La Izquierda (Spanish Left) - Canaries Surf Trip April 2009

The pictures say it all ................. a great wave this ! (It's actually very similar to surfing Lower Trestles in California - just with sharper reef here compared to the cobblestone reef at Lowers).

Nice !!!!!

GET OUT. GET OUT NOW !!!!

This is me walking back over the low tide reef at Spanish Left having just been told to "Get Out. NOW!" by a LOCAL! Oh well, Id had my fair share of waves over the trip at various spots and don't mind admitting that I wasn't exactly up for taking a kicking!....... the local was both LARGE and seemed a bit ANGRY. ha ha ....................

La Izquierda (Spanish Left) - Localism and drop in heaven!

OK - so here it is "SPANISH LEFT". It's one of the most famous beaks in Tenerife and also known as being a very competitive spot with good surfers, good waves, and heavy locals who dont exactly welcome travelling surfers with open arms! I'd surfed the spot 2 or 3 times before but on this day the swell was far more consistant and there were some great lefts rifling down the reef. The bottom of these two pictures shows pretty much what happens on every wave at this spot ....... ie. some local surfer (or bodyboarder) drops in on you and you just have to take it, paddle back out, and take whatever they dont want! :0) Mark was on the beach taking these pictures and I'd been in about an hour getting dropped in on, speed paddling back out in the hope of snagging a good one before the locals made it back into the take-off zone - and i was getting warn out. The top picture shows the result ......... i'd started paddling so early on this one that I hadn't even seen the local catch this wave! My "drop-in" was, I admit, dreadful but it was also by mistake rather than calculated - as was the case in all of 'theirs'. ha ha.

Unfortunately the local and his mate didn't see the funny side of this and dispite my "all-smiles" appology I was told in no uncertain terms to "GET OUT - NOW!". The surfer I dropped in on gave me a 1000 yard stare and paddled straight past me back into the line-up - I thought i'd pretty much got away with it - but then there was some Spanish chatter and his BIG, UGLY slugger of a mate paddled over to me. I held my had up and explained that it was my mistake and that I hadn't seem him take off - but he was "having none of it". This guy was a big bugger too and said "YOU MUST OBEY THE RULES, ONE MISTAKE AND YOU'RE OUT! GET OUT. GET OUT NOW (!!!)". It was very clear that if i'd tried to paddle back out to the take-off zone that I'd have been in real trouble!! ........... I paddled slowly back to shore with my tail between my legs ! ha ha. Meanwhile Mark continued taking photos of the whole thing - drawing even more attention to me :-) I do have a shot of the said "Local" but he's unworthly of so much as 1kb of my blog space ......... sorry 'mate' but it's you who are "denied" this time. :-)

La Fitenia (Canaries Surf Trip 2009)

This was a great little spot which worked best at mid to high tide and while not as hollow as Spanish Left, still had some power with nice (and at times decent sized) lefts and rights. Caught a few really nice waves here over two of the best of 11 sessions on the island. The water is very clear and you can clearly see the reef under your feet as you ride the wave. My 6'0" quad seemed a little to wide on the bigger waves with a bit of a speed-wobble but is was great fun.

On one session here we met a group of English surfers - one of which lives just down the road from me in Exmouth !!!! Classis - small world hey.

The breakwater has only been built fairly recently here and from what I gather this wave used to be one of the best on the Island........... it was still goooooood though. :-)

El Conquistador (Canaries Surf Trip 2009)

This spot was the first break that we surfed on the trip. At mid tide there is plenty of water over the reef but there is also a big rock right in the middle of the line up which is partly submerged. I got caught inside and washed in over the reef on a set and came up in the white water thinking - "ok, no problem - I think I can get to shore ok but where the hell is that rock!?!" ..... as the swell shifted back over the reef and i found out where the rock was......... I was ON IT !! Another wave was on it's way through the line-up and I tried to paddle away from it and also kit off of it but the current around the rock had me well and truely stuck in place! As the wave approached all I could do was 'Brace!' and hope for the best (ie. that I didnt get slammed against the sharp volcanic rock and break both my board and my limbs!). Somehow the wave picked me up and launched me about 10 feet right over the top of the rock and into deeper water! So lucky !!!! :-)