The business end of the season has arrived in the UK. As the leaves fall offthe trees and the days grow shorter, the Atlantic has finally started lighting up with a barrage of huge low-pressure systems battering the UK coastline. And of course, once this time of year comes round, then the infamous Motley Crew red phone starts bleeping. John Carter, Ross Williams, Jamie Hancock and Fergus the dog headed to the West Country to chase Ophelia and bring us their account of the first big storm of the season!
THE STORM
John Carter – “They were labelling Ophelia the thirty year storm, since it was almost to the day that the 1987 hurricane took us by surprise and ripped the South coast of England apart. Storm Ophelia had a similar trajectory as it whipped up parallel to the coasts of Portugal, Spain and France before hammering Ireland and the South coast of England full power with winds of over 80 mph. The eye of the storm was set to pass over the South West coast of Ireland with the most violent winds hammering the South and East coasts of Ireland, the Irish Sea, Cornwall and Wales. Pretty much any landfall in the path of Ophelia was set for a pounding one way or another. As usual with these mega storms the big questions were where and when?
SOLO MISSION
Renowned storm chaser Thomas Traversa opted to head right into the centre of the storm and flew into Dublin, with his sights set on the Cork area. Tempting as it was, the price tag of following Thomas on his solo Irish storm chase was quite hefty with last minute flights and ferries at a premium. I had also been torn between heading up to Tiree or driving down to Cornwall where the swell and wind were on the fringes of the storm but still showing 6m waves and 50 mph winds. As the forecast for the rest of the week in Tiree and Ireland faded, I eventually decided to head down to Cornwall along with Ross Williams and Jamie Hancock with a plan to be at Gwithian from dawn ‘til dusk!
KERNOW BOUND
This story is from the Issue 372 - January February 2018 edition of Windsurf.
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This story is from the Issue 372 - January February 2018 edition of Windsurf.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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