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MAZZA MAGIC

Andy King and Timo Mullen reflect on an epic day at Marazion, the day after Storm Herminia in Cornwall!

Photos: John Carter.

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ANDY KING

GOYA WINDSURFING

“With a solid swell still hitting Cornwall following the big storm the day before with northwest winds forecast and low tide mid-morning, Marazion was a safe bet to get some fun conditions.  It isn’t the most powerful wave and a northwest wind can be particularly patchy but in my opinion, it was the best option at low tide.

I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived and there were decent sized sets coming through feathered by what looked to be howling side offshore winds.  The sun was even out, which was a rarity with most of my recent windsurf sessions taking place below very grey and menacing storm clouds with rain or hail.

ON IT!

I was working a late shift starting at 2pm back in East Cornwall, so I got straight on it.  Knowing that Marazion, ‘Mazza’ for short, is patchy in a NW, I opted for a 4.2m Goya Banzai Max to keep me moving through the lulls and my 84 Goya quad that I’d only picked up the day before.

When the wind was up it was a lot of fun.  There were proper set waves coming through and it was so refreshing to catch a set way out and hold a high line as it steepened up.  You could then go full attack on it with whatever style chose.  I am always greedy for jumps so don’t like to give up too much ground downwind, so I like to leave it late and let the wave wall up as much as possible before charging down the line.  Marazion doesn’t really have a punchy lip like you find more on the north coast, so aerials don’t come easy and a lot of the time you are better to opt for a mid-face turn instead.

The bonus of it being less powerful is it has less consequence for kit destruction if you get it wrong, so it is generally relatively mellow sailing.  Except if you’re Mario; a Cornwall windsurf regular who sustained a gnarly multi-foot fracture last time I was here.  ‘Get well soon Mario from all the Cornwall crew and we will see you back on the water in the summer’.

The jumping was so much fun! Cross off is not usually the best direction and it was all a bit chaotic with mega gusts and side chop further out, but when it lined up you could still get height and rotations. Again, if you mess up the landing here you won’t get mown down and flogged all the way to the beach by the next wave so you can relax a lot more and cut loose.”

TIMO MULLEN

DUOTONE WINDSURFING

GAME ON

“I live in Poole, Dorset which is right in the middle of the south coast of England. There are some amazing reefs close by. One of the best windsurfing spots in a northwest wind is a place called Kimmeridge. The reefs can be epic with a south swell and that wind direction. I sail there all the time so after the session at the Bluff we decided to stay down and sail at Marazion.

It was a big enough southwest swell for the swell to get into the bay at Marazion. It normally needs a big swell or an onshore swell to work, but we knew it had been blowing fifty knots onshore all night. The wind was due to swing west northwest by the early morning which is side offshore at Mazza. The whole crew met up at the beach around 9.30am. The swell at Marazion can have a habit of disappearing quickly but it looked pretty solid. It was head high, maybe logo high in the sets and the wind was already kicking in.

I rigged a Duotone 4.2m Super Hero and on the wave I was perfect, but I wasn’t quite powered up to do lots of jumps. The wave riding was really good fun and not too stressful, my Duotone GRIP 4 DLAB was working great. Pretty much everyone who windsurfs in Cornwall was there! It is a relatively safe beach for wave sailing. It is a huge bay and the waves are not too powerful but it still fun to sail. The sailing is a bit more relaxed than the other spots in Cornwall which are normally a bit more full-power.

KING POWER

I have sailed with Andy King for thirty years I reckon. He just does not change. He is mad keen, so focussed on his windsurfing and he rips. He has to be one of the best jumpers in the UK on both tacks. He is always going high and pushing his level, which obviously pushed all of us as well. He is always non-stop on the water, throwing jumps, wave rides, tricks and even freestyle moves on the inside. There is never a dull moment when he is sailing. I have actually seen him doing one of the biggest aerials at one of the last wave sailing contests in Cornwall. He can hit a big lip, but he is more than happy flying around doing all sorts of tricks.  I love watching him and sailing with him, he is a hardcore guy.

SCENIC MAZZA

It is always fun at Mazza. I think it can be a bit better in a side shore wind as the waves have a bit more punch in them. For a novelty session it was epic. I think it was the spot to be. You don’t get a better back drop for windsurfing than St Michael’s Mount! There is actually a place in France called Mont-Saint-Michel, which is the French counterpart to St Michael’s Mount, which is pretty cool!”