Weekend, Monday & Tuesday – crap!!

No surf (for me) since Saturday. Saturday was supposed to be very tiny and so it was at home.

Some friends had decided to stay overnight at Cavaliers (Anglet), and I stopped for a look. At 08:00am there were more than 20 surfers at the only sandbar that showed some action, and half of them were competitors of the World Longboard Tour Championship in Anglet due to start on Monday.

I drove another hour and had very similar conditions but with only a few surfers.

I had one of the best surfs in recent times: it was very small but very enjoyable with the quad fish and I stayed for more than 3 hours. Apparently the swell was fading pretty much everywhere, even at the swell magnets like Salinas (Photo courtesy of Clau).


Sunday was supposed to be flat, and so it was

Although there was smthing up in Gironde according to Barrel Surfboards’ blog.

and at some swell magnet outside the bay according to Fiz Bertels.


And the same thing goes for Monday and today. It's been flat…

…but somehow, and for a couple of hours at low tide, there’s a little swell in Anglet, big enough to accommodate a few heats of the Longboard Contest each day… although quite far from the 2’-3’ the organizers claim on the contest website. Unless these feet belong to a dwarf.

Anyway...

Titbits:

1) I finally didn’t watch any films at the Saint Jean de Luz Festival. The awards are on their site. No surprises at all.

2) A couple of new entries in the the Donosti Surfilm Festibal. Check them out.

3) Finished the last Surfer’s Journal: awesome, as usual. I am busy finishing the last Surfer’s Path right now. Very sharky…

4) Forecast for this week looks as bad as the last days. I will be taking the next week off and go west in the van. Hopefully we’ll get some waves somewhere.

Over & out.

Monday to Friday – on & off… again

Monday it was onshore and stormy. I didn’t even bother to freeze the webcam. Tuesday was fine at home. Got an early session (before work) and got my ass kicked by a couple of sets. Swell was building quickly and managed to get a couple but not many.

Yes, I know, it doesn’t look like it’s that big, but you’ll have to trust me on this one.

In the evening I spent some time with the French Surfing Royalty (capitals intended) on a fine terrace at Biarritz’s Grande Plage, celebrating Surf Session’s 250th issue. I can’t say I talked to many people except for a couple I knew already, ace photographer Greg Rabejac being one of them. Someone, though, was smoking clove cigarettes (to make sure everyone knew that he/she had just returned from Indo…). Oh well, clearly the French don’t need a king because every single one of them behaves like one. Anyway, it was nice to smell that scent again. I shall be there –Indo- in late September. Cool!

Wednesday was big and onshore… again…

…which means nice and off-shore in Laredo (2 hours West) according to Sendoa.

And Thursday was public holiday – 1rst of May – and the ocean decided to join the festivities throwing a nice swell (up to 8’ in the morning at the most exposed beaches).

Lafitenia was chock-a-block with Germans, Dutch and Italians… and locals. I didn’t even paddle out after counting sixty smthing heads (lots of them definitely not surfers) bobbing out there and ten more getting suited in the carpark. I had a little surf in the shorebreak of the World’s Worst Beachbreak (WWB) and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Apparently some other places were not that crowded: outside the Bay from Dani.

In the afternoon I took a short drive West to check a couple of reefs…

…but they were not working (strange with a long period swell like this one). Maybe it was because of the swell direction. I ended up surfing this reef/pointbreak in sub par conditions, with rocks sticking out everywhere. But at least it was just the three of us.

It wasn’t like in this photo -from a Surfer magazine-. The sets were breaking more or less where the second wave is breaking on the photo.

Today - Friday- I had another early surf at home…

&

… but the tide got too low after the first half an hour for the sandbank to work properly, and then it was close out city.

I had another surf at Zarautz at lunch time, in the shorebreak.

It was fun but the lulls were very long. The swell is fast disappearing.

Apparently in Salinas they had similar conditions (photo by Clau).

Titbits:

1) I haven’t checked any films for the St Jean de Luz Festival. I guess that tells about my interest in their programme. I might go tomorrow afternoon, though.

2) I am working on a new entry for the Donosti Surfilm Festibal blog, on the different posters they’ve had. I just found out that last year’s poster was an original work exclusively done for the Festibal by Andrew Kidman and Andy Davis. Read more about it here in a couple of days.

3) Finished the last Wavelength (nice photos from the North) and Carve (Wanderlust issue). Not bad, at least this time no one claims to be the fist to surf that wave in the Sahara (unlike what someone wrote in Surfer some months ago when the trip was first published). Busy with The Surfer’s Journal right now… and enjoying every single word of it so far.

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.

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.