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STORM ELIN: MOTLEY CREW

While most Christmas parties involve a jaunt to the local pub, ridiculous Xmas jumpers, way too much booze, regrettable flirting with the office secretary and the hangover from hell, the Motley Crew opted for a three-hour shredding session in logo to mast high waves, followed by a pint and a couple of bowls of cheesy chips. 

Read on as John Carter recounts all the dirt on the 2023 Motley Crew Xmas shindig! 

Words: John Carter and Ross Williams

Photos: John Carter

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WISH LIST

After a busy few months on the road in October and November it was with welcome relief to finally be back in the UK for the run up to Christmas. While I was away, I had missed a multitude of storms and epic windsurfing days all over the country, but now it was my chance to hopefully score some decent action before Christmas.

Early December was miserable with floods, freezing cold weather and not a glimmer of sunshine, but it did not take long before Storm Elin appeared on the radar promising 75mph westerly winds combined with a three-metre swell in the channel and clearing skies through the afternoon. If you asked Santa on your Christmas wish list for a perfect Niton forecast with all the trimmings, just below that subscription to Windsurf Magazine, a new wave board, a set of sails and a three-month trip to Hawaii, then this one was pretty much as good as it gets.

Of course, Isle of Wight local ripper, Ross Williams, was down for an epic day at his local break and not to break the tradition of a Xmas Motley Crew gathering, Timo Mullen was also hungry for a festive wave session. It goes without saying, that as with any Motley Crew mission, nothing could be finalised until the last minute and Timo was still scurrying around trying to book a ferry at 7am on the morning Storm Elin hit. Somehow, I had managed to read the tide tables completely wrong and instead of high tide being at 1.30pm, it was actually low tide, which put quite a spanner in the works with our timings. Last minute prices on the Wightlink ferries were kind of pricey too, so Timo opted to bring over his little Renault instead of his van, despite the fact his exhaust was hanging off and rasping like he was some sort of boy racer.

The wind had been blowing a gale due south all night, sending a barrage of messy waves towards the south coast, but by 10am it was due to swing west and that’s when the boys would be unwrapping their presents if the forecast delivered!

Heavy overnight rain added to the already dire flooding situation at home, but I finally managed to navigate the roads to meet Ross and check Bonchurch en route to Niton, while we were waiting for the tide. Ross’ van seemed to have more duct tape and rust showing than actual paintwork, while my sad Polo had a slow puncture on the back tyre and was full of empty crisp packets, sand and general rubbish. Timo was apparently driving along the west side of the Island, but was worried about whether his car was even going to make it. Looking down at the waves, it was logo high and cross offshore, so Ross decided he could not resist a quick session before we hit Niton.

As I was setting up my camera gear, I could hear the noise of Timo’s car approaching from about half a mile away. It sounded something like Del Boy’s Robin Reliant about to clap out, sure enough, a moment later, Timo’s Renault appeared at the end of the road with two Duotone’s strapped to the roof. The poor car was stuffed to the brim with sails and masts as well as his cocker spaniel, Freddy, who was sat alertly on the passenger seat. Timo was hobbling as he emerged from the car and declared he only had one session in him and would wait to sail Niton. Apparently after slipping down his stairs and breaking his foot six weeks ago, he followed that injury up by sliding on the mud at Kimmeridge and was now nursing a swollen ankle. As you might gather, there is not much that will keep Timo off the water and I could tell he was going to be sailing through the pain barrier. So, with our fleet of clapped-out bangers gathered in the car park at Bonchurch, it’s safe to say we really did look like a proper Motley Crew!

Ross smashed out a quick session at Bonchurch in the drizzle. The wind had already swung west, but so far there was no sign of the promised clearing skies and nuclear winds. The weather may have been dreary, but Ross nailed some pretty sick turns on his new Tabou Da Curve, Thomas Traversa’s new Pro model. By midday Ross had called it a day and we all convoyed over to Niton for the main session of our Christmas celebrations. Weirdly there were no surfers around, and we were the only three in the car park, although that might have had something to do with flooded roads and an almost impenetrable track down to the beach. We made it down OK, but getting back up, especially with Timo’s rattling exhaust could be an issue. Would we have to call on Santa to borrow his reindeers to tow us out? We would find that out later. Meanwhile, down at the bottom of the track, the conditions looked pretty epic and we were greeted with logo high waves and ideal side-off winds, so the boys wasted no time rigging up.

NITON DELIVERS

Ten minutes after the boys hit the water, I could see blue sky slowly edging its way from the west. It looked like Santa was late with his delivery, but we were not complaining. The conditions looked epic, but sailing was actually trickier than it looked. The wind was side offshore, but at the same time most of the sets were coming in at an angle where they were bending away – making it tough to smack the lip. It was taking the boys a while to dial in and there were plenty of big swims going down as both Timo and Ross tried to nail some big 360’s and airs. As the tide pushed in during the afternoon, the stars started to align and there were plenty of golden moments as Timo and Ross traded waves in the crisp winter sunshine. Timo was riding his Duotone Super_Hero 4.7 and Grip 4 87-litre both all in gold and as the session progressed, he was dialling in some big vertical hits, 360’s and aerials. Ross was on fire and finding all the best sets, driving into his bottom turns and smacking the lip with his aggressive surf style riding.

OVER AND OUT

By 4pm, and after a three-hour epic session, both Timo and Ross threw in the towel both totally knackered after this monster session. After packing up and letting Freddy have a wander around at Niton, we all somehow made it back up the weather-beaten track to the main road. No Motley Crew Xmas party was going to be complete without a quick stop at the pub for a few icy colds, and the Spyglass Inn in Ventnor was our unanimous choice. Over the years, the Spyglass has been the pub we end up at after most epic Isle of Wight sessions and it was even the venue where I had my infamous wedding party!

As we were walking in through the front door, around twenty Santa Clauses rocked up on bikes as part of some sort of Xmas pub crawl.

You really could not have scripted a more apt way to wrap up the Motley Crew shindig as the pub was full of drunk Santas making for a very lively atmosphere. We really splashed out on our Xmas dinner and ordered two big bowls of cheesy chips between the three of us (times are tough!) along with a few hearty ales to wash them down. All in all, it was a memorable day, with the boys scoring an epic windsurfing session all to themselves at Niton, let’s face it, it doesn’t really get much better than that!

ROSS WILLIAMS

The forecast was decent, onshore overnight, which would build up the swell and then swinging round to the west. I was excited to sail with Timo and meet up with the Motley Crew for our annual Christmas do. It has been a while since we have all spent some time together. We were both shrugging off injuries and all our vehicles were worse for wear, but we still gave it our all and sailed for hours. Niton was quite sectiony and the waves were bending away and we took turns swimming for our gear. I was on the 2024 Da Curve, the new signature model from Thomas [Traversa]. I really like that board, it is a classic outline with a single concave, which felt really nice when you put the board on rail. The new Manic’s were also feeling super nice. I am very happy to still be sailing for GA Sails after twenty-five years or so.

At Niton, your timing into your bottom turn was critical. It was everything. 90% of the time we were off, we would either be too deep or too far away from the section. When you did get the timing right it feels amazing as that is quite a difficult challenge. It is not easy as those are the standard conditions we experience a lot of the time in the UK with the waves bending away from you, so that is all part of the challenge. It was nice to warm up in the pub and have a pint and a laugh with the crew, what an awesome day!