Virtually the entire coastline of Western Europe has been firing for the last two days, and we’ve decided to wade through the reams of coverage it has received on social media to bring you the very best of it.
Friday saw plenty of action at many of Europe’s most well known big wave spots spots, including of course, Cornwall’s spectator favourite ‘The Cribbar.’
Sixteen year old Jack Coombes and eighteen year old George Hudson were two of the Cornishman out trying to tame the beast on Friday. Here’s what Jack had to say about the session:
“I’ve been super keen to surf the Cribbar ever since I saw a couple of shots of the boys charging on the last big swell! I checked the forecast mid week and saw the hype for the swell to come, yet I didn’t really take much notice as this time of year conditions can change in a matter of hours.
After getting a message from George Hudson letting me know it’s on I found the biggest board I could! The paddle out was the scariest part, having to wrestle the 6ft shorey with an 8ft gun. Once we were out I spent about 15 minutes looking into bus wide tubes sat in the channel.
It was pretty hard to be in position with the really strong offshores and the shifting peaks. When one came my way I had to commit, it got to the point where I was looking down the face thinking I wasn’t going to make it… I felt the board lift with the wind, then the nose caught and I thought I had lost it! Luckily I just managed to hold it and get to the bottom. By the time I had out run the white water my heart was pounding and adrenaline was rushing through my body.”
Here’s a shot of Jack on his bomb:
You can see a full gallery of shots from the same day at the Cribbar here.
Some other spots in Cornwall were also holding a good bit of size, including this brown water break in North Cornwall, as enjoyed here by Reubyn Ash:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOFulAMjmlf/?taken-by=ollyfawcett
Ireland was also throwing up some pretty big and throaty ones on Friday, however the best of the content is yet to trickle out online. One thing we do know though is that Mullughmore has been pretty mental, with Cornish charger Tom Lowe heading up there on a solo mission a few days before Christmas, however things almost ended in disaster for Tom when he took a heavy wipeout on a giant one- you can read his harrowing first hand account of the experience here.
To tide you over until the shots of the chunkier stuff start dropping, here’s a shot from a few days before the peak of the swell, of Harry Timson finding a more manageably sized drainer:
Scotland too, was pretty off the hook. The Endless Winter team including presenter Mark ‘Egor’ Harriss, and Cornish surfer Gareth Llewellyn, were up there endless rewards:
The IOW as well, saw epic conditions:
The perfect left hand jewel in the Basque Countries crown also lit up, courtesy of a sold groundswell wrapping into the bay of Biscay, groomed by light off-shores:
Portugal struggled with strong and largely unfavourable winds on Friday, however Saturday saw improving conditions, with both Supertubes and Nazare firing:
The BWT comp at Nazare was quickly called on for the following Tuesday. Check out all the highlights and a round up of the action here.
Along with the continental classics, tucked away and fickle gems also enjoyed optimum conditions. Brittany, in North West France in particular, was as epic as it’s been for a while. “It was the biggest south west swell we’ve had for a long time” said local ripper Ian Fontaine “so we were able to score good reef breaks with easterly winds.” he continued “Life is good in Britanny at the moment!”
And even places as far from the eye of the storm as Bournemouth pier managed to muster up some fun peelers:
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