Photo from Cornwall INtuition Surfari March 2008.
When I want to go wave sailing, I'll check all the forecasts and tides, and time it perfectly for a full on session in the best conditions possible. This is the opportunity I now provide all my windsurfing Freewave and Surf Gods guests for many of my wave sailing clinics. We're going to book the dates, but not the venues until the last minute once we decide which venue has got the best conditions.
With travel so accessible nowadays, but with the weather so unpredictable long term, to get the most out of the wave courses this is the future. It also ensures no one is sat around waiting for wind and waves in the wrong venue.
Freeride courses are not as hard to ensure perfect conditions (see my wind stats!) but when there's waves involved too, we have to be very precise.
We'll book the time off work and then with approximately 72 hours notice before the beginning of the course, we'll book the venue too based on the best forecast. The venues will be chosen in this order-
UK- if the UK is going to be good, we'll go to where ever it's best on these shores, failing that, other options probably in this order will be chosen- Ireland's west coast, either Brandon Bay or Sligo/ Donegal, Essauoira in Morccco, Pozo in Gran Canaria, El Medano in Tenerife, Guincho in Portugal, Sicily, Sardinia or Tarifa in Spain. All these destinations have a multitude of cheap flight and travel options from plenty of regional UK and European airports, and brilliant conditions, on the right day, which we'll be able to guarantee with these last minute Surfaris.
If the extremely unlikely situation of no wind anywhere, we wont go anywhere- you can tidy the shed or something.
But if there is wind- we're on it for a full on Surf Gods or Freewave course with perfect conditions.
This has partly arrived because unlike the Freeride courses which are literally always very good and windy, the wave courses, which need wind and waves, have proved twice as hard to get. In two weeks of back to back courses in Morocco for instance, one week had perfect conditions everyday, and the next had poor conditions almost everyday- which we could see was going to happen from the forecasts a few days before, but we were too late to change anything.
So, if you want to improve your wave sailing, you'll need to book in advance with me directly as numbers will be limited, but we'll only book flights and accom last minute once we know where we're going. Bringing your own kit will be necessary at most of the venues. Costs will be kept to a minimum, although with the nature of last minute booking, you may have to pay a premium on flights to experience perfect wave sailing conditions!