24 HOURS IN TARIFA!

24 HOURS IN TARIFA!

Nestled on the very southern tip of Europe, strategically positioned between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, Tarifa’s wild coastline is without doubt one of the Meccas of windsurfing. Since the first sailors discovered the crazy winds that funnel both ways down the Gibraltar Straights, Tarifa soon became famous worldwide as word spread about its incredibly consistent conditions. Faced by the first heat wave of the British summer, Timo Mullen was desperately scouring the weather maps for wind and waves anywhere across Europe when he spotted a small window of nuclear Levante winds forecast in Tarifa. A quick check on the internet showed one flight from Bristol to Malaga which would give just enough time to get a windsurfing fix if everything went to plan. In theory, this could be a perfect type of hit and run mission for any wind starved UK sailor. Ever keen to test theories and push the boundaries of science and disaster windsurfing trips at Windsurf towers, we dispatched Cameraman in Chief and senior poorly qualified wind scientist, Dr John Carter, to research the highs and lows of 24 hours in Tarifa !

Words

& Photos JOHN CARTER

(This feature originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of Windsurf Magazine. To read more features like this first, Print and Digital subscriptions are available. Prices include delivery globally for 10 x issues a year!)

BRISTOL TO MALAGA

May 15th 2014, 19.40pm: Our EasyJet flight is just about to take off from Bristol. I was somehow cajoled into accompanying Timo on this ridiculous journey at 1pm and was already on a ferry leaving the Isle of Wight at 2.15pm. Another two hours, two bacon rolls, bag of crisps and a Twix later we were at Bristol Airport ready for check in. The flights had cost £170 each at the last minute, plus £30 each way for the windsurfing equipment and another £30 for an extra check in bag. Timo had also booked a car via Easyjet which was another £35 and had sorted accommodation with some friends who live in Tarifa, up in the mountains overlooking the beaches. All the gear was squeezed into one board bag and consisted of a Severne Blade 3.3, 3.7, 4.2, two masts, a boom, Mystic harness and wetsuit, plus a Starboard 74L Quad; just enough to keep below the 32 Kg limit allowed for sporting equipment on the plane.

20.30pm: With two hen parties and a stag do on our flight headed for Malaga, it seemed rude not to drink a Stella and join in the party atmosphere on board. Our destination was the European ‘Capital of wind’, Tarifa, one of the ‘must do / bucket list’ locations for any windsurfer. Summer time has the strongest, most consistent winds and within a range of 60km’s between Gibraltar and El Palmar there are beaches to cater for every type and level of windsurfing from beginner to freestyle to bump and jump, slalom and hard core waves. Many windsurfers with a taste for adventure head down to Tarifa by camper van for months at a time, with even bolder ones using it as a gateway to head to Morocco. These days, kite surfers call Tarifa the kite capital of the world but the likes of PWA stars, Ben Van Der Steen, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Ludovic Jossin and Thomas Malina have helped put Tarifa back on the map by making it their home or training ground for much of the year.

“ Strategically positioned between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, Tarifa’s wild coastline is without A doubt one of the Meccas of windsurfing ”

TWENTY FOUR AND COUNTING

11.50pm: Touch down in Spain, just in time to pick up our hire car and hit the road bound for Tarifa. Our flight home departs in exactly twenty four hours, the clock is ticking! The front seat of our tiny Fiat hire car is stuck all the way forward and we can’t shift it, meaning I am going to have to sit in the back with knees parked either side of my chin for the duration of the trip; it’s times like these I think about being a wedding photographer. It’s around a 100 mile drive past Gibraltar, into Tarifa and we finally roll into town, via several toll roads, at 1.30am and still quite amped up from the journey. The thought does cross our minds to head to a bar, but we have already arranged to meet Tarifa local Ben Van Der Steen at 8am the following morning so for once we do the sensible thing and head to our accommodation.

2am: After wiggling through tracks up a mountain on the far side of town we finally stumble on Timo’s friend’s house where we manage to alert all four dogs who in turn wake up the family. On the plus side, the wind is off the hook with trees swaying violently outside. Ben is already calling for 50 knots in the morning, nothing unusual here in Tarifa but it’s going to be a shock to the system to go in at the deep end on this windswept coastline.

DAWN PATROL

8am: From within the city walls, the cobbled streets of the old town are a mere 11 Kilometres across the water from the coast of Africa. We have arranged to meet Ben at the southernmost beach of mainland Europe; Playa Chica, notorious as the wildest place in a Levante. Yesterday a catamaran was washed up on the rocks and smashed to pieces on the causeway to Isla La Paloma. With 40 knot gusts already howling across the straights, Ben reckons it will be even windier in the evening, so we pencil in to return at 6pm, which will be our final session of the day.

Ben is back in town, fresh from his victory in the Azores at the IFCA worlds, but we aim to put him to an even stiffer test of his ability and send him out in 50 knots at Playa Chica later in the day. He moved here three years ago, after coming for a training trip, but he then fell in love with a beautiful Spanish girl and never looked back. Now a family man and full time Tarifa resident, Ben loves living on the Andalucía Coast because of its variety of conditions, stunning landscapes and mild weather.

The decision is made to head to Canos de Meca, an unspoiled beach on the Atlantic coast about a forty five minute drive from Tarifa. Passing through town, it is amazing how many windsurf and kite shops line the streets and once we are cruising along Playa De Los Lances, the 7km stretch of beach just outside town, we pass the likes of the Hurricane Hotel and the various windsurf centres that serve this windswept coastline. Once out into the open countryside the landscape is awash with huge wind turbines, another reminder how important the influence of the wind is in this area, whilst quaint whitewashed villages dot the verdant landscape between the mountains.

CANOS DE MECA

9.30am: We roll into Canos off the CN340 coast road and it’s blowing a solid thirty five knots with a head high wind swell. The clock is already down to twelve hours before we have to be back at Malaga airport so it’s time to hit the water. Prime time here is low tide on the push and it looks like we have hit the nail on the head, Ben rigs 4.5m and Timo goes for his 4.2m while I survey the beach and check out where we can score the best shots.

10.15am: After half an hour on the water, Timo is already heading in to switch down to 3.7m, while Ben has smashed his arm on his board, a pretty radical start to the day ! Ben heads off in search of a bag of ice as precious minutes tick away while we regroup. The locals start to roll into the car park and it’s pretty obvious that this is looking like a solid Levante day for Canos. Out to the right of the bay is the lighthouse which protects the shipping off Cape Trafalgar. Off this headland is the spot where way back in 1805,
Admiral Nelson, although greatly outnumbered, attacked and destroyed the Spanish fleet. This was considered to be the greatest ever battle between sailing ships after a two year chase around the Atlantic and West Indies.

11.30am: Timo and Ben are back on the water and ripping it up as the tide pushes over the reef. When the Levante blows, Canos is a perfect playground for port tack cross on jumping and riding while the other wind in this area, the Poniente which blows from the Atlantic, brings cross off winds which can groom solid groundswells for great wave riding on the right day.

“ Timo is already heading in to switch down to A 3.7m, while Ben has smashed his arm on his board, a pretty radical start to the day ! ”

ON SCHEDULE

12.30pm: With the plan pretty much right on schedule, it’s time for me to jump in the sea for some water shots. Ben decides to take a time out while he nurses his sore arm, while Timo is still hungry for more, determined to maximise his time on the water on this one day sojourn. In the thick of the crowd at the main break, it’s almost too busy to line up for a ramp, so I drift downwind towards Cape Trafalgar, a bit more tricky to line up, but much better without the crowd. After an hour or so when Timo is just thinking about taking a break, Ben suddenly flys down pumped up to join the session after making sure his arm is not seriously injured from the earlier crash. Satisfied we have a few decent jump shots in the can, it is time to swim in. Over the ninety minutes I have been in the water I have drifted half a mile down the coast, so I charge back to the car park, howling wind in my face, while Timo and Ben tack upwind.

2pm: Back on the beach we allow ten minutes to stuff down a slab of bread with a wedge of cheese and slurp a can of drink before the next session, no time for fancy athlete refuelling diets on this mission ! The wind is still a solid 35 knots and Timo manages to clock up another two hours sailing before we reach our cut off point at 4pm. It’s time to instigate the next part of the plan and head back to Tarifa. En route we allow 30 min’s to cram in a few shots of the wind turbines, Hurricane hotel and Tarifa sign along the main highway, religiously sticking to our itinerary without deviation.

PLAYA CHICA

6pm: On the dot, we rock up at Chica where the wind is lashing the waves over the causeway out to La Paloma. We are right in front of the old part of town with its picturesque narrow cobbled streets, tumbling jasmine and white washed houses.
The tainted history of Tarifa dates way back to 711, when 7000 Arabs landed there and within a few years conquered almost all of Spain. The Arabs considered Tarifa as the key to Spain and ever since its important position has played a major role in its destiny. The winds that blow through the straights finally brought along a different form of invasion in the eighties and nineties in the form of windsurfers, a siege that even today retains its tight grip on the town.

Today we are in the midst of our own offensive and right now it is time to put to the test the slalom skills of poor Ben who has already put in a four hour shift in the waves and now has to hang on to a 5.6 in 40-50 knots. Benny manages to last 45 minutes in the survival conditions, enduring several high speed wipe outs as he blasts between Europe and Africa across the straits of Gibraltar. With plenty of sailing shots under our belts, our conquest is almost complete, now for the easy part, beer and food!
7pm: We just have time for a Pizza and an icy cold one at ‘La Tribu’ surf bar in the old part of town. Three scrummy Pizzas and seven beers all for €30, done deal; it’s the first time we have actually relaxed since we left home! ‘La Tribu’ is one of the most popular surf bars in town and is renowned for its laid back atmosphere and cool windsurfing ‘vids’ on the big screen. The nightlife in Tarifa is legendary and no doubt if we were staying overnight we would be enticed into its clutches, maybe this is a lucky escape!

8.30pm: Just a few minutes to spare to buy the wives a quick home coming present in one of the surf shops before we head off back to Malaga airport. Wind outside is still howling and the dipping sun lights up the ancient city walls with a warm evening glow. Thinking we have tonnes of time to spare, we amble around the town and repack all our gear before we suddenly realize our sat nav is on UK time and we are an hour behind schedule and in danger of missing our flight !
HOMEWARD BOUND

10.40pm: After dropping off the hire car, where we were fined 20 euro for having fuel a fraction off full, we make it to check in just in time before it closes. All went smooth with the gear and without a second to spare, we head to departures and straight to the gates.

11.15pm: Last on the plane, we score the front row (more expensive) seats for free, as nobody has claimed them and managed to clock up two hours kip before landing in Bristol at 1.30am GMT.

2am: Back in the van in Bristol Airport we hit the road again bound for Southampton in the midst of the night. I just make the 4.15am car ferry, and am back on the island at 5.15am and inside my front door an hour later, not bad all things considered.

TIMO MULLEN

“Without a doubt this had to be one of the craziest last minute ideas I’ve ever had, and sure enough JC was the only guy I knew stupid enough to join me! It may have been a crazy idea but in my books a calculated one. I have flown to Tarifa on similar forecasts in the past and unbeknown to me and a lot of people I’m sure, Tarifa and more precisely Canos de Meca does score quality waves; nothing epic but how I best describe it to my friends is a more side shore and sandy version of Pozo! All you need is a strong Levante to create the boom to logo high wind swell that breaks on the reef and sandbars from Canos all the way down to Trafalgar.

I sailed pretty much non-stop from 9am to 4pm. I’d say the jumping is probably the best bit about Canos, although at the right state of tide there can be some fun punchy sections to ride. It really is a fun place to sail, nothing too radical that would risk being hurt but enough to satisfy any adrenaline junky. The locals all sail to a really high standard, tweaked pushies and huge backloops were all going down in between ‘work’ breaks!! It seems that 3.7/3.3 is the standard size sail the guys use around here which makes packing a board bag pretty easy!
Yes this trip was pretty manic but after seeing the awesome pics that JC captured and the great sessions I had in the water that day, I’d say it was more than worth it. Sailing with Ben and the other locals really does push you to go for it a lot more and every time I come here I find myself going for double loops just to keep up with the other guys, just what you want to be honest!

It does help a lot to know where to stay when you come to Tarifa, one of my best friends Pete King and his wife and two daughters live in an idyllic setting on the mountain overlooking the whole of Tarifa. Their incredible pad is my home from home in Tarifa, they also have an amazing self-catering rental accommodation in the grounds of their ‘ranch’ which is perfect for any travelling windsurfers, particularly when Pete and Susi speak English, German and Spanish and know everything you would ever need to know about Tarifa!

This trip provided me with my all-important high wind fix before I start an intensive two months of work to pay the mortgage and fund my next trip away that will hopefully be longer than just 24 hours!”
BEN VAN DER STEEN

“Well didn’t think Timo was completely mad but for sure a little crazy. Anyway the forecast was good so why not? These days it is so easy just to jump on a flight. I have known Timo for a while and well, sometimes he does these things!”
ACCOMODATION

Tarifa apartment – Stunning, modern mountain top apartment sleeps up to 5, perfect for families or windsurfers as it’s situated between the top sailing beaches of Tarifa and Bolonia. Amazing location, overlooking Morocco and Tarifa, for more information call Susi King on +34 616 603 004 or email earthwindandsea@gmail.com

On the cheap, drive down and use the free field on the beach next to Valdevaqueros, no showers or toilets though. Campsites and hostels are still relatively cheap.
LOCAL TIPS

Expert windsurfer Pete King moved to Tarifa from the UK, we asked him for his top tips.

Conditions: In the summer months there’s always a thermal wind in front of Valdevaqueros (Club Mistral) in the afternoons. Sail range would be 5.0-6.5 flat / choppy water. Winter brings Atlantic swells. Magic Seaweed – Playa los Lances and Windguru (Valdevaqueros) for an accurate long cast. Live webcams including Canos at www.spotfav.com/spot/arte-vida/cam

You can find Waves at Playa Chica in Levante winds, For westerlies known as Poniente, try Arte Vida, Bolonia and Canos de Meca. Water is colder than it appears, so bring decent neoprene.

Gear to bring: Depends on wind and swell direction. Generally a small board (75-85 litre) with sail range 3.7-5.2 is fine. Winter wind is generally lighter with 4.7-6.2 on light wind floaty wave / free ride boards in the 90-110L range. Bring 2 boards (small and large) ideally for guaranteed sailing, and sails 3.1 to 7.5 should cover all options. Good conditions for slalom year round.

Best times to visit: For strong wind port tack, hot weather and great partying try August, but is very busy. July and Sept are equally hot but less crowded.
Winter swells start around Nov through to Easter.