![\"by-the-wind-sailor_courtesyofmarlin\"](\"http:\/\/driftsurfingmagazine.driftdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/by-the-wind-sailor_courtesyofmarlin.jpg\" "\\"by-the-wind")
You heard it here first folks. It\u2019s official – we are in store for a scorcher this year. I\u2019ve seen definitive proof \u2013 if the locals are to be believed – to back up the Met Office\u2019s promises of a barbeque summer and it comes in the way of purple jelly.<\/p>\n
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Scores of by-the-wind-sailors, or Velella velella<\/a> to use their official name, have been washing up on Cornwall\u2019s shores, which in the eyes of local St Ives Bay residents is a sure sign that we\u2019re all set for warm weather.<\/p>\n Usually only found in warmer waters out to sea the small, disc-shaped floating creatures have a vertical sail that propels them across the ocean\u2019s surface. When the UK experiences a run of southwesterlies the purple, jellyfish-like animals sail towards our shores to be washed up on our coastlines. After, swimming through a soup of by-the-wind-sailors a couple of weeks ago I did a bit of investigating. Speaking to locals who know the beach like the back of their hand, the response was unanimous. Purple jelly in June means a season of blazing sunshine is on the way. However, communications officer Guy Baker from the Marine Biological Association<\/a> is unsure of the scientific connection between the two.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tend to see by-the-wind-sailors coming in every year in varying quantities, it\u2019s more a reflection of the wind patterns than of the weather to come,\u201d he explains. \u201cHowever local observations are valuable and it might be that coastal residents have observed a connection between the arrival of these creatures and good weather over hundreds of years, so there could be truth behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n So there you have it. If you choose to believe a the handful of talkative octogenarians that I cornered on the beach a couple of weeks ago over the rational scientific explanation of experts, it\u2019s bikini and boardshort surfs all the way this summer. Fact.<\/p>\n I know who my money\u2019s on\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You heard it here first folks. It\u2019s official – we are in store for a scorcher this year. I\u2019ve seen definitive proof \u2013 if the locals are to be believed – to back up the Met Office\u2019s promises of a barbeque summer and it comes in the way of purple jelly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117,4],"tags":[26,28,27,29],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clare-howdle","category-environment","tag-purple-jellyfish","tag-st-ives","tag-velella","tag-weather"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t