Western Australia Wildflower Season
Sometimes you have to wonder how some people got into surfing. Landlocked. 15 hours to the nearest beach which lies in a sea with very infrequent waves. Cold weather, cold water, even the cost of equipment. These are some seriously dedicated people. They have seen an ideal they admired, and decided no matter what the obstacle is that lies in front of them, they will go surfing.
English: Surfers riding the Severn Bore This is surfers riding the wave of the Severn Bore as it passes Newnham. This picture was taken from near The Old Passage Inn on the Arlingham side of the river. The surfers only just join the bore at this point. It was one of the spring tides of 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
To be fair every surfer is dedicated, that’s how they become good at what they do, but true dedication lies not in their capabilities of slashing the waves apart. We’re talking here about people who rise above the obstacles of getting to a place they can surf and mixing with the other people who have the luxury of a beach at least half an hour from their doorstep. And for those surfers who live by the beach the thrill of surfing somewhere where there the surf is not that consistent.
So let’s find out where these places are:
Italy– a good place to start, although it lies within a non-tidal sea, it is the most consistent place in the whole Mediterranean, and therefore it has a large surfing community. The best places to surf are the Livorno and Viareggio area on the western part of the boot and Sardinia.
Italian surfer during a surf competition in Sardinia in Marinedda’s beach, Isola Rossa. In Italy Sardinia is the region that have much surfing spot than the others (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Israel– Swell is also consistent on this part of the Mediterranean, and also has a large and competent surfing community. Tel Aviv is known for it’s consistent waves.
Slovenia– Croatia- I once wrote aa blog about the dedicated team from the Slovenian Ujusansa Surf Club. Slovenia has only 25kms of coastline of very protected short range wind swell unlike Livorno in Italy. Therefore Slovenians often frequent the Croatian coast. Croatians are also invited into the club, and are often seen in southern France and the Spanish BasqueLand holding their surf camps in summer
Germany– these guys are also extremely dedicated to surfing. Inland areas dedicate their time to standstill waves like the Englisch Garten in Munich and another whose name I forget outside Munich. The other common place is the island of Sylt in the North Sea. which can sometimes pick up good swells from large Arctic storms. Otherwise Germans are seen in summer on the French and Portuguese coasts.
the standstill wave seen from the street side at the edge of the Englisch Garten in Munich
Norway, Sweden and Denmark– for the lucky Norwegians they have the best surf of these countries, facing the open side of the tempestuous North Sea. Still there are places where they surf in Sweden and Denmark usually facing the North Sea side. They water is very chilly especially in Norway. The most known surf spots are around the south near Alesund and between Stavanger and Kristiansand. You need balls to surf this cold water.
Canada– this North America country has 3 oceans in Arctic territory. It has a heavily indented costline that is not good for access, but good for protecting other parts of the coastline. Apart from that it is extremely cold in the water. Any Canadian surfer would need balls of steel to surf there.
United States– not such a strange place to surf unless you live on one of the Great Lakes or the Gulf of Mexico. Yes there are surfers there. Brighton Beach on Lake Superior is a known surf spot, and in the Gulf at places like Horace Caldwell Pier and on the Bolivar Peninsula.
These are some of the areas on the planet which have a largest surfer population considering the lack of consistent ocean type waves. One of the amazing places on my list to surf are inside Sydney Harbour from massive ocean swells, or one time a small wave popped up at Fuengirola, Spain inside the Mediterranean coast. And in Costa Rica on the Caribbean Coast, the waves are known to be more powerful than the Pacific coast. There are some well known tidal surge river waves like the Poro Roca in Brazil and the Severn Bore in Britain
If you are one of these dedicated surfers, hats off to you. Keep up the passion keep up the learning. And if you are on a strange place not known for its surf and you get the oportunty to surf, go for it. Itmight’n have been your best surfer, but you’ll certainly remember it more than most other sessions.
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