My girlfriend, Carly Thorpe, and I recently went on a trip to the Canary islands. We decided that city living needed a hiatus and so packed our bags and headed to Fuerteventura. We stayed in El Cotilla which is a really chilled out place. Better known for its windsurfing Fuerteventura happens to have some really amazing surf and has been dubbed the ‘Hawaii’ of Europe.

With exposure to lots of open ocean and plenty of wind to generate surf, the canaries are a great location with warm clear water, friendly people and relaxed, mostly empty line ups.  On day one the surf cranked and at 15 feet the chance of paddling out on a 6ft2 were remote to say the least. Excuses about equipment aside, I was scared because it was too big and gnarly. 

The rest of the week the surf slowly dropped, and I surfed up and down the north track (where the best waves are found). There was a mixture of lava reef and beach break, but mostly reef breaks were on offer. The canaries are POWERFUL and you don’t realise how powerful till you paddle out and feel it for yourself. Luckily a lot of the paddle out set ups are through gullies and fairly easy to make. 

We have a great time relaxing and having beach braai’s on secluded beaches. It was hot and sunny and there were plenty of set ups to choose form if you don’t mind surfing alone. I certainly don’t, and it was such a treat to be completely alone in the line up for a change.