It is autumn. The first sign when I arrived at Faro was that the air port roof had been damaged by a storm. The forecast for tomorrow is 18 feet waves. And it is raining. An interesting start for this surf trip.
Besides I have a cold, my ears are partially blocked. It will take a few days before I am ready.

Mareta beach. Tomorrow it will be offshore wind and bigger waves. I guess it will be packed with surfers.

Beliche. Nice waves and many surfers. Not to worry. I start to get a better idea how to control the board.
I was using my new 4 mm Billabong Revolution. Very comfortable, and a lot easier to get into and out of than my Psyco 2.
I plugged my ears with surfers plugs, then my hood on top. That kept water out of my "bad" ear, and I think my cold liked a good flush with sea water.

Mareta beach was looking so inviting  with few people and nice sunshine that I just had to surf here. Not that the waves were very good.  i caught 2 waves  only.

A memorable day with big swell, lots of white water and rip current. The specialist surfers enjoyed themselves. 2 not so specialist surfers were taken by a rip. Coast guard were called, but on arrival the surfers had been rescued by local body boarders.

Onlookers

Mareta today. The waves are breaking very near to the beach. We need a big storm to pull the sand from the beach and create a nice sand bar.

Rain most of the day. But late afternoon it cleared and the wind reduced a lot and everybody rushed to Mareta. I was catching some good wave.

When all other beaches art too windswept and the waves are tall, then you find a big group of surfers at the beach that starts by Lagos harbour and runs East. I tried it for the first time ever today. I will try again, but earlier, because it was crowded. I liked it there because you can decide how big waves you like from your distance to the break water.

In between squalls I got to Mareta beach. 38 surfers counted. Waves were not to good. Big,  yes, but closeout. I went straight down. I can do that on this surf board. Sort of fun.
Earlier on the day I checked Lagos beach. Less swell than yesterday, but still good.

Meia beach Lagos

I was at Mareta early. And so were a group of other surfers. The tide was coming in and the waves were good. Then a big group of body borders came, and I went home.

Mareta beach

Surfers at Mareta beach

I had a very good session at Belice. Clean waves, and just the right size. As it was getting late, only a few surfers.  I was going straight down the waves and doing a late pop up in most cases. Sitting a good distance further out than the other surfers, and surfing right ton the beach.

Beliche. Autumn is here. The first snow in the mountains. Time to put on the woolen sweater.

It has been a while since I was at Amado last time. Now it is quiet. There were no surf schools.. Today we had perfect waves and very few surfers. I really enjoyed sitting far off the coast and just picking the big sets. It was nice peeling waves, perfect for my board.

Quiet days at Amado beach

I went around and had a look at Cordoma. Here some 8 surfers out. Waves looked good, but it was raining. Castelejo I was visiting later. 3 surfers. Good waves, however biggish.
This is a good time a year if you do not like crowds. You start to get rain and cold spells. That keep a lot of surfers away. The water is still about 19 Deg C, and during the winter it will stay above 16 Deg C.

10 November  2011 Thursday . Day 462

Big South East swell in Mareta bay. I was surfing 3 waves. Then I thought it was getting too rough. Also nobody else were out. So I returned to shore. Later in the afternoon a  hand full of surfers were out.

The bad weather is over for now. I had a nice sunny day at Mareta. I was staying well out waiting for the big sets. Managed to get a few of those. The rest of the day was preparations and bookings for the drive to Mallorca on Saturday.

Mareta, end of November. A few people suntanning on the beach.

Yesterday and today I was surfing at Beliche. Especially today it was very good. The waves were quite big, but you needed at longboard to catch them. For that reason, there were very few surfers, and we were no more than 3 to 5 surfers across the bay. In one side a a few more, as they had a good white water rush there.

This is one of the benefits being in Sagres during the Autumn and Winter. Good waves and few people. As a extra bonus you get a lot of rain as well.

I am still doing the knee pop up. A bit more advanced now. As soon that I feel that I have the wave, I get to my knees. Lean to one side you turn in that direction. If the wave looks as if it is just about to break, then I go straight down and lean back to keep the board from pearling.

Then when  the time is right, I make the small magic jump, and I am standing.

One more splendid day at Beliche with sunshine, few surfers only and perfect size waves. That was the last surf day here in Sagres until next year.

Sa Marina on Mallorca. I have not been here for more than a year. I brought my 9 feet 6 inch glass board. The waves were small, but with the long board, I was catching many good waves.

It is a difficult board. Long and narrow with only a little rocker.  I could not use it well a year ago. Now I feel I am on to of the situation.  I start to get a feeling that I would like to try it in Portugal. That will be fun , me and two long boards in a 4 meter caravan.  Today videoclip

Can Pastilla. A very nice day with proper swell and sunshine. Just me and a SUP. Well, and then 20 kite surfers. I am still using my knees to pop up. It works very well.

Paguera. A great day with sets up to 6 feet. I could catch the biggest set without problems, then stay in front of the white water. Because the glass board has very little rocker and is very fast.

18 December  2011 Sunday Day 472

Paguera. Nice sunshine, but only small waves.  Tomorrow the forcast is 6 feet swell on the East coast and only light winds. See you there.

Can Picafort.  I did a bit of driving around. Now I am better to distinguish different wave types. And I know what I want.
Eventually I settled for Can Picafort  and had some good surfing there. I was the only surfer on the beach. Almost the only person in sight. A
patrol car pulled over when they saw me getting ready. They were surfers as well. Told me about the different peaks along the beach, and rocks to look out for.

I was back at Can Picafort. The tail fin I moved forward to be in he middle of the slot. Now I can more easily change direction.

Can Picafort beach. Deserted.

22 December  2011 Thursday Day 475

19 deg C. Sunshine. Silky swell rolling in from a Mistral, blowing in the Golf of Lions. I surfed 15 waves, almost a record for me, I think. Sets of 5 feet.

I had to wait 3 weeks for some swell to arrive. Now it is here. Photo is from Playa de Muro, where I went today.

Sa Marina. Less swell today. Several SUP. The interesting thing was, that I could sit further out , and I was catching more wave ( day count 13 ).

The fin still in middle position. I am still using knee pop up.

Muro beach. Too much wind. I did try, but once I got through the breaking zone, I was pretty exhausted. The waves on the outside were big, but very bumpy.  The forecast read 4 meters for the area. Decreasing tomorrow...

Sa Marina. I was up at 6 o'clock and surfing at 9 o'clock. The water was 16 Deg C and the air 7 Deg C. I was surfing more than 2 hours. Very good condition. First offshore wind, then calm.
Later A coffee and a sit in the sun.

Sa Marina. Sunshine. No wind. Waves only 3 feet. I had to paddle very hard to catch the waves. Onse standing it was good waves however to practise walking on the board and changing direction .

The last day surfing this year. Happy new year

2012

At the parking at Sa Marina there is a small restaurant. This is 3 in the afternoon. Not a spare seat. The weather is exceptionally warm for January

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