THE BIGBURY MASSACRE!THE BIGBURY MASSACRE!With a monster south swell lighting up the charts, John Carter and Timo Mullen make a last-minute dash to Cornwall, rolling the dice on a possible Marazion jackpot. En route to Mazza, the early reports were that the swell was small and the wind was gusty. Taking a spontaneous detour, they link up with Ben Page and find themselves staring down the barrel of brutal, unforgiving conditions at Bigbury, where every wave was a fight for survival. Timo and Ben look back on the brutal session that ensued!Photos: John Carter. Click on any picture to enlarge and scrollbest viewed on a big screen!TIMO MULLENSo, the plan was there was no plan.Twenty-four hours earlier I was just sat on the sofa, scrolling forecasts. All I could see was loads of west and northwest swell, and with the wind going west-northwest youd normally think somewhere like Daymar Bay would be good, but I just didnt think it was big enough.Then I checked the Kimmeridge forecast and noticed a pretty serious southwest swell. I pulled up Marazion and it was showing four metres at fifteen seconds. Thats massive for Marazion. So, I rang JC around 8pm. He was pretty sceptical at first, but then about half an hour later he messaged me saying, Im on the way to the boat. I can turn back, but otherwise Ill see you at half eleven tonight.I picked him up from the station, we did the usual banter for an hour even though it was past midnight, set the alarms for 4:30am and pointed the van at Marazion.Halfway down the A30 we get a call from Andy King saying its not looking greatnot much swell and gusty west winds maybe later. Luckily, we were right at a point where we could detour to Bigbury.We checked the webcam and it was absolutely pumping. We rang Ben Page, and he had just enough time to sneak a sail in between work shifts.When we arrived, it was solid mast-high, windy, sunny and looked wild. Ben went first and caught a couple of bombs, I followed doon after, I flew out off the beach and then I just stopped dead.Thats when I remembered from my University days at Bigbury: in a westerly theres a massive wind shadow right where the big waves are. It was going from twenty-five knots to zero instantly.The conditions could of been amazing without the wind shadow but going from 20 knots to zero was gnarly!I was on a 95-litre Duotone quad with a five-metre sail and honestly I probably only caught one decent wavebut that one wave was a really good one.Ben got a few nice bowls too, but by about half twelve we were done.AFTERMATHThen we started thinking maybe this swells going to run up the channel, and there might be one more chance.We looked at each other and thought, if this swells hitting Bigbury, we may as well roll the dice on a kind of secret south-coast spot near Weymouth.We got there around two oclock and at first it didnt look like muchmaybe two foot at best. But we stuck around and just watched it build and build through the afternoon. By the evening it was up to head-high, maybe logo-high, but by then the wind had completely died, so that was that.As for everywhere else, we were getting flooded with messages that is was firing in the Witterings and even Marazion turned on in the afternoontheres so much information now about what every spots doing. But in hindsight, Bigbury was probably where we actually scored the best waves of the day.Thats the thing thoughits always an adventure, always a gamble. We love rolling the dice. Some days you win, some days you lose.BEN PAGEBigbury is always hard to predict, a tiny change in the direction just kills the wind up that top end. And its lethal downwind at that size. Its definitely a spot that works best on a small to medium forecast!It was a normal day for me at home. I was working a late shift so had the morning free. I was mid-way through my breakfast when JC messaged to say he and Timo were on their way to Bigbury. I quickly finished my cup of tea and drove the ten minutes down the road to the beach from my home here in South Devon.Bigbury is a tricky spot and definitely not ideal on a bigger swell like the one we had that day. The whole middle of the bay was a mass of swirling foam and over mast high whitewater. We had to hide right up the Bigbury end under the island to ride the reforms after the sets crashed on the rocks by Burgh Island. The trouble with this is the island makes a wind shadow, which depending on the wind direction can be right in the impact zone where you need power the most.Obviously, today was one of those days. Anyone who has sailed Bigbury much will know the feeling of flying off the beach at full speed only to completely run out of wind just as you reach the breakers. There you wobble, knee deep in water as an overhead closeout comes to deliver the coup de grace and send you straight back to the beach.I did feel sorry for JC and Timo, who had expended a significant amount of effort to be there!Despite the catastrophic faff that this session was, I did have a couple of fun waves before I had to head off to work. Even when its a bit ropey, a pre work session is always the best. Its impossible to have a bad day when youve already been in the water. Sailing on a workday always feels like a cheat code for life!The post THE BIGBURY MASSACRE! appeared first on Windsurf Magazine Online.