They keep coming. Unbelievable end to 2013 and it hasn't stopped in 2014 yet.
Two of the bigger sets that rolled in on Saturday 8th February.
This is the biggest I have seen Vazon Bay, Guernsey.
Vazon is a horse shoe shaped bay with a few reefs running out to sea from the middle southwards, (centres & suckies are sailable) sand from centres north and rocks lining the Northern edge.
When we get a really big swell the amount of water coming into the bay at high tide is huge and it has to go some where, centres blocks the water from going South so all the water hitting North of centres rips along the beach and out over the rocky northern edge of the bay. The rip passing over the rocks gets confused and is swept back into the bay causing huge chop.
On Saturday the swell was mast high at least but with 4 foot chop bouncing around on it until it got close enough to the beach to break. I sailed with the rip out at the Northern end then beat up wind till I could tack and ride a big un in down wind as much as possible so that I wouldn't get battered on the beach.
A tough days sailing, 5.5m Neil Pryde Fusion HD (seriously over powered on the waves) and PATRIK Freestyle Wave 112 (I needed the volume to get out over the waves and not stall)
On the way out I was perfectly powered but as soon as I started dropping in on the waves the apparent wind was huge. Thats the most testing conditions I have ever sailed. If something had failed out in the middle of the bay it could have been curtains. 8 degrees air temp and 9 degrees water temp didn't help.
Although I had people on the shore watching and recording it, on the water I was alone. When your in there you get on with it but afterwards when looking at the footage and back out to sea you get a strange feeling, a rush yes but hard to say if it was enjoyable.
