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Tiree Wave Classic 2004

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The Legendary Tiree Wave Classic

Gales, sheep, party after party, rain, snow, epic drives, off-roading, and free Red Bull could only mean one thing...for one week only, Tiree suddenly became the centre of the universe (maybe it already was, we would never know). Entrants, supporters, event crew and models flocked in their droves, from Scotland, England, Wales, Southend, Spain, South Africa and even the Isle of Wight to play on the quiet beaches of Tiree.

The story of a British event of such epic proportions really has to be told properly, so this month Boardseeker Magazine presents you with the full inside story covering all fleets, the evening activities and the action, both moving and still.

Andy King - one handed

John Skye gets VERT going up (click image to enlarge)

Chris Audsley takes the opposite approach

Express yourself boys, the judges are watching

Typically, the day everyone arrived was super windy. But with the only ferry arriving at lunchtime, with most of the competitors and the judges aboard, there was not enough time to start a competition.
Instead, a free-for-all expression session was held at Balevulin. (A beach we would all be getting far too familiar with.) Strong and very cold north easterly winds battered the north shore of the island and it was not long before 50 or so windsurfers packed the small bay, intent on impressing the judges enough to win the expression session. It was complete and utter carnage. Andy King stole the show as he gave a demonstration of how to do every loop in the book, higher and more consistent than anyone else. John Skye, Chris Audsley and Paul Hunt also ran riot in their favourite starboard tack jumping conditions.

It was impressive stuff, considering how hard it was to actually find a wave to jump off that did not have 20 other people wanting to do exactly the same. Special mention should also go to Terry Luxton who has invented a new move: the Suicide Ponch. A ponch is one of those moves that is hard to picture, but it involves throwing the sail into wind and towards the water, then rotating yourself and the board up, over and around the sail, landing and sailing off. Terry however does this move in about 2 inches of water, with sometimes catastrophic affects. He says he has unusually bendy limbs?!

The winner of the session was announced by Trevor Funnell and Julian Davall at the Lodge Hotel that night. Andy King, of Team Boardseeker, won the high accolade with not four, but 47 backloops in the two hour session amongst table top forwards, ninja kicks and doubles. Timo Mullen won highest backloop and Rhosneigr local Greg Martin, best wave riding.

OFF TO A FLYING START…

Timo Mullen, Steve Thorpe and Paul Hunt were the first out onto the water. It looked promising, but we all knew that with the tide out and the wind forecast to drop that it would be a waiting game.

The competition started with cross-onshore, starboard tack, small waves and 5.7m weather. Two jumps and two waves were needed to impress the judges in the six minute heats. It was hard to ride such mush, but everyone was trying to impress in the conditions.

Greg Martin probably caused the biggest upset of the day by winning a heat against Jan Sleigh and Ben Proffitt. Proffitt coming second meant that his next heat would be against John Skye and such an early meeting (last 12) would decide the Triple Crown Champion.

Paul Hunt looked extremely comfortable in the waves as did James Cox but the tide went and as predicted, the conditions deteriorated. We would have to wait for several days before we could conclude the competition. This left Proffitt and Skye dangling on a small frayed bit of outhaul rope, with Ben praying that it would be his favoured port tack jumping once the wind returned.


"This left Proffitt and Skye dangling on a small, frayed,bit of outhaul rope."

S***, where did I leave my board?

Close, very close (click image to enlarge)

Corky with a tweaked one hander. (click image to enlarge)

Ben Proffit before his injury

John Skye waving to the crowds below

6 minutes to decide the champion

The first heat was a continuation of the first round: John Skye versus Ben Proffitt. The loser of this heat would have an eigth place to count and this would put them out of the running. The yellow flag (signalling one minute to go) went up, and using tactics familiar to a race course, Ben covered John Skye on the way out leaving him little room to manoeuvre and perhaps unnerving the seasoned competitor.
But Skye boy definitely seemed to have the upper hand particularly when he pulled out one of the highest stalled forwards of the contest. Whilst Ben did not live up to his expectations and just didn’t get the waves or the height in his jumps. It should have been a much closer heat but the beach knew that John Skye had won it before the judges’ unanimous decision. (See the video highlights of this heat)

Meanwhile there were two sailors who were really standing out and wiping the floor with any challengers: Andy King and James Cox. James was finally proving what everyone already knew. He was landing massive back loops, sailing tactically (for a change) and consequently beat Chris Audsley in an epic to get to the final. Meanwhile Andy King had a solid victory over John Skye to take the other spot. Unusually Skyeboy and Audsley found themselves fighting for third and fourth spot.

Round 1 final: Cox .v. King

The final proved hard work for the boys as the cold and the fatigue got to them both. James Cox started falling to pieces and tried to impress the judges with his smooth back stroke as he lost his kit for the second time in six minutes. Andy had a relatively easy victory, but the number of dropped back loops was evidence that tiredness had set in. Andy King had won his first ever round at a major Pro event but James was bitterly disappointed that he had sailed so badly. John Skye ousted Chris Audsley, who had to settle for fourth spot.

Andy King pushie in gnarly 4.2 weather

Will an overall victory come his way?

High Backloop from event winner

GET IN THE RING: Round 2

No rest for the wicked; it was onto the second round. James Cox and Andy King met sooner than expected, and unfortunately for James he came worse off again. John Hibbard had stepped it up with perhaps the best wave riding of the day. But yet again all eyes were on Ben Proffitt up against his fellow Funsport Team Mate, Greg Martin. Ben sailed the heat that he should have done against John Skye in the previous round. But, to his undoing, he launched into a big tweaked, table top forward loop. He seemed to land well, but then sailed straight into the beach where he scrambled out of the water in obvious agony. A badly twisted ankle and Ben was out of the competition, with the possibility of losing a podium finish for the overall event. You could say that he was stuck in a rut on the rocks with no ice.

The final four were made up of John Skye, Chris Audsley, John Hibbard and Andy King, but this time it was John Skye and Chris Audsley in the final. Chris stepped it up several gears, nailing some big push loops and selecting the best waves to take him to the number one spot. John then beat Andy in a breathtaking display of port tack wave riding.

FRIDAY MORNING SURPRISE: Round 3

All eyes were on the weather forecast on Thursday night. Really strong winds and swell were forecast for the early hours, but it looked unlikely that they would stay for a little longer. First thing Friday, the competitors all rocked up at Crossapol, where it was sunny, head high, cross-offshore, 4.7m weather. However, a rigging frenzy was soon halted by head judge Duncan Coombes who announced that any of the Pro’s going out there would be banned from the day’s competition. Balevulin was big, dumping and windy and the judges wanted to see some gnarly action.

Pure entertainment

True to Duncan’s words, the waves were bulky, powerful and took no prisoners (check out the breakages report).
Rigs were trashed accompanied by long swims and hold downs. The heats were 12 minutes long with two waves to count and no jumping, much to Andy King’s dismay. Ben Proffitt entertained the beach when he realised that the other person in his heat had not turned up. So all he had to do to get through his heat was to get out onto the water. This would greatly help his overall ranking. So with three minutes to go he ran (actually, he hobbled, very slowly) down to the beach, stole Phil Horrocks’ kit and sailed out in his boxer shorts, gybed on a small wave and sailed back in (scroll down the video section to see this ). All credit to him though, as at that point the island doctor had told him his foot might be fractured!

King destroys Skye

Now Andy King has his critics when it comes to wave riding, but as he rightly points out, he doesn’t get the chance to practice in waves much living all year round in Southampton. However, when it is big, his wave riding is perhaps not as smooth or precise as Chris Audsley, John Skye or John Hibbard. So it came as a shock when he defeated John Skye in the quarter finals. It was certainly a shock to Mr Skye who tried his best to contain his disappointment. Andy however sailed his heats tactically and patiently, always upwind and waiting for the sets.

Round 3 Final

The final was extended to 15 minutes and was made up of Phil Horrocks (whose wave riding on port tack is excellent), John Hibbard, Chris Audsley and Andy King.

Andy King immediately caught two set waves, which pretty much put him as a front runner for most of the heat. John Hibbard also picked up some really good, long waves and rode them smoothly and pretty vertically, popping out several aerials. Whilst Phil looked to be repeating his final of last year, spending a lot of time out back not really finding any waves. Chris Audsley meanwhile, looked to be struggling with only one decent wave under his belt.
It looked very much to be going either Andy or John’s way. It was hard to judge as the start of the heat had the most wind and consequently the more powerful riding. Towards the end it was a case of surfing the waves without much wind in the sail, and getting back out was a real mission.
As fate would have it, with just over a minute to go, Chris Audsley tacked onto a decent sized wave and went straight for the breaking section with a nice
off-the-lip. The wave looked as if it was about to close out, just like the rest, but then luckily for Chris it reformed and he was able to slash it all the way to the beach. All the cliff top crowd could suggest is that the result was going to be close. And it was...

"Chris Audsley was the Tiree Wave Classic Champion of 2004 by, wait for it, just 0.5 points. Second place Andy King was inconsolable."

Cliff top viewing

Super tweaked, Timo Mullen

Phil Horrocks showed superb wave selection

Andy King's "Monster" off the lip!

Tweak it

Push it

Beaten, by just 0.5 of a point!!!!

Andy King, John Hibbard, Chris Audsley and John Skye share yet another podium. 4 UK windsurfers - 4 World Class windsurfers!

RESULTS