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From a surfers point of view, Wales in February has to be one of the hardest months to deal with. The water temperature hits a balmy 7 deg C , if the surf is good you have a constant chill from one day to the next .Ice cream headaches are the order of the day for every surf and dreams are filled with images of warmer climes.
So when I got a phone call from my boss at Bear telling me I was needed urgently for a photo shoot in the Canary Islands , it didn't take me too long (about half a nano second to be exact) to accept the assignment I have done a dozen or so trips to the Canaries over the last decade but havent done a trip there since the World longboard champs that were held on the northern track on Feurteventura in 1998, so I was amped . It turns out that Feurteventura is to be the island of choice for our two week trip and after busily checking every weather site on the internet , it appears that there is a good chance of big surf within days of our arrival.
Flying out of Gatwick airport on the four hour flight to our warm water destination expectations are high for a great trip! However things quickly go down hill upon our arrival as just minutes
after we have rented our car at the airport and are proceeding to stack it high with bags and surfboards , we are spotted by an employee of the car company who proceeds to throw an absolute fit at the site of surfboards adorning his beautiful vehicle and promptly confiscates firstly the car keys and then the whole car ,leaving myself ,my photographer , my two other traveling companions and all our luggage slack jawed at side of the airport slip road . Apparently there is a new policy of not hiring to surfers as they are known to be keen explorers
of the off road variety in search of waves. This is viewed in a verypoor light by said hire companies as their beloved cars come back a little worse for wear.
After hiding all surfboards well out of site we approach another car hire company and succeed in acquiring another vehicle . we load this one in a quieter spot and make good our escape and head north to our home town for the next fortnight -Corellejo.
Next morning we are up at the crack of dawn and begin what will become a daily ritual over the next few weeks -the drive along the northern track to check the surf. The Northern track is a gravel and boulder four wheel drive (and surfer hire car) track that stretches from Corellejo to Cottillo and is home to most of Feurte's best waves .These include such spots as Shooting galleries, Acid drop , the bubble and yarrow to name a few.
The first two days of our trip are frustrating , not because of lack of swell but because of the strong northerly wind that is chopping the shit out of the 4-5-ft waves . We manage to get a couple of surfs in at a slightly sheltered spot called Lefty Rightly which as its name suggests is a spot that starts out breaking one way but reforms half way through and proceeds to break the other way. It's not a classic spot but it isone of the only breaks that sort of handles the onshore. Day three arrives and with it a change in wind direction to the east , and an increase in swell size by a couple of feet . We opt for yarrow , a long slightly shifty right hand reef which is steaming through at about 6 ft. Once out in the line up it takes a keen eye to snag the best waves with around 25 guys in the water and a peak that is shifting through a full 50 meters. I was really lucky to get a couple of the biggest waves that morning and really started to feel like the trip was coming alive. Everyone we speak to keeps saying that there is a huge swell on the way, and our thoughts start turning to the island of Lobos . This fabled right hander lies barely two miles off the coast from Corralejo towards
Lanzarote and needs a big swell to really start cooking. Although the swell is big enough over the next few days ,unfortunately the winds are not quite right ,so for the time being at least, Lobos remains off limits.
We do however manage some pretty spectacular surfs at Rocky point which is a cracking right hander near the harbour in Correlejo , ranging in size from pretty serious 8-10 ft down to playful 4-6 . This spot had a very cosmopolitan crew for each session with locals, Aussies, Welsh,
Germans, English and Italian surfers all playing their part in making for some most enjoyable surfing. It was great to see the mix of styles and attitudes to surfing that come from such a varied bunch of guys.
Day 11 finds us heading out on the long road south to the furthest place on the island called Tiger point . It is a two and a half hour journey , half of which is covered on dirt track which is so bumpy and rutted that by the time we arrive I feel as if my teeth will fall out at any moment from the constant chattering. We don't get large waves here but we do get the most pristine ,glassy 2-3ft lefts all to ourselves at a spot called Badgers . It's baking hot , I'm surfing in baggies with just my mates to share the waves with . Life is very good today!!
The next few days turn out to be small and windy and although we get in the water ,there is no classic surfing , however the sun is out so we ake time to work on our suntans so as to gloat to our friends when we et home about our great trip -and browner is the better for this. We had just about resigned ourselves to the fact that although we had had a great trip, we were going to miss out on the Lobos experience . However our last morning in the Canaries dawns with clear skies and the
most pristine 6-8ft swell can be seen running perfectly down the side of Lobos island .Furiously , we load the car with our boards, food and water for the day and rush off for the small ferry boat that will take us to the island . there is nothing on Lobos so everything you want to eat or drink has to be taken with you .
From where the ferry drops you there is a 40 minute hike before you arrive at the wave itself and see it in all its glory. Lobos is a fickle place , but when it's on it is one of the jewels of the surfing world -a 400 yard machine like right hand point that leave you all weak kneed and feeble minded .We have six hours before the ferry returns to pick us up, so with no time to waste we all hit the water as fast as our little legs will carry us .
The next few hours are defiantly the highlight of my trip as I catch wave after perfect wave . The only break in the proceedings comes after about 3 hours when with rumbling stomach I return to the rocks to refuel on baguettes and fruit juice . Okay and also on biscuits and gummie worms and salami and.....
The afternoon session continues where the morning one finished with perfect 6ft plus waves steamrollering their way down the point . One wave I saw my friend Kieth Beddoes hook into totally blew me away as he proceeded to get locked into a warping freight train of a wave which didn't let up for over 300 yards with Kieth the whole time just flying with grace and power inches from disaster !!
Well , soon enough the ferry was back and our last day had come to an end but no one was complaining as we had just had the most perfect day to finish our trip on .
In summary, Out of 14 days on Feurte we scored waves for 12 ranging in size from 3-10 ft .It was a great trip and is defiantly still one of the best /budget winter destinations for surf .
Oh well , I'm back in Wales now with my 5mm wetsuit playing havoc with whats left of my suntan , suffering ice cream headaches and mild hypothermia and constantly dreaming of my next trip to warmer climes.
Chris Guts Griffiths. |
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Guts Surfboards is proud to anounce they have managed to sign
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Sam Bleakley stormed into the fourthround of the Oxbow World Longboard Championships .
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From a surfers point of view, Wales in February has to be one of the hardest months to deal with.
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During February 2003 I travelled to Luzon in the northern Philippines with photographer John Callahan and Japanese loggers Anly Nabeshima and Yocchi Matsuyama... |
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In March 2000 I was lucky enough to go on a trip of a lifetime to South America with Chris 'Guts' Griffiths and Beau Young... |
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