Sunday – new mag & off to Bali

Very briefly:
The run of good waves is not stopping. Here are some photos, but there are plenty more in the usual blogs and webs where I normally source them from. September is truly prime time here in Europe. If I didn’t live here and I wanted to come on a surftrip, September is the month I would choose to travel.

Pantín by Dani:

Meñakoz by Surf 30:


Oléron by Tristan Mausse:

Salinas by Clau:

Asturias by Cezonillo:

Salinas by Clau:

Those of you who are interested is contest surfing probably know by now that the top surfers (WCT) are in France because of the Hossegor contest. But there has been plenty of other events up and down the coast these last few days/weeks. Maybe not as relevant from the surfindustry point of view, but with heaps more soul in them: Check this video here from the Royal Single Trophée (held last weekend in Anglet)…


Royal Single Trophée 2008 from moussrider on Vimeo.

and click here to watch some photos from the surf art expo up in Seignosse.

Also, and because of the Hossegor contest the English speaking surf media (basically American) can’t help writing about the most obvious topics re. French culture when reporting about the competition. Unfortunately, only those aspects of the French culture that seem to be more unacceptable in their narrow worlds are mentioned, such as the speedo wearing & nudity on the beach, or the snails & frog eating. It is quite shameful that surfers (and one still believes that the surf media is operated and owned by surfers), who have always prided on being quite open minded end up talking/reading about the same silly topics as anyone else would. Seriously, I still have to see a single European (UK non included… but again they never want to be Europeans) surf media using the same kind of antiques when reporting about the Lower Trestles (California) WCT event for example. Maybe it is about time that we Europeans start writing about the masses of overweight people and silicone breasted females that we see on Californian beaches & streets, where it seems to be cool to own a 4wd oil guzzling machine to drive to the mall some 100 yards away. Or again maybe not; maybe we should not loose hope and expect that one day those narrow minded writers/editors -and their publishers- will experience the unique feeling of being open minded and respectful.

But all is not lost. Last week I got to meet Mr. Erik Olson –the Californian surfer & shaper behind this blog- and his lovely wife, Ms. Oaks, with whom I got to spend a lovely afternoon in Donosti. They seemed to be genuinely interested in what happens in the old continent, besides the obvious topics about the French, the Spanish, the Basque, etc…. Erik, if you read these lines I hope you are safely back at home and I look forward to see you soon. It was a real pleasure to meet you guys.

The last 3sesenta (issue #130) has come out, and with it my last piece about the future of Spanish high performance surfing. I’ve added the cover on the right hand side.

And this is my last post before I’m off to Bali with my wife next weekend for 3 weeks of surfing and… surfing. My wife has never been to Bali before and although from a surfing point it’s not my favorite place, I’m looking forward to the idea of exploring what lays beyond the obvious Kuta-Nusa Dua (Bukhit included) area. I don’t know if I’ll will post from Bali, so I will probably write here again in late October. Until then…

Over & out.

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.