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Diary   2016 - 2

 

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26 Jun Sagres Tonel...Surf day 1013
Tonel is my beach this year, it seems. I had 4 more surf days there. Not a lot to tell, apart that you need to keep an aye on the rocks.
Amado 10 July
Mareta  11 July 2016
 
16 Jul 2016 Sagres Tonel...Surf day 1019
Tonel 6 more days. I am improving. The two last summers have been spend travelling. Not a lot surfing done. I can see now that the summertime is great in this area. Only a biggish board is needed. Mine is 9 feet 6 inch 22,5 inch wide. I have a 10 feet x 23 inch x 3 inch on order. That will be fun to try. Also it is well worth to get an early start. During the day the beach are becoming crowded.
I have a good warm up program I follow. Even if I make a lot of pop up in one sweep, I have not had back trouble this year.  ( nock on wood )  Also I have dropped 5 kg weight during the winter. Simply from avoiding carb food ( bread..rice..spaghetti..soda pop..cakes..morning musley and so on.
 
Surfing Tonel July 17 2016
 
 
26 Jul 2016 Sagres ...Surf day 1022
Tonel and Amado. I had a small fall from a wave and bruced the rib cage. had some days off. Today Amado.
long time since I was there. But it is a good place. Especially if you are an early starter.
Camping at the beach parking
The motorhome section. At the Amado beach parking.
 
27 Jul 2016 Sagres ...Surf day 1023
I went to Amado. 5 feet swell. It was only 18 deg C and raining a little. As usual it was a bit of trouble to get through the shore break. But once outside it was quiet and I realized that i was the one sitting longest from the shore line , waiting for the biggest set.
Then I remembered my old surf teacher saying " Go for the smaller waves , with the good shape."  And he is right . The big bulky swell tend to break in a mess of white water, where as the smaller ones with a good clean and steep front, tend to create a  clean green water wall to surf. At least for a while.
The video below is showing what I mean. A clean take off. Time to make a turn, and a little surfing of the wall. Then the whole wave front is breaking. I can keep going whith the help of the white water, But better to bail out and avoid a long paddling back out.
 
 
Amado July 27 - Video  2.6 Mega
 
08 Aug 2016 Sagres ...Surf day 1029
Another 6 surf days. And the last 2 days on a new surf board. !0 feet long  23.5 inch wide and 3 1/8 inch thick. So far promising.
 
Tonel Aug 08 - Video 11 Mega  Still on old board
 
18 Aug 2016 Sagres ...Surf day 1033
Four more days with the new board. It has more rocker and is easier to turn, and feels more stable . It is  longer  wider and thicker than the older " Panic Point"
I decided to make a trip to North coast of Spain.
Getting there.
 
 
 
 
24 ..28 Aug 2016 Foz Galicien ...Surf day 1038
I was staying at Camping Gaviotas 4 Km from Foz. Beach right in front of camping. I had some pretty nice
surfing there.  Video
 
29 Aug 2016 Vega beach Asturien ...Surf day 1039
Very nice beach. Good swell as well. Not a lot of surfers. Parking at the beach. I am still doing well at my new board.
 
4 Photos above are from Vega
 
01 and 02 Oyambre...Surf Day 1041
was taking 2x2 hr. classes with www.surfnsoul.com surfs cool. I was very pleased with the result. There
are so many small details to learn and use at the right time. In the beginning, 2008 as far as I remember, I did not pay to much attention, because I did not believe it was that important. But now I can feel the difference when you doo it right. I am all ears now.
Guerra beach. Nice swell lines. But swell was actually too big for me.
 
03 Oyambre...Surf Day 1042
I was surfing at Playa  Parajo Amarillo. Everybody were at the beaches on the other side of the headland, as the swell was bigger there. So I had  it all for myself. Nice.
Pajaro Amarillo. Beach is pretty much disappearing during hi water.
 
05 Valdevino Galicien...Surf Day No surf
This is one of the places where the big surf live. I waas having a look at Valdeviño Camping as well. Walking distance to the beach. It is not very big and the pitches are small. During high season better make a call first. The beach had a few surfers. But plenty room. Some rather big sets  were entering from time to time , so I styed ashore.
2 photos above from Valdeviño
The beach next door is Rodo beach , Pantin. I entered at the wrong end. Far away I could see surfers at the North end.
Rodo beach
 
Next day I started the drive South. While looking at some beaches. 14 Km North from Ferrol I came across a beach with a camping right at the beach. It was thich fog, so I coud not see the water, but there were surfers hanging around waiting for the fog to clear.
There are very few houses in the area. Very quiet. To quiet for me so I moved on . But a place to remember. Beach is facing more West than the beach of Valdevino and Rodo, so more sheltered from NW swell.
 
Next stop vas Mira beach South from Oporto. The nearest camping to the beach is Camping Municipal. But still about 10 minutes walk. There is parking along the beach, but not exactly in overwhelming amount.
The sun setting at Mira beach, while I have a cofee.
 
 
08 Sao Torpe... Surf Day 1043
I am back in the water at Sao Torpe, near Sines. There are manny beaches in this area. The one I prefer is just next to the cooling water outlet from the Power station. To get some shelter from the wind.
Lots of parking and several Campings nearby. I stay at Porto Covo camping , next to the water tower.
12 September. Sagres... Surf Day 1044
Beliche. Many surfers and swimmers from the beach as well. It was a bit much in  such conditions to use a 10 feet long board. I need to get a shorter board as well. May bee 2.
17 of September I drove off on a camping trip
 
09 Octobre Mallorca... Surf Day 1045
Sa Marina. Nice mellow swell. A bit bumpy, and I am missing my new 10 feet board. I have brought the panic board. Which is more narrow and a bit shorter.
 
13 Octobre Mallorca... Surf Day 1046
Can Pastilla. Nice swell. 25 Deg water, and only few surfers. Sun as well. Rain came later.
 
21 Octobre Mallorca... Surf Day 1047
Sa Marina. Very nice day. Mellow swell. Only one surfer besides me. Rain most of  the time.
Video. ( Take some time to load )
 
27 Octobre Mallorca...Surf Day 1048
Muro beach. It it a beach only for swimming and I was told off by life guard as I returned from surf. Even with red flag up. There are smaller sections where u can kite surf and surf, I was told.  Anyway it was bumpy and windy, but water warm, 22 deg, and a  nice sunny day.
 
28 Octobre Mallorca... Surf Day 1049
Sa Marina. Nice biggish swell, but windy. A nice warm sunny day. And we are in end of Octobre. The restaurants packed. I started as only one out. later came 4 more.
07 Nov 2016 Back in Portugal
 
11 12 Nov Beliche  Surf Day 1051
Small swell. Nice sunny weather
 
 
13 14 15 16 Amado and Castalejo Surf day 1055
Some very good days at  the West Coast. Swell around 3 feet. I was using 10 feet long board. Sunny, beach bars still open, and you could sit with just a T shirt,  and 18 deg water. Unusual and nicee. Still quite a few surfers.
Video clip from Castalejo
 
23  24  26  27  28  29 Beliche and Tonel  Surf day 1061
I have now started using my 7 foot Fatum Duke board.the following ideo shows Quite a challenge as following video shows.
Video clip from 29 Nov.  HQ 40 MB
Video clip from 29 Nov.  8 MB
 
01 02 Dec Beliche and Tonel  Surf day 1063
I never thought I would be able to surf a 7 feet board. Mind you a Fatum Duke board does have a volume of 51 litres.  I enjoy this board as the weight is only 3.5 kg.  I  can use it as a body board , knee board. And for stand up surfing. because of the small size it is a lot easier to handle in big swell.  The weather is coolish with rain showers.
Video clip from 02 Dec. 
 
05 06 07 08 09 10 12 13 14 Dec Beliche and Tonel  Surf day 1072
Still using the Fatum Duke. I had to work out a new way of pop up. As my feet are overhanging the board. Surprising quickly I seem to have got the hang of it. Especially on video 13 Dec.
Video 05 Dec        Video 06 Dec        Video 07 Dec        Video 09 Dec
Video 12 Dec        Video 13 Dec        Video 14 Dec  
 
17  18  19  20  21  23  24  25  26 27 28 29 30  31 Dec Beliche and Tonel  Surf day 1086
A lot of surf days added. I am still using Fatum Dule 7 foot. I should have gone to smaller boards long ago. It is a lot safer with a 3.5 kg board compared to a 9 kg long board in bigger swell, when things go wrong. You can hold on to a small light weight board in turbulent conditions. Try that with a heavy board and it feels as if your shoulders are being torn apart.
I did use 10 feet long board once. But it is not performing well in chop South Mareta waves. But then again, what board is.  I did have chance to use Fatum Duke as well. It did not perform a lot better, but was a lot easier to handle, due to lower weight.
Surfing at Mareta
121 surf days in 2016