The idea was to do some surfing with two friends at Playa Camposoto, in the south of Spain. The predicted wave height was about 2.5 meters and the wind some 20 knots average. However the sea was furious, with forces coming from every direction but the expected one, and the massive walls of foam were backed up by the wind.
After a struggle of one and a half hours with a lot of laughs and hilarious moments, I noticed that the sky was showing increasingly darker and more dramatic colours and so we left the water. A few minutes later a real intense storm released itself on Mother Earth! There was a spectacular sudden temperature drop when the day turned into something that looked like a beautiful weird purple night. The now-horizontal wind got mixed with rain and loads of sand - and it got freezing cold.
I rapidly replaced my helmet for my Peak Neoskin Headcase which I always carry in the arm pocket, placed the hood of my Peak One Piece Explorer Suit upon it, and tightened up the zippers and cords.
One of the others had left her kayak way too close to the water and went to change clothes, so I ran the 200 meters downwind to her boat in order to drag it somewhat further on up the beach. While I was holding it the bow lifted upwards rather aggressively and so there was no possibility to return and save mine as well.
Nature solved the dilemma quite effectively; suddenly my boat got airborne and literally started to fly in my direction. I only had one chance not to lose it forever. Touchdown! That hurt, but at least I got it! Unfortunately my kayak suffered three big cracks, but those can be repaired.
With the worst part went over, the others found themselves on the edge of hypothermia and were heavily shivering. But my suit had protected me so well, that even after all the waves, rain, wind, cold and storms, the Peak base layers which I wore under my suit were all completely dry. "Toasty warm" indeed, like they announce them to be on their website. So I still felt amazingly warm and nice!
That was a what you could call a nice comfortable Spanish storm.
Article and images: Jasper Boerma
Jasper Boerma is a keen sea kayaker living in Extremadura, Spain. When not in his boat Jasper makes beautiful hand-crafted guitars under the name of Aspe Guitars.
