JAMIE HANCOCK
“The ‘Bench’ only breaks a few times a year properly and is the closest point break to my home in Portsmouth. There is also the added factor that it is in the middle of a military firing range so is mostly closed off on weekdays, so it always feels rewarding if you score it. That’s not even including the fact that it has one of the most stunning views from the water of the Jurassic coastline. It’s a special place.
It always looks worse than what it is conditions wise from the car park, plus the waves wrap in a little, so the slightest amount of NW wind will work, even if the bay seems a little onshore. It is also always twice the wind than in the bay, so it can be slow tacking up there. On the lightest days I usually walk all the way round with my kit and rig and launch at the ‘Bench’.
This day was great fun with a few chunky waves coming through. The wave was pretty hard to read though and I was never quite sure when entering into a bottom turn whether the wave would flatten off or pitch up and throw. As we were there for the crack of dawn there was also the morning sunrise glaring through the sail when trying to see the wave downwind. Ross was ripping and I saw Hunty and Nic catching some solid ones. Apart from a nice 360 I felt my timing was off and I was sailing like a kook. But I still came back to the car with a smile on my face, which is standard protocol for the ‘Bench’.”
“I still came back to the car with a smile on my face, which is standard protocol for the ‘Bench’ ”
