Equipment: Main Tent
Our main tent is a Wynnster Satellite 9, as it has been since we started serious camping in 2003 - we are on our second; the first is stashed under our bed, worn but usable. While nominally a nine man tent, it could really only accommodate 9 adults for a bout of intense bacchanalia. However, for five of us it is the perfect fit, giving us plenty of room to breathe when tent-bound in the rain.
The layout consists of three pods joining onto a large central area capable of holding a table and 10 boozing adults. Two of the pods are for sleeping (1 for the kids and 1 for the grown ups), the third for storage.
Although Wynnsters are sometimes compared unfavourably to Khyams and their ilk when it comes to robustness, durability and strength, our experience shows otherwise. We have been caught in two major storms in this tent: the first, a Mistral storm in Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer, France that left a 40ft yacht parked half way up the beach, the second a powerful gale that blew in from the channel while we were camped atop a cliff at Bigbury-on-Sea. In both cases, the tent coped admirably. In the first event, our tent was just about the only one still standing at the campsire when the storm blew out. The second event totally destroyed a friends admittedly old Khyam but left ours undamaged.
The only major niggle with the Satellite design concerns the main doors. As they open directly onto the central area, it can be hard to keep the rain out with the door open. However, this is more than compensated for by the fact there are three doors, one on each side. When the weather changes, it is possible to move the open door to one of the other sides without having to move the tent. This is utterly invaluable in a storm.
The following video clip shows the bad weather characteristics of the tent, notably how it will deform rather than break in high winds. This sequence was taken huddled under a tarp once the storm had died down enough to relax a little and get the camera out. Prior to that, the winds had hit 60 mph. Despite it's general good nature in high winds, three of the poles broke. You can just about make out the silver duct-tape/firewood jury rig repair on the pole to the left of the door.
