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ARMY TEAM COACHING & DEVELOPMENT WAVE TRAINING WEEK 12th – 16th Sept 2011

Scotland Rocks - Army Wave Week

Location >Tiree (Inner Hebrides)

Weather Forecast > Off the Dial!

Tiree Team September 2011

What a week we had, how lucky were we, I hear you say! One of the best trips of 2011 and one to remember, this year’s wave sailing coaching week didn’t disappoint, five days of solid sailing ranging from 3.7m weather with driving rain and half mast high waves to flat water blasting off the north coast of the island with 6.5m sails.

I must admit I was a little apprehensive when I put this trip together having had to cancel our traditional wave week in North Wales earlier in the year due to lack of wind. I was keeping the old fingers crossed praying for wind. Unlike a lot of other spots in the country Tiree can deliver some of the best coastal wave sailing conditions in the country, a relatively small island with beaches on all sides, it catches a lot of swell from the North Atlantic low pressure systems so I figured September time should be pretty sorted for wind and waves. Luckily enough we hit the tail end of a hurricane so there would be no lack of wind. Normally the week before a trip like this, the jungle drums start beating with the guys firing round emails discussing kit and the weather, generally getting excited due to having a week off work to go wave sailing. Once we started looking at the forecast and predicted swell direction and pattern there was a big OH MY GOD! The forecast was booming, 40 knots plus and a big swell for most of the week.

Happy days you say, but I must admit, I was a little worried whether we would even get to the island as the ferries are disrupted quite often due to bad weather. With further interrogation of the weather it seemed that Sunday through to Tuesday was pretty ballistic then dropping off for Wednesday and Thursday then building again Friday with another big low pressure system coming through at the weekend.

We had a total of fourteen budding wave heads on the trip, some with prior experience of the wave environment and some eagerly keen to learn, wave riding and jumping techniques, to keep the transport costs down people were van sharing so a convoy ensued on Sunday 11th as we all made the long trip from down south to Oban to catch the early morning ferry at 09:00 Monday morning.

It is about twelve hours give or take to Oban form Portsmouth; there were three of us in the van myself, Allan Cross, Dave Hinsley and Thomas, Allan’s dog. Thomas spent most of the trip in the back of the van getting bounced around, not surprising he tried to chew his way out of the cage.

The plan was to set up a bed in the back so we could take it in turns to have some kip, but as we finished packing the van it was apparent that that was not going to work, one high top long wheel base transit van stacked to the roof!

We put the worlds to right on the way up with frequent stops to let Thomas out, eat and to re-fuel. We got into Oban around 12:30 Sunday night, it was lashing a blowing a gale, big thanks to Dave for sorting a hotel as all three of us sleeping upright in the cab wasn’t a particularly nice thought.

Map of Tiree

Check in for the ferry was 08:00 and it was apparent it wasn’t running due to the weather conditions so we had to wait until about midday before it sailed, this nearly put the scuppers on getting a late session in when we arrived. We docked around 16:00 and it was blowing hard, we dropped all bags off in the houses and headed straight to Crossapol to get a late sail in. The tide was high and it was a good Force 6 SW so shore break was fairly chunky. It was great to see all the guys getting stuck in and we had a good two hour session.

I had booked two houses adjacent to each other in the middle the island which worked out really well, as Tiree is quite a small island and it is about twenty five minutes from most of the good beaches so we were well placed to get around.

A summary of the sailing conditions.

Monday – 40 knots SW, we had two sessions, Crossapol in the morning and then Gott Bay in the afternoon, heavy rain all day with squally showers.

Tuesday – 40 knots plus WSW in the morning, sailed Gott Bay on 3.7m / 4.0m sails, cross off small waves but super clean, down the line wave riding. Went to Crossapol in the afternoon, pretty heavy with pushing tide big chunky waves, wind had started to drop so sailed on 5.0m plus.

Wednesday – wind had gone round to the NW 15 – 20 knots, went surfing in the morning and some of the group sailed flat water / bump and jump at Ballaphetrish on the north of the island on 5.8m / 6.5m sails. A few of us went to the Maize in the afternoon, wind was a bit light but waves were good. I won’t discuss the van saga but needless to say those who were there - I am still chuckling!

Thursday – again NW winds so a day for flat water blasting or surfing at Balephuil, bonus was that it was bright and sunny all day.

We had organised a meal in the Tiree Lodge for Thursday evening as a bit of a get together and a few beers as most of us were heading back down south on Friday morning.

Friday - arrived with a sore head due to the amount of Guinness that was drunk the night before and we made our way to the ferry. The forecast on Friday was good so we were a bit gutted having to leave but we had had a great week. We dropped Dave off at Glasgow airport as he was attending a wedding that weekend and we headed down south, twenty miles passed Glasgow the van started to misfire, and to start with we thought it must be dirty fuel but it was getting worse so we opted to pull into services to investigate. Now all we wanted to do at this stage was to get back down south as quickly as possible, but our day was to change and not for the better! Having called the AA road side recovery unit out to look at the van we feared the worse, oil in the water header tank not a good sign! You guessed it, the head gasket had gone on the van, nightmare, couple of choices; stay in Glasgow and try and sort another van in the morning, carry on driving which was not really an option or get relayed from our current location. We opted to get relayed which took a total of four relay trucks and in all twenty two hours to get back to Thorney island - broken!

Having been on many road trips in my time and having had my share of breakdowns with vans I reckon this is probably the longest relay I have had, so one for the record books. Nevertheless, we got back safely having had a great week of windsurfing in Tiree, it’s definitely in the calendar for next year although I won’t be taking a Ford transit van!

The next wave week will be the Forces Open Wave Championships in Rhosneigr Spring time 2012 (dates to be confirmed).

A big thanks to everyone who supported the event, the photos are on the Facebook page and in the Gallery, videos are in the pipe line but will be posted soon.

Article written by Jon Metcalfe
ASA Windsurfing Training Manager
asawsm@btconnect.com