Thursday to Sunday – almost perfect

And I am saying “almost” because of the crowds… and also due to the fact that I’ve missed some great sessions because of work and wrong choices on where to go. Anyway, here are a few photos of what has this swell produced in the Bay. Excuse the past tense, but the swell has all but disappeared right now.

Let's start with Thursday...

Heavy beachbreak waves at home. Very fast right hand at low tide. I didn’t surf that day... and i should have.


Meñakoz is a heavy reefbreak near Bilbao, normally surfed when it’s huge (it is a proper big wave spot) but also when it’s not so huge. Courtesy of Sendoa.

Salinas (4 hours West) also delivered some nice waves on Thursday…

...as it did on Friday. All photos of Salinas courtesy of Clau via Contraola.


So did Anglet. Courtesy of Salerno.

There seems to be a shortage of photographers in France, at least of amateur surf photographers who load their daily shots on a blog or a website. Either that or there are lots of them in Spain… Btw, on Friday I surfed, again, the world’s worst beachbreak (WWB) and it was as bad as I expected.


The swell dropped on Saturday. Some nice peaks near the Cabo Peñas (Asturias) though. Photo from Chuck’s blog.

I went to Capbreton -on Saturday morning-, along with 3.000 other surfers. Actually, I believe that this photo (from Pablo Azkue through Alaplaya's e-surf magazine Gure North Shore mag) is from Friday... as on Saturday it was much busier than this. I think I might have been in the water a total of... 40 minutes??

And on Sunday the swell dropped…

…here –home- and…

…there (Soesto, outside the Bay; photo courtesy of Dani). And if you don’t believe me regarding the crowds, on Sunday I was on the beach at 7h30 am and there were some 12 surfers in the water already. And it wasn’t even “epic”.

Titbits:

(1) New entry on the Surfilm Festibal blog, this time I’m writing about the history of the theatre where the movies are normally screened. Check it out as it is quite unique.

(2) Across the border, the French Surf Film Festival is starting on Wednesday. I might go and have a look (programme on their website).

(3) Tomorrow I will be attending Surf Session’s (oldest French surf magazine) cocktail to celebrate their 250th monthly issue. Summer is definitely here.

(4) Just recently finished the last Huck. Well maybe not the last issue, but the last I have. Cool, although a bit too urban for an old surf dog like me. Currently reading the ‘Length and then it’s on to Carve, the Path and the Journal. Heavy duty indeed! On the other hand it seems that the last piece I wrote for 3sesenta has been quite well received –or so they say-. I’m very pleased to hear that, as big wave riding is not a subject I feel comfortable with (be it in or out of the water).

Over & out.

First half of this week – poor

Monday

Home: Onshore, stormy, windy and rainy.

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Tuesday

The bank where I surfed.

The shorey...

The wind dropped during the day and we had some clean waves at sunset in Zarautz. The shorebreak bank from Saturday was still in place, but too crowded. I had a very frustrating session that, halfway through, turned on to a decent one thanks to a little cover up in the shorebreak and some long rides just before dark, when the tide dropped a little bit. The water is warming up and some guys are already in their 3/2 and booty-less. Not me.

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Wednesday

Anglet: small and on-shore according to the Anglet Surf Photo report.

Getaria: flat.


Home: flat.

Meanwhile, West of here the new swell is already showing. Salinas this pm (photo by Jaider).


The swell is supposed to pick up nicely tomorrow and on to the weekend. I’ll keep you updated on Sunday.

Over & out.

Wednesday / Sunday – consistently inconsistent

Wednesday here (webcam).

Wednesday at a swell magnet - Xagó - some 4 hours West (photo by Jaider).

Thursday brought 2-3’ onshore windswell mush (no photo).


Friday and almost flat (webcam). Anyway we had been invited to a wedding in the evening, three hours inland, so no surfing.

Came back for Saturday pm and got nice waves in Zarautz. Most of the bros and pros were at the shorebreak so I opted for the left. Wish I had used the bonzer, though, as it was small but very clean.

Same day (Saturday) beyond the Bay. By Dani and with no photoshop. Nice. We also got one -rainbow- in Zarautz.

This morning (Sunday) I went to Lafitenia. BIG mistake: I got two waves in two hours. Too many people but too few surfers out there. I should have stayed at home and gotten a few closeouts on top of my head; I'm sure i'd have had more fun.

On a brighter note, the blogs for the Surfilm Festibal are up and running. The two of them: one in Spanish and one in English. I hope you enjoy them. Updates will be slowly increasing as we approach the dates of the Festi.

Over & out.

Weekend and the start of this week – on & off

Weekend in London was fine, thank you. Saw two surfers in Gatwick escaping from London, board in hand, on Sunday. Not one of them flew to Bilbao with us. Back at home Friday was unsurfable, Saturday kind of biggish and windy from the W and Sunday more manageable but with very strong offshores (S) with a late change to NW.

Managed to get two surfs: Monday late afternoon (2-3' and semi onshore) and Tuesday (today - 1' glassy, with perfect see through crystal clear water) before work. Not the best of conditions, but still fun. Spring is time for windswells and semi strong N-NE winds. And so far for a lot of rain.

I’m having a meeting tomorrow with the organizers of the Surfilm Festibal to talk about the blogs (Spanish & English). Look forward to this new project. The new 3sesenta magazine, oldest Spanish surfing magazine, has arrived (see the cover on the right hand side column, #127). It's the Big Waves special issue (and the biggest issue so far). I'm very happy with the lay out they've done of my writing. Looks cool. It's the last piece i've written for them so far, as i'm taking a couple of issues off to focus on other projects, but i'll be back.

Forecast: Wednesday flat as a pond…cake, Thursday and Friday big from the West with on-shores, classic Saturday (on the big side) and Sunday (smaller).

Here’s a mix of the pictures of what I’ve found on the net (and a couple from yours truly) from these past days.

Saturday morning. Photo from near A Coruña by Fiz_Bertels. Yes, outside the Bay.

Two great photos from Sunday morning in Zarautz (20kms from home, deep inside the Bay). Pacotwo is a freelance photographer who works a lot with Surfer Rule, the other Spanish mag.

Monday morning, in Pantin (site of a WQS contest every September), around the W corner of the Bay. Photo by Dani.

Yesterday's (Monday) sunset at home. Taken by my wife while i was getting changed.

This morning at home. The sun wasn't totally out yet, and it was freezing (6ºC in the parking). As it was low tide, we were surfing over to the left side of the beach. The longboarder of the photo kept getting the best waves until he left. That is NOT a set.

Over & out.

This week - horrible

What do you do when there's hardly any surf and the weather is horrible? You don't surf.

And still, there's been some waves far, far West of here, almost beyond the limits of the Bay; here are a couple of pictures from yesterday (wednesday).

Photo of Awakate styling in Pantín, courtesy of Dani.

Photo of unknown courtesy of David Simó aka Awakate. Same place, same time.

That same day, I checked the beach after work and this is what I got.

Almost the wave of the day.

The wave of the day.

I decided not to surf as my back was still a bit sore. Now I regret it. Today it was so horrible I didn’t even want to waist a digital photo on it.

Off to London tomorrow morning for a long weekend of teas and art. Looks like I’m going to miss some okayish waves on Saturday. Might be able to have a late one on Sunday as we are landing at around 2pm.

Btw, it looks like my idea of doing the official blog of the Surfilm Festibal has been accepted. Cool. I’ll post the url as soon as we launch it.

Over & out.

Last weekend – lazy

No real swell to speak of: strong easterlies that didn’t bring anything good this side of the Bay. Seen pictures of clean waves further West on Saturday/Sunday, but very small (although rideable).

Xagó (4 hours west) on Saturday by Jaider.

Same place, same time by Chuck.

Went to BCN -to visit my parents- and the Med was about the same size as home (1’ wind swell).

Had fun finishing the last Pit Pilot (huge improvements since being bought; let’s hope they don’t lose their irreverence) and had LOTS of fun starting the new issue of Surfing World (first since i subscribed): great hardcore Australian mag. I especially liked the North Narrabeen part and I am looking forward to read the Great Ocean Road piece tonight.

No real swell on the horizon for the next days, at least not until the weekend. Good, because my back is killing me.

Two surf film festivals to look forward to: Saint Jean de Luz & Donosti. I truly hope we’ll get to watch some of those films that the whole net talks about.

Over & out.

First week of April - ...bitchy

This week she’s been a bitch.

After an extremely summery Saturday –but very frustrating: I didn’t take into account the neap tides and i struggled to get a good wave where i was, while other places nearby were going off-, Sunday came with a sudden change of weather: bye bye 25ºC and sun and hello rain and on-shore winds; still, there were waves to be surfed early in the morning (another miss, damn!!).

Good surfer and friend Pedrua @ Orrúa on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Pablo Azkue from Alaplaya. More photos from that day here.

El Acanti was going off on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Olas de Vizcaya through Buenasolas.


Laredo on Sunday before the big on-shore and the rain arrived. Photo courtesy of Viento terral.

It cleaned up a little bit by Wednesday afternoon, but being my wife’s birthday I went home after work. Some waves were scored by a friend at a place I haven’t surfed yet; good on him.

Photo of Orrúa on Wednesday, from Kukurustan’s blog (a good friend and a good colleague).

Thursday found me in Zarautz for the afternoon and I managed to score 3 ok waves. The tide, the wind and my stomach (way too full to feel comfortable when laying on top of a board) got the best of me.

Today the weather was back to spring: sunny and warmish. The waves were tiny but the webcam showed a 1'-2' shorebreak in town, and it looked fun. I gave it a go but I guess everybody else had the same thought. After 45 minutes I gave up trying to park and drove home.

Not being able to surf because there’s no surf I can take it. Not being able to surf because there’s no parking is a much harder pill to swallow.

Over & out.