Two Days Swell

Returning from a great day of surfing in Hossegor, I opened the Magic Sea Weed application to see the forecast for the following days and while the conditions got worst at home, it promised a lot for Lanzarote…

Although the forecast was still a bit doubtful due to the wind, since it would not blow very hard, and that means that one of the best waves on the island does not end up breaking quite well.  However, many other very good waves do not depend so much on the wind, so knowing that I decided to buy the tickets for the next day as soon as I got home!

It is also true that we are living a moment when we have to take advantage of every opportunity because tomorrow they could confine us again and it would be a shame not to have gone when it was still possible.  Organizing last minute trips like this are cool because you have to focus on the essentials and you get into a tunnel that goes full steam.  From time to time, I love to travel like this, it motivates me a lot!

The day before leaving I spoke with Manuel Lezcano, a local surfer and big wave lover from Lanzarote to find out what he thought about the forecast.  He answered me saying that it looked very good and that we would catch good waves for sure !!!  I was already excited to get there and although the next day I was landing at 5pm, I was still expecting to get a short surf till last light in order to warm up.

As soon as Oscar Valencia (filmaker) and I arrived, we grabbed the suitcases, the car and headed to La Santa, where we would stay to sleep at my friend Adrian Rodriguez’s house in the famous “Locutorio de La Santa”.  As we got to the place we saw Manuel catch a wave and I decided to go in.

The next two days we caught a very good and large right hand that allowed us to maneuver and even, although there was not much wind as expected, it settled us for a while in El Quemao to make the best out of the trip.  It was a amazing to surf with great surfers like Jose Maria Cabrera, Franito Saenz, Cristian Portelli, Manuel Lezcano, Vilayta, William Aliotti, Laura Coviella and many more.  I am very grateful to the locals for allowing me to enjoy their waves on surf days as good as the ones we had on this trip.

The last evening I sat down to talk with my friend and filmmaker from “Vivalafin” German Pinelo, who came in his newly campervan from Tenerife to enjoy the swell, both on video and in the waves.  The light at that moment was spectacular so we made a short interview for the documentary he is working on about the Quemao Class.

Finally I’d like to give you some tips to know where it could be good when you look at the forecast.  First of all, I usually look at Magic Sea Weed and compare it with Windy to get a little more precise.

In general, in the Hossegor area, the good winds are from the east while the swell direction should be north/northwest. Concerning the size, best is 1.2m to 2m with a period between 11 and 14 seconds it could be very good depending on the banks at that time.

In the Basque Country, on the other hand, the best wind is the south, some waves even accept the southwest.  If you want to surf more beachbreaks waves, the best is around 1.6 m and a period below 12 seconds because it easily gets too big.  To surf point breaks, most of them start to break from 1.8m and a period of around 14 seconds or more.