Tommy takes us on a whistle stop tour of Maui, with some unbelievable images, but first lets find out a little more about the man behind the camera:

When my new wife and long-suffering windsurfing widow, Jo, left me in charge of organising our honeymoon destination there was only one place on my mind: Maui. We’ve been lucky enough to have several trips to Maui before, chasing perfect wind and waves. Here’s a few photos that we’ve taken on our trips….

Thanks to www.K4fins.com for the fins and www.Bluesmiths.com who make The Kula Hoodie, the ultimate beach hoodie for the great British Summer!

Check out some more of Tommy shots at www.flickr.com/tommyperkins

Have you ever pulled up at the beach to see conditions which make you think twice about going out? Steve Thorp is no stranger to adverse conditions, and so it was no wonder that he found himself staring, or perhaps more peering, into the misty gloom at one of the North East’s rarest spots last week considering the situation.

Words and images by James Cummings www.jamescummingsphotography.com

“I rigged up knowing it was going to be testing, but totally buzzing it was going off, one of the biggest days I’ve seen out there….”

said Steve. In the midst of the heavy industry of the surrounding area there is much that could rob a man of his motivation, but despite a huge power station, freezing temperatures and barren landscape, this was one of those days where you had to go. Steve wasn’t alone out there; Newcastle’s Gabe Davies was already out surfing with the Northcore jetski in support, which underlined how the surf community saw conditions. Gabe was quickly impressed with Steve’s efforts,

“The windsurfer out there did really well, I saw him get a really great wave and hooted him as he flew past”.

On land was a small crowd of hardened surf fans who were excited to see what mother nature had in store for them. With only Gabe, the jetski and Steve in the water, with a fair few surfers suited up and ‘thinking about it’ the crowd rightly expected a bit of a show. 1 degree air temperatures are hard to get motivated for, but this day also saw a 12 foot at 10 second swell pumping out of the 35 miles per hour wind blown blizzard, bringing epic conditions to what is effectively the best man made reef in the UK. What followed was a session to remember, but a session which ended up testing the resolve of both Steve and the gathered crowd who were there to witness him go big.

Gabe top turn

Steve’s first few passes produced a few tasty drops and less dead spots than there could have been- in these conditions the wind has to pass over a 40 foot high pile of cement, steel works slag, rocks and sand before it suddenly meets the wave, so wind conditions can be fickle as there is some wind shadow.

Surfers making their way along the path

Heading upwind out to the very end of the point before powering back in throws up even more of an obstacle, as in order to get in to the wave from the takeoff you need to stay as tight as you can to the point which has an even bigger lighthouse on top of it. Even this lighthouse was getting hit by the force of the storm on this day, as whitewater exploded up to 100 feet in to the air all around it.

Lighthouse

At times the only marker you would have in the midst of the walls of water was the very tip of the mast, and that was barely visible even when looking through a telephoto lens. Suddenly, with the rising surges of the swell Steve would come rampaging in to view, waiting to see how big the set wave would actually turn out to be as the swell sucked up the water off the reef.

Mast in the mayhem

Steve Thorp

It was at this point that the first alarm bell rang. Suddenly, the wind vanished as Steve approached the takeoff. For a split second he was down, powerless and stationary right in the impact zone of the set, which loomed behind him. The crowd drew a collective breath, seeing Gabe scratching for the horizon and knowing Steve was in the danger zone. Even though Gabe got hammered by the wider first wave, he was quick to point out the reason for him being out in these conditions when back on land, saying “that wave smashed me, it landed right on my head; it was pretty powerful, but I guess it’s really good training for the serious big waves I am trying ride in places like Ireland”.  It looked like Steve was about to be doing ‘some big wave training’, but fortunately the wind suddenly kicked back in.

15 minutes more carving saw the end of Gabe and his crew, which left Steve out on his own for a little while, and things were going sweet. A few more surfers eventually decided that they would have a go as well, providing the onlookers with more entertainment as they attempted to jump off the pier at the head of the point, so there were a few in the water and everyone seemed to be enjoying the heavy conditions.

More surfers heading in

Surfers

It was just like any other run from outback, except this time Steve delayed his bottom turn by about two seconds which put him out on the flats. Half way through the turn the full size of the wave he had taken became apparent. A slight lull in the hoolie that had been reliably blowing previously made for one of those make or break moments. This time, it was a break moment. 

Bail!

Sail taken down

Board on the way in

A break moment which specifically broke Steve’s mast foot and separated his sail from his board and the man from all of his kit. Into the strong rip current went the kit, with the board getting smashed by a couple more waves while the sail vanished from view. In what seemed like a reasonable amount of time Steve found himself out of the lineup courtesy of the rip, around 200 meters from where the impact had taken place. Gathering himself on his board, Steve began searching for the missing sail, which he rightly concluded must also have been taken by the rip. The wipeout happened at 2:52pm. Steve didn’t find his sail till 3:06pm, which meant he spent 14 minutes or so paddling his board in a Z off the end of the rip.

“The mast & boom were fine, but the sail was in two bits; I wanted to try and salvage it if I could…”

said Steve, but that 14 minutes paddle resulted in him getting washed about quarter of a mile off in to the middle of the river mouth, right to the very edge of the shipping lane. This increase in distance from the land meant that he was fully at the mercy of the strong wind which was no longer slightly shadowed by the point itself.

Reunited

A hard paddle

10 minutes of constant paddling made no difference to his position, and after some discussion the surrounding crowd concluded it was starting to look a little bit dangerous. Factoring in what could clearly be seen as unshaken determination on Steve’s part, it was decided the best course of action was to call the Coastguard, just in case things got out of hand.

“I’d actually had to scrap the idea of paddling in the sail by then, I was just going backwards- so i tied the sail to a shipping buoy and just paddled the board for the land as hard as i could. I’d also noticed the full power of the rip when I was next to the buoy- it was dragging me and my board underwater as I tried to fasten the sail to it, maybe 5 knots of current”

added Steve, and thankfully the effort eventually paid off as he broke free from the current and managed to make headway. The Coastguard had launched but were informed that there was no longer any need for them, and the crowd returned their gaze to the intrepid surfers who continued dropping in to the bombs that were ripping through the lineup.

Tube time

Gabe summed it up after thawing his hands out:

“That was an awesome day on the east coast, which really brought together all the extremes of surfing here. It’s rare you get this spot this good, it only breaks a handful of times a year; I guess it’s just typical a very solid 3-4m swell came together with a mix of hail storms and freezing winds!”

Sadly for Steve his day wasn’t quite finished, as he still had to summon up the energy to rig up another sail and set out to retrieve his rig, which involved negotiating a two mile forearm burning leg back downwind tp the shore.

After the intensity of the day had passed Steve had some perspective:

“The whole thing really was an incredible experience, but it brought home how careful you have to be. You never want to waste the coastguards time when you’re just meant to be out there having fun, but it’s great to know that they are there in case the unexpected really does get the better of you. I’d like to say thanks to everyone”

When Steve Thorp sees a great forecast, nothing will stop him getting there, where ever it is. And last week was no different. Steve was joined by Rich Potter and Mark Bell on an epic road trip to windsurf the far-flung isles of Orkney, and here he tells the story of the journey from first thoughts to christening a break.

WEDNESDAY 12th SEPT

1200 It’s looking very likely that ex Hurricane Leslie is on a path across the top of Scotland for Friday Saturday, bringing some Westerly wind and big long period swell. A road trip could be on!

THURSDAY

0900 Answering the last minute call are Robin Hood team riders Rich Potter and Mark Bell. We also get a message from Andrew Heighton-Jackson, a Fanatic/North/Ion rider, saying he’s heading up Friday night and has a surfing friend who’s living on Orkney. Last minute plan coming together nicely!

1700 We all finish work. Mark drives an hour to mine in Leicester, then we drive the 40minutes to Rich in Nottingham.
2100 We leave Nottingham bound for Thurso.

FRIDAY

0600 Arrive at Sandside bay on the North Coast of Scotland, just in time for first light. It looks fairly rubbish! Not a whole lot of swell yet.. sleep.

0900 Coffee and Bacon rolls at Tesco Cafe in Thurso

1000 Murkle point. It’s nuking. Too much for the smallest kit we bought (which is limited with three in a van) but do able. Tide is high and at this exposed spot the swells coming in at mast high, much more like the 20ft @ 17second forecast.

1300 Wind has eased back a bit finally. I stay on 4.2. Mark and Rich change up a size.

1400 I need a break, and the waves have dropped back in size at low tide so it’s a good time to stop. I get the camera out and take these shots. Not such good timing for that! It’s a mid-high tide spot and now it’s low the waves have gone very sectiony and halved in size, but there’s still the odd sweet one rolling through.

1600 We decide to go check out Sandside again for the push up to high. We book into Sandras Backpackers in Thurso on the way (a bargain at £16 each with free tea/coffee/wifi and a four bunk room). Andrew arrives.
It’s still only head high at Sandside, so we surf until dark, but wonder if we should have rigged up as it’s still pretty blowy or stayed at Murkle for more of the same.

2200 Go for curry, then crash out.

Saturday

0900 Not much happening at sea. The swell has dropped and the 20mph offshore wind isn’t really enough anywhere.

1300 We get the ferry from Scrabster to Stromness which comes in at a slightly pricey £200 for the three of us in Rich’s van. I get some earache about my maths skills, still only £67 each though, and there’s plenty of swell out here! We take in the view including the ‘Old man of Hoy’, whilst Rich turns green.

1430 Arrive at Stromness, which is surprisingly large and pretty. It’s blowing it’s socks off over here and the swell must be pumping on exposed coasts! Wish we’d been here yesterday, this is now only 11ft at 12seconds! Apparently Pro surfer Oli Adams was up and towing in, worth giving him a google for some sick vids from these parts!

1500 We drive up the West coast, it’s big and blown out. We stop at Skara Brae where there’s an epic wave and some very old neolithic settlements. It’s £7 to get in, we don’t even get a pic before we’re off..

1600 We find the local surfers, including Andrews mate Oli. They’re surfing a sheltered head high wave. We spot something much chunkier and exposed up the coast, but it’s going to involve some hiking and a long sail upwind in a pretty strong offshore. Throw in a hideous looking tidal race half a mile out and it’s looking a bit sketchy. It’s hard to tell just how cross shore it is at the break, which leads to a bit of heated debate, during which time most of us have rigged up and are on our way!
It turns out to be 45 degrees and pretty epic with the odd set coming in at mast high as it winds down the coast, powered just right on the 75 and 4.7. Really clean and hollow waves, which have some real raw power to them. (I know, it looks like a sunny head high day at Daymer bay on the vid, but it’s pretty full on honest!) Three of us enjoy ripping this to bits for a couple of hours, until our fourth member finally decides to launch and sail up, at which point the wind drops and swings more offshore! We all wobble back in, feeling slightly relieved to be back on dry land with kit intact.
Apparently the local surfers very rarely tackle this spot, and we’re almost certainly the first to windsurf it. It’s definitely a quality reef and I’d love to go back. As Mark was first to ride it, we’re going to christen it ‘Bell point’.

1900 We go for a quick surf at another nearby reef which involves knocking on a farmers door for permission and surfing until dark with the seals.

2200 Andrews friend Oli has Spag Bol waiting for us at his place in Kirkwall and puts us all up for the night. Thanks guys, epic hospitality! We hit the town for a few beers and watch a 17 year old Mark Angulo ripping on the pub telly, is this a dream?!

SUNDAY

0600 We’re getting the 0900 ferry so that we can be back for work in a fit state Monday morning. This means the alarm goes off at 0530 so we can squeeze another surf in. It doesn’t really look great anywhere, though with a very full spring tide and not enough time to drive around checking everywhere or go windsurfing in the wind we have, we decide on a bit of reconnaissance for those pro surfer spots, time well spent!

0900 Board ferry back to Thurso.

1130 Thurso East is looking very surfable, but no-ones keen on my idea of a quick surf. I hate the drive home without a morning surf under my belt, but will have to go without this time. Two days soon flies by but it was well worth heading up. Three tanks of fuel and £200 for the Orkney ferry between three isn’t so bad for two days of full on waveriding. Can’t wait for the next trip.

2100 Arrive back in Nottingham thankful to be alive after nine of Potter’s driving!

The Orkneys have an enormous amount of potential for windsurfing and pretty much everything any windsurfer could want, from flat water speed and freestyle to heavy pro surfer tow slabs and long winding windy point breaks. They clearly scoop up a lot more wind and swell than the mainland also, and also have a lot more options for wind and swell direction. My new favourite place  :)

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