Tiered of the ashmathic waves of the Mediterranean sea, I just moved to the French west Atlantic coast.
It’s a ~100 km sand beach, with heavy beach breaks and shore breaks, absolutely zero bay or shelter, and fairly consistent heavy conditions.
Much more a surf than a foil spot.
Here there are more days where it’s too big to foil than flat days.
Anyway, long story short, I now need to lean how to prone in heavy curvy waves.
I need to learn when/how to escape a wave curving over me.
How to survive a foil wipeout if you’re into the washing machine?
I need to learn how to enter the beach without being crushed by the shore break.
Any advice is welcome.
Any ressource (YT channel, blog) that can speedrun my learning is welcome.
Long and narrow prone board, 85cm stiff and thin mast, small foils (600-800) that can handle the speed. Wear a bump cap or surf helmet.
Try to take off on the shoulder where there is the smallest possible drop, when in doubt don’t force it. Avoid channels with current, avoid foam and closeouts. Offshore clean conditions are much easier than onshore choppy.
Above chest high things get really tricky, unless the wave is really really fat… work your way up progressively.
When you fall and tumble, if the leash is pulling, you are safe, the board is far, if the leash is slack, danger the board is near, swim away.
The reef in saint jean de luz in the bay has a foil friendly wave working throughout the winter. Bordeaux has the mascaret on high amplitude tides.
May the force be with you
Thank you for all your advices!
I did my homework this morning and found 3 videos that are useful.
This one is good to learn how to read waves
This one is really good, especially for entry and exit of water in powerful waves.
It contains good descriptions and video of how to do.
It’s short yet the most useful I video I watched.
This one is a longer and more general 101 crash course, but I liked it
And do not push it…
Those waves quickly build up to big hold down territory at deceivingly moderate sizes.North Atlantic water is a bit denser than almost any other and you will feel it…
Jeremy Flores almost drowned over there during a contest, and he is no mere mortal.
I didn’t know that, but I just checked and it’s confirmed!
How does it impact the ride ?
Is it slower and less manoeuverable?
Does it mean that basically, water and so waves impact are heavier ?
Foil riding i do not know,never foiled the pacific.
But as far as duckdiving for example, a foamie you would go clean under in Nica will grab and tumble you easily in France or northwest Spain.Same with wipe outs and hold downs.
Those beachbreaks are akso short,vertical rides not particularly foil friendly, so if it feels too high energy for the foil i would be cautious.
I think the few inlets are where longer,mellower waves happen (SanJuan de Luz?).
Thank you !
Yes, this is definitely more a surf area than a foil.
Waves are high energy.
But, I must ride what I have.
I moved from the med because I was tiered of the small (<0.3) choppy waves.
And I prefer restricting myself because it’s too big, than having nothing 330 days/year.
Saint Jean de Luz, down south is definitely calmer, due to having bays which are slowing down the swell.
Up north where I am, the swell formed in the Arctic directly hits the coast, forming strong waves.
I do a lot of prone and I have just decided I won’t try to push my limits if the waves are overhead and long period on the takeoff. I figure I would need a 500-600 sized foil which I won’t be able to pump anyways back out. I really prefer it to be as small as possible like knee to waist high so I can use medium to large foils which can be easily pumped. Also another issue is all the whitewater in between the waves when it’s big. Makes it so hard to pump through. Its just not worth it. But I bet if you get a small enough foil you can take off on overhead waves. Think of it like surfing, you’re on a 0cm foil. If you went to 100cm2 that would basically be like nothing, making it the same as surfing. Once you get too big of a foil and you get over foiled it’s really not your fault. You need a tiny foil to takeoff on huge waves and I think that would be easy. The only issue really is when you’re taking off and over foiled. It’s like bucking a wild buffalo. I bet even if you offered a million bucks for someone to takeoff behind the barrel on a double over head wave at chopes with a 2000cm foil, no one could do it.
This setup you described is similar to one of my local spots, and I can tell you that through the winter you will get very few sessions, almost none. If it isn’t too late to move somewhere that is sheltered or has some protection, I’d suggest that. Foils and raw Atlantic winters are not a good combination, at all!.
Can you already surf those kinds of waves without a foil? Can you duckdive? If neither, then the above suggestion is even more emphatic. You need a sheltered reef
You cannot go out with a foil at a straight open ocean facing beach break most of the Winter (and pretty much Spring and Autumn). I can almost guarantee this unless you surf at a reasonable level, and even then, it is not easy.
Another way of saying this - in waves that I probably wouldn’t even bother surfing because they are too weak (ie would probably longboard or something), I’m usually at the upper limit of what is fun for foiling. Foiling is suitable for the slowest, weakest waves.
Not settled yet, I will probably test other places down the coast (calmer) before settling for good. I’m a full remote worker, so I’m flexible.
No, I am a mediocre surfer, never had the opportunity to improve due to no waves in the Mediterranean sea, that’s why I started foiling, and now I am likely a better foiler than a surfer.
One thing that I should have mentioned, is that I have a Foildrive.
It allows taking off on the flat sections, and riding the swell far from the shore, long before it transforms into a breaking wave.
Foildrive also allows speeding the entry/exit of water, working around the shore break or the wave impact zone.
Without Foildrive, not sur I would dare foiling there!
Ok yes I made that connection after I replied, with FD you could make it work, but even then you’ll be at the limit of the foils on the swell, the primary issue will still be getting safely through the shore break.
Something like this is what I’d look for, that is protected by some sandbanks and is a reform wave, those are ideal for foils as energy has been reduced by breaking on the outer sandbank. I presume the currents will be super strong so take care.
You are spot on Matt, I think the main risk is the shore break.
So far,
To get in, patience is key, I wait as long as necessary for a softer period
To get out, I go behind a wave and pump until I reach knee high so I can walk
It worked quite ok.
For the spot you recommended, I have a funny story.
When I moved to the area, I thought the same and did 2 sessions there.
From the shore, the water seems ok, a bit messy but soft enough to foil.
But once in, there is an real storm underwater it’s really as if you were foiling on white water behind a heavy wave that just broke.
I guess tides (the bay is emptying itself) and crossing underwater currents are messing up.
So impossible to foil there.
I guess down south, there are more moderate places, which are both sheltered by sand banks, and less under the influence of the bay filling/emptying due to tides.
I will try this spot one day, and report back 44.532844294360736, -1.2574378304316651
Yes patience for sure. The one upside of ocean spots is the lulls between sets can be long.
Oh nice, yeah I guessed that might be the case.
North cornwall and works best with 1-2ft and 8-10s, any more and it gets too big, and need to seek shelter. The region is 8m tide range, so it all looks different at different tides
The winter storm escape spot is here, and it is super tidal, much the same as what you describe. You can only go over high tide when the water is settled. Great for winging too, but can handle 10-20ft 15s swell as the bar in the river mouth takes out all the energy
I went to the Crozon race in Autumn and I think North of you in that direction is possibly the best surf foil setups possible, the small islands and rivers blocking the swell is probably a good balance. To me it seemed perfect! In Cornwall we have no protection on the North coast, and too much protection on the South. The rest of the country doesn’t get enough consistent swell. There are only really a few spots, and only really two that are consistently weak enough but still breaking for foiling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAIgcyHg9G0
For me the criteria for good location is minimal driving between a spot that can handle big winter swell and small summer swell, clean water (sediment and river water that has farm runoff really ruins the foil lift), small tides
It would be very beneficial for you to go out and get proficient prone surfing these wave.
Quick steep drops on a surf board are difficult enough to master, without throwing the complication of popping up on a foil.
A few things I’ve found useful trying to prone in slightly bigger or punchy waves:
Avoid places where there is any shorepound or otherwise lots of wave energy where too shallow for a foil duckdive. (Steep beaches with backwash can be nearly impossible to get into shore) On a standard shortboard you can usually deal with this by duckdive, and get back in by belly riding. On a foil hitting the sand when trying to duckdive is the worst. If nobody is around, can ditch the board, hope you leash holds and try to get your body deeper until it eases off.
If there’s any chance a set could wash you or other surfers together don’t go out.
A mid length/width board is helpful to keep it skipping on the surface until your ready to popup, especially through larger whitewater starts. Also, need some thinness to be able to grasp well when duckdiving through turbulence.
You can drag your feet/legs to keep speed under control and your board on the surface before popping up so you don’t breach while bellyriding.
You’ll likely need to get your body aggressively far forward, needing a solid back arch pivot technique from shortboarding. Foil towards the back of the board can help here too.
you have to go north to find more sheltered spot i guess ! But during winter it’s not easy in the atlantic coast , even in vendée wave are often too big and sheltered spot are often weird with current and so peculiar condition to work and crowd. With the big lake you got around you could even be able to to dw when wind are strong ! Could be an option for you during winter with a parawing or a sup foil.
