Neil Goes Extreme Windsurfing……
As some of you will already be aware. I have entered Defi Wind for the last 3 years and absolutely love the way the event caters for everyone from your weekend windsurfer to the full on Pro’s. Defi Wind was started 15 years ago with 100 windsurfers sailing a 7 mile stretch of French coastline at Gruissan. Whats unique is that the wind is the Tramontana wind which is a thermal wind that comes straight from the Perinese mountains and is renown for being extremely strong (upto 60knots) and is directly offshore. The race is a 4 leg race that totals 26 miles and now attracts well over 1000 competitors. Its nature is so extreme that its commonly known as the hardest windsurf race in the world.
This year I set off with fellow team rider Steve Chatten in our Team QSW bus fully loaded with 10 boards, 17 sails and a host of other kit to allow for any of the conditions defi would throw at us. We arrived on the Monday before the event which runs from the Thursday to Sunday giving us plenty of time to adjust to different type of wind the Tramontana is (yes, there are different winds due to the moisture content within it). We set up camp and for the first 2 days the wind didn’t come allowing us to get some brilliant paddleboarding in touring a 4 mile circuit of the Gruissan sea lakes and then out to sea and back to our camping location. I highly recommend having a pump up paddleboard as it can be easily learned by all the family and is inflatable thus packing away into a large rucksack type bag. I will be taking my paddleboard with me on my 2 Swift Challenge weeks in June and september – watch this space). As we watched the forecasts come in it became clear this was not going any ordinary Defi Wind. 40-50knot winds every day of the event meant we would be sailing at the very toppermost scope of any windsurf kit and also of any windsurfer……… this was gonna be HARDCORE!
We registered first thing on Thursday to find over 1200 people had entered this now iconic event and 300 people were on the reserve list. The wind kicked in and boy did it blow. tents taking off, trees blown down, and yet they announced the races would take place. Safety is taken very seriously at Defi as they have 50 boats and jet skis set 1 mile off the beach with buoys also there so that if you got in trouble you could get to a rescue boat and get towed back to the beach…..remember this is a direct Offshore wind.
For the first three days we rigged up our 4.0mtr sail and our smallest board and tried to sail the conditions but it was simply too extreme. Gusts that felt like brick walls would hit you throwing you forward and causing you to ramp off the next wind driven wave skyward and over the front – not good and sometimes very painful.
The evenings were spend nursing wounds and cuts and feeding up for the next days energy sapping days sailing – just to attempt the course was testament enough in these conditions. Only 250 of the 1200 competitors dare even venture out! By the Saturday the wind was forecast to drop so we hung back from the morning race and waited for a slightly lighter wind in the afternoon – it wasn’t to be with the wind building to 60knots on the lower end of the course. I decided i had to at least go sailing that day as this was windsurfing at its most extreme and not for the faint hearted. I rigged my 3.6mtr sail (my smallest sail and never used before) and set out. Steve had tried but got battered senseless by the merciless wind that day. I managed to sail for about 45 minutes when the organisers pulled all sailors off the water for safety reasons.
We met up with Roddy, gav and Tony – three other Uk sailors who had entered defi and went out for a meal in the local village. The food is excellent in Gruissan and its an area i highly recommend for anyone as its both quaint and the architecture and local vibe is lovely. This is essentially an undiscovered French town close to Narbonne where you can immerse yourself in true France – try it, its worth it.
So the last day came and the forecast was for lighter winds (25-30mph). In fact it barely dropped and settled at 35-40knots (40-50mph). I was determined to complete the 26 mile course before I went home and that morning I conquered Defi Wind. Sailing 26 miles in one go is something we don’t often do and your body takes a battering. That said, I felt in control apart from the bottom end of the course where the wind was simply crazy. My mission completed I packed away and prepared to head home before all the other competitors clogged up the tiny roads in the area.
We set off in the team bus and all seemed well. 1 1/2 days driving and we would be at calais to catch our ferry then 4 hours back through kent and home to Norfolk. sadly just above the Millau Bridge (another sight you really must see in your lifetime) the team bus broke down leaving us stranded on the motorway. We called out Recovery and they delivered to a local commercial garage ready to be fixed on the Monday AM. The next day the garage told us they couldn’t find the problem and recommended us to go the the main Fiat dealer in Clermont Ferrand. I haggled the same recovery people to take us there (€550 in total….Ouch!) and we set off for Clermont. That afternoon they diagnosed the problem but told me Fiat had stopped making the parts. This meant I had to look into recovering the 30ft 5.5Tonne team bus to the UK. To my horror that would cost over £4000 just to get it to Calais!!!!! As I contemplated my situation some good news came from the Fiat guy Paul who now confirmed they could get the parts and they could repair our bus………. but would take 5 days to get the parts and cost €2300. This now seemed the cheapest option but myself and Steve had to get home – we finally hatched a plan to catch the train from Clermont to Paris, Metro across paris through the night and then catch a EasyJet flight to Luton Tuesday morning. I would then return in a couple of weeks to collect the team bus and drive it back home through France.
So I haggled the garage to €2000 for the repairs and we then travelled through the night and arrived in good O’l Blighty Tuesday Morning rather haggered by glad to be on home soil.
So my conclusion: Elated I completed the hardest windsurf race in the world in some of the hardest sailing conditions known to man but sad the journey was so stressful all because I didn’t take out £350 worth of recovery cover in Europe………… I think theres a moral in the story somewhere (and I don’t have any windsurf kit to use for 2 weeks also!)