Europe Surf Series Part 1 (of 3)

Europe Surf Series Part 1 (of 3)

By Sam Bleakley

Manuel Toral www.semeyadetoral

Where the often stormy Atlantic meets Europe’s rugged and rain-stained coastline, surfers can enjoy an outstanding variety of cool water waves from pulverising reefs and long hollow points to gentle beach breaks. The surf is rarely flat and averages 1-3ft/0.3-1m in summer with 15-20°C/59-68°F sea temperatures, and 4-10ft/1.2-3m during the mild autumn, winter and spring in 5-10°C/41-50°F waters. During chilly winters waves like Mundaka in North Spain excel, but quick changing conditions make weather forecasting an essential part of the European sufer’s knowledge. Wetsuited warriors edge deeper every year into inhospitable but sometimes epic surf frontiers like northern Scotland, Norway and Iceland.

Generalisations are almost impossible in Europe, its mixed politics and economy as diverse as its landscape, from forested coastlines to flat farmland and urban river plains. While snow falls in the Alpine peaks, the arid south can have months of scorching sun and the lush north months of yeasty rain. Europe is a melting pot of different languages and traditions, where efforts to speak the local lingo are always appreciated as English is not the common tongue. Politically stable with no threatening sea life, surfing here is safe and popular. Even the once widespread pollution problem is being rapidly eliminated by environmental groups like the UK’s Surfers Against Sewage and Europe’s Blue Flag scheme to recognise clean seas. The downside is relatively high cost, making camping the only cheap travel option. However, road and train networks are superb.

European waters should be much colder considering their 40-60° northerly latitude. Thankfully the Gulf Stream helps coastal Europe to escape extremes of weather with a constant flow of mild mid Atlantic water. Low-pressure systems follow its course, sending swell as they deepen, tracking northeast. Between October and May in autumn, winter and spring, these strong wet, windy weather systems hit the UK and Ireland. In the process they send big, often clean surf to points, reefs and beaches in France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Azores. Ideally the low pressures spin in the North Atlantic while a high pressure over mainland Europe creates clear weather and offshore winds. This pattern is more common between June and August in summertime when surf is smaller because the lows are less frequent, travel further north and dissipate earlier.

Ancelle Hansen César www.cesarancellehansen.com

European summer can be a balmy 20-30°C/68-86°F, with boardshort sessions in 20° C/68°F water at the world famous stretch of powerful beach breaks in Hossegor, France. September to November is the prime time for all European surfing with frequent long fetch groundswells from the southwest and fairly warm weather and water. The autumn gold rush is also when Europe hosts world tour contests and most surfers travel the coast, regularly enjoying perfect conditions. The tidal range is large, averaging 3-6ft/1-2m. A tide chart is essential as breaks work best at certain tides. The non-tidal Mediterranean is the exception. Surprisingly ‘the Med’ can enjoy short-lived wind swells from a variety of different directions, usually the northwest Mistral wind, sending waves to parts of southern France and western Italy.

The North Sea is another European surf zone where deep depressions entering from the North Atlantic can send swell to the east coast UK, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands. England’s connection with surfing goes right back to Yorkshireman James Cook who captained the first group of Europeans to witness surfing in Hawaii in 1778. Cook grew up in a place where some of the hollowest left-handers in the UK break, at Staithes reef. Here Cook felt the lure of the sea before he embarked on his Pacific voyages. Two centuries later, in the 1950s and 1960s, travelling South African, Australian and Californian surfers brought the sport to Biarritz, France, Jersey and Cornwall in the UK. Today hundreds of thousands of surfers live throughout Europe and are a welcome addition to a cosmopolitan, sophisticated and always evolving culture and economy.

Figuerãs Valentin www.v-figueras.com