GALLERY: Highlights From An Amazing February Around Europe

It’s been a superb February for waves throughout the North Atlantic. From El Quemao to County Clare, it’s hard to remember a month that served up so many memorable sessions at Western Europe’s standout breaks. And, away from the limelight, the continent’s more obscure surfing corners have seen similarly heady days for their local devotees.

Suffice to say, whether you’re a gun-toting Frenchmen down in Guethary, a toothpick riding tube hound in Macaronesia, or an easy-does-it longboarder in the mouth of a Cornish estuary, it’s been a good month to be a surfer on Europe’s western seaboard. 

Here are some highlights:

@marclacomare in France by @camille_lesaux
@william_aliotti in Lanzarote by @figueras_image
@nicvonrupp in Portugal by @crashgrafia
@jackjohns in Cornwall by @robertblackett
@joanduru in France by @camille_lesaux
@maya in Portgual by @abovecreators

The last week of the month welcomed what Natxo Gonzalez called the best swell he’s ever seen in the Basque Country. Here’s Mundaka, looking regal from above in the late winter sunshine. Photo: @jonbakio

Natxo on the final wave of a marathon session in the river mouth. “It was one of the craziest waves I ever got in Mundaka,” he told MSW of the ride. “My friends couldn’t believe it. Kepa Acero told me it was the best wave, technically, anyone has ever surfed at Mundaka. I was like, almost crying!” Photo: @gorkagurdi

Valentine’s weekend saw a solid pulse of swell light up coastline’s across the continent. As usual, the west coast of Ireland was right in the eye of the storm. Photo: @gavingallagher

Willy Aliotti stands tall at El Quemao as the same pulse arrives with a little more order a few days later in Lanzarote. Photo: @javigl

A morning surf check reveals another day of flawless 6-foot drainers and offshores at La Nord, Hossegor. Photo: @seb.picaud

A rare pulse of solid dead-west swell lights up a Portuguese slab, just a few weeks after the country lifted its surf ban. Photo: @crashgrafia

Harry Timson takes in the view from the innards of wind-bitten Cornish cavern. Photo: @lugarts

Luis Diaz squares off the bottom on a bomb at El Quemao. Photo: @gorkagurdi

Luke Dillon waits patiently for his wave during a North Atlantic rainbow rinse. Photo: @lugarts

Gearoid McDaid man-handles a wild one under the Cliffs of Moher. Photo: @landandseavisuals

Cover photo: @seb.picaud


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