There are those who go skiing and there are those who don't... Our two 360° Surf ambassadors, Cassie and Nico, have just finished their winter season in the Mediterranean and they tell us about their trip to the South of France.
If there's one place where you need to be patient and good with the weather, it's the Mediterranean. Surfing there is worth it.... For many people the Mediterranean is calm and sunny, but in autumn and winter it wakes up...
You can spend hours checking the coastline without finding a wave, the Mediterranean knows how to be patient. Swells can be disconcertingly short. You can spend days looking at the charts knowing that a good swell is coming, not sleep the night before and surf your arms off for three short hours... You know that your time on that wave is limited, so you might as well stay until the end. Timing is the key word for the Med surfer, always be ready... It's a good school to learn, you can have nice soft and sunny waves, but you can have, on some spots, small slabs that end in little water.
This sea is great, there are beachbreaks, reefs and even a point break that I love and whose name will be told here... In these regions you have to be armed against the elements, you have glassy sessions, but you can also take twenty knots of Mistral in your head, under the storm and a driving rain, but it doesn't matter the fury of the elements as long as there are waves... Because the Mediterranean is a bit like that too, lots of small spots hidden in small well-guarded creeks... We only talk about these places to real friends, we remain silent in front of simple acquaintances... The real surfing buddies of the Med are always hanging on their phone to check the situation with their friends scattered around checking the other spots to find the best wave to share.
Anyway, when in January the sun caresses your skin, you ride small hollow waves until sunset and you see the hills passing by in a thousand colours as the sun sets, you know you are privileged to surf these ephemeral waves. Thanks to the elements...