 5 minutes for every pump on the tank. I fill it with boiling hot water before I leave work or the house and by the time I’ve surfed or sailed for a few hours the water has cooled down to perfect hot shower temperature. It’s pretty handy as sometimes I have to go back into work after surfing and the salt all over my face normally gives the game away! I think if you just bought a fence-spraying machine for £20 from a DIY store, it would do the same thing though! TM
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