I t’s hard to believe it now, but back at thestart of the summer it did seem like it wassetting itself up as a typical windless British

season. Things weren’t looking too good, andif you’re like me, July/August is usually writtenoff. Call me a pessimist with a half-empty pint,but the east coast feels like the last place inBritain to get wind. It usually takes a strongweather system to get our eastern shoresblowing – especially in the summer. Endless

forecast scouring is futile, and, quite frankly, abloody wind-up.

Anyway, Steve Thorp, Russ Tetlow and I weremaking good use of windless time, lookingafresh at the WaveJam concept, working outwhat to improve and hammering out the bestway forward. Time-consuming stuff, and whenyou know you might be onto something goodit’s all too easy to get carried away. Russ inparticular was really going for it, but his passion

and enthusiasm took its toll. WaveJam wastaking up so much of his time (given freely) thathe felt it might affect his day job, so regretfully hedecided to hang up the gloves. It’s a loss asRuss is a real card and an asset to the team, buthe’s is still very much part of WaveJam, and nowhe gets to attend and sail all weekend. (I have tosay that I’m a little bit jealous!)

Internal affairs sorted, Steve and I were busywith the new WaveJam website / logo and

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WaveJam III went down as the best of all time. Gwithian in March, firing on all cylinders. So just how do

you follow that? We guess you can’t, so you’re probably thinking “Why the hell call a WaveJam in

August – it’s madness!” You could well be right. Simon Crowther reports...

WAVEJAM IV

putting material together for a promotional driveto secure us a sponsor. In the middle of anotherlong phone chat, Steve suddenly says: “You

seen the forecast Si? Rhossy could be good if

that holds”. What? WIND? We’d been sowrapped up in the other stuff that we’d beencompletely curve-balled. Was it too late to callit? Was it good enough to call? Given WaveJamIII, should we wait for something better? HadGwithian pushed the bar too high? Hell no!

WaveJam is flexible and diverse; while stormchasing is a driving factor, WaveJam should notbe without contrast and flavour, and what thisforecast could give was classic cross-onjumping, at the height of summer, inmanageable and fun conditions. We were on!

THEY CAME FROM FARAND WIDEThis ’Jam attracted people from all four cornersof the British Isles, many driving 6-7 hours. Withthe arriving weather lighting up the whole westand south coasts we feared that only the localswould show. After all, with juice at £1.30 a litrewhy would anyone leave a firing home break?

Well, it would seem that Steve and I aren’t theonly idiots out there. Representing TeamScotland were Scott ‘Self Appointed ClanLeader’ McDowell, Ian ‘Hard Man’ Gibson, andDavey and Gregor all the way from Troon,crossing the border with arses out and facespainted blue. South east nutter Mark Bell madeone of the longest journeys of the weekend –Anglesey is a fair old drive from Essex!Nottingham’s very own Crazy Horse also put in ashow, and was keen to get right in on the action.

One guy in particular deserves a specialmention for turning up – Lewis Merrony. Amember of the Pembrokeshire Massive, onimpulse he dropped everything to attend, eventhough West Wales was getting pounded by

solid lines. A surprise entrant for us, and just thetype of sailor WaveJam is keen to attract. Lewisis yet another capable amateur who’d chanceda showing at a national wavesailing event only tospend the whole weekend on a windless beach.His first and last competition experience. Whenhe first read about WaveJam in BOARDS backin February, he knew it was for him andimmediately registered on the mailing list.

Ending a late shift at work on the Friday.Lewis tipped his boss off that he wouldn’t be inthe following night, jumped in the car andheaded for Rhossy. Now I’m going to have tobuy this guy a map for the next one, ’cos hisjourney was both random and monumental. He

set off on what should have been a 4-hourjourney and headed vaguely for the valleys. Ajourney full of detours based on ad-hoc localdirections followed. The people of Bala hadn’theard of Rhosneigr, so pointed Lewis to thehills. A few hours later and the hill men ofSnowdonia provided a route worthy of a TopGear road test. Six hours total journey timewith endless views of hills and sheep – I thinkJames May would have made it quicker in aMorris Minor...

Many of the usual suspects were missingthough. It seems we’re in silly season – stag dosand weddings almost every weekend. Half thesailors were otherwise engaged, includingSteve, who left me to run the show alone.

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THE WAVES WERE CONVEXING SOMUCH THAT JUMPING WASPOSSIBLE ON BOTH TACKS!

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Ben Proffitt

‘Big Davey’

WAVEJAM IVSaturday, 9 AugustAs Saturday dawned, Rhossy was beingblasted with strong southerly winds – the beachwas under siege! The Scots hit the water at7.00am fully tooled up with 3.5s as the wavessteadily built up to create a classic jumpingparadise. Feeling ‘the quickening’, cries of“There can be only one!” were ringing out oneach of Scotty McDowell’s jumps. And withconditions improving fast, it was time for thelocals to take back their beach. The expressionsession was scheduled for 1.00pm toaccommodate late arrivals, so I had a rarechance to get out there. Result! I was riggedand ready in a jiffy – Proffitt reckons he’s neverseen me move so quick!

The morning session was alive with aerialantics; locals were answering the call andfighting back with an impressive array ofconsistent forwards, backies and pushies.Greg Martin was hunting down every ramp,

making effortless back loops. Dave Horrockswas stamping his authority on the Welshwaters with some fast, clean push loops. EvenFunsport’s owner Dave ‘Bucky’ Bucklandmanaged to get out for an hour. Proffitt waswarming up and now reaching for top gear,busting out one-handed backies, well-timedstalled forwards, and some of the cleanestdoubles I’ve seen for a while. Not one to beoutdone, Phil Horrocks looked like he meantbusiness, and it’s clear to see why he’s enjoyedsome solid PWA results of late. He really hasfound good form and the consistency crucialfor scored competition heats. Looking to injecta bit of sparkle into his jump arsenal, he’s takento throwing down the amazing push loopforward. Much respect! He’s not just flirtingwith it, either – the forward rotation is fullycommitted, and although he’s still landing wet Idon’t think it’ll be long before he has thisseemingly impossible trick nailed.

Expression SessionAt 1.00pm the plan was to meet at Funsport for aquick briefing. The cameras would come out, andthe show would begin – only it didn’t quite work likethat. While some sailors had kept an eye on thetime, others were so enthralled with the conditionsthat getting them off the water would be virtuallyimpossible. The conditions had already peaked –most people had pitted and changed up to4.5s/4.7s and were determined to squeeze everyounce out of the waves in a now backing wind.Being low key and off the radar has its problems; wehad no signalling system on the beach to call thesailors in, so just had to go for it and hope everyonewould soon realise it was 1.00pm and we were on.

Lewis arrived just in the nick of time, franticallyrigged... And within seconds of hitting the watera deep thick sea fog descended on the bay.(Lewis, you’re a jinx!) Ten minutes on and a finemist lay on the front of my lens. All my lens clothswere soon soaked and the water build-up was

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THE SCOTTISH CONTINGENT CROSSED THE BORDERWITH ARSES OUT AND FACES PAINTED BLUE...

WAVEJAM IVplaying havoc with the camera’s autofocus. Thelight was deteriorating rapidly and an eerie moodlay over the bay. I was unable to continueshooting and the session had to be abandoned.If only we’d started earlier...

Sunday 10 AugustSunday was altogether different. The wind waslighter and more onshore, the sun was up – andTroon’s troops were already out. Again. Christthese Scotsmen are keen! By 10.00am bothbeach and water were a hive of activity. Themorning’s briefing was for an 11.00am start andall-out ‘Power Hour’, with jumping being theprimary focus given the conditions. The wind wasso onshore, and the waves (which were quitesizeable due to the overnight wind) convexing somuch that jumping was possible on both tacks!This produced a melee of jumping manoeuvres,riders appeared to come from all angles, andwhere they converged it was mayhem. It looked

both impressive and odd, and from aphotographer’s viewpoint it was hard to keep up!

The Power Hour didn’t pass without incident.A freakish move occurred involving two of the bigguns, Scotty McDowell and Russ ‘Crazy Horse’Tetlow. Both were heading for the same wave ondifferent tacks. Both had spotted the same take-off... Let’s go over to Crazy Horse for his account.

“I’d already as good as collided with another

sailor at about 11.00am, so was wary as hell of

other water users. My sails are still not stickered

up, so I can slightly forgive everybody else for not

giving me complete right of way at all times – it’s

an over-inflated ego thing, or OIE – but the last

thing I was expecting as I went for a push loop

was another OIE-afflicted idiot coming in the

opposite direction. I mean, talk about near misses!

“I’m having this ramp. It’s mine! The other

fella’ll shift, yeah no problem. We got closer...

Nah, he’ll shift... Only he didn’t. To go for a back

or push loop you wanna be travelling flat out,

and little did I know that idiot number two was

also going for a back rotation.

“The closer you get, the quicker you’re

travelling, and the sooner your options run dry.

There was simply nothing else for it – same ramp,

two nutters, shiiiiiiiiiiiit! Our masts touched ten foot

up. Funny how we both had the same thing to say

on lift off and how we both laughed our arses off

after landing unceremoniously at the back of the

wave. ‘Close call’ now has a whole new meaning.”

So this had been an altogether differentWaveJam. Much busier with the warmer Augusttemperatures and more manageable conditions,and a refreshing mix of both amateurs and prosputting on a really good show, with the jumpingproving particularly entertaining.

The StandoutsIn the Power Hour Phil Horrocks and Ben Proffittclearly stood out. Phil headed out the back ofthe bay to pick off the larger, more infrequentramps, putting in some big back loops andforwards on both tacks. Ben concentrated onthe more frequent, perfectly formed stunt rampsin the bay’s mid-section, mixing it up with well-timed smacks, takas, and clew-first ponchesalongside his impressive array of port tackforwards and backies. Mark Bell showed goodskills attacking the waves on both tacks, puttingin some impressive and consistent jumping.

For the amateurs, having intimidated everyoneelse on the water daring to challenge him, Scotty

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THE SCOTS HIT THE WATER AT7.00AM AND WERE OUT TO SLASHAND RIP, FULLY TOOLED UP WITH3.5M SABRES...

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Phil Horrocks

Phil Horrocks and Scott McDowell

McDowell shone through in first place.Particularly memorable was a huge stalledforward – I guess he figured he’d go over the topof people as opposed to round or through them.Ian Gibson was also on form in second, and putin a strong performance for Team Scotland.Lewis ‘I’ve Finally Made It’ Merrony showed greatskills too; his big jumps and smooth waveridingplaced him third. You could see that, given morefavourable conditions, this guy could really rip.

Overall standout from the pros? From thePower Hour alone this was an impossible call.Had we been forced to choose a winner basedon that, it would likely have been a split decisionbetween Phil and Ben. It was a similar situationfor the whole weekend’s sailing, but in the endwe felt Phil had edged it with his truly crazypush-forward attempts. Well done Phil!

Thanks to everyone who made the trip on sucha late call. Rhosneigr proved to be a greatWaveJam location. Thanks must go out toBucky and Lucas from Funsport for donatingamateur prizes and being such great hosts. Ifyou love your port tack jumping, you simplyhave to get yourself to Rhosneigr in a southerlyto south-westerly, when the wind almost alwaysproduces great ramps and big moves.Û

WAVEJAM IV

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LOCALS ANSWERED THE CALL AND FOUGHT BACKWITH AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF CONSISTENTFORWARDS, BACKIES AND PUSHIES...

Ian Gibson

Mark Bell