The second of december 2017 started under a snowfall .... but it continued at best, with a session in Cannes Palm Beach, a spot that I appreciate more and more, and that welcomed us with some wonderful waves conditions!

 

Windsurf session: Cannes Palm beach (France)

Technical session data: 

Wind: North/North-East, 25-30 kts as average, gusts at 35 kts.

Water Surface: nice regular waves 3 meters high, sometimes breaking, at 150-200 meters from the shore (swell due to the strong E-NE wind offshore); 1,5-2 meters high, breaking and close one to each other, near the shore.

Sail: Ezzy Elite 4,2 2018

Board: Fanatic Quad TE 87 2013, with default fins.

Rider's weight: 70 kgs

Clothing: 5 mm wetsuit, 3 mm surf shoes, mittens, neoprene hat (but gloves were not needed, and locals wore only their wetsuit....)

 

Comment

On the morning of December 2, 2017, we woke up under a heavy snowfall, at our B & B Hotel in La Seyne Sur Mer in the south of France, and with a temperature of 2-3 Celsius degrees ..... We then set off for leaving back towards Italy, almost resigned to the idea of not surfing ..... and with the prospect of counting, in our three days trip to France, the only exit on Thursday at the Coudouliere. Almost discarded the possibility of going out with the Tramontana/Grecale in the western Liguria (expected very strong, but with very low temperatures and rain), the only possibility to make a stop along the drive to surf, was given by Cannes. And so it was!

Encouraged by the rising temperature along the motorway, near Cannes (11 degrees!), we decided to head to the spot of Palm beach. Upon our arrival, the spot welcomed us with about thirty knots from North / North-East, overcast skies, and many people already in the water (many kiters).

 

Rigged the above mentioned quiver, with my friend Sergio we entered into the water about at 12.30. The best wind must have blown in the morning, but we also managed to get something.

Cannes is always very instructive. The wind was oriented from North / North-East, and, therefore, blew very side over the spot (compared to the usual East, which we get here in Cannes): a very good direction to get out easily from the beach, and go straight to mouth of the first foams and the first serious waves rising at about 100-150 meters from the shore (around two meters). To better enjoy the spot, you need to know it, to understand where it is better to get around some "monsters" that can chase you on the way out. I do not yet have all this experience of this spot, and sometimes the sea let me pass, and I managed to make my way out, catching a good moment, in which a series of big waves had just broken; at other times, I caught some sound wipe-outs. On the way back, the waves, today, were truly beautiful, easy to be read (beautiful clean, glassy, ​​and impossible to miss, being even three meters high). The exceptional condition found today in Cannes was due to the swell, caused by the strong Grecale, off the Ligurian Sea, while the wind hit the waves and the spot, with a side direction (although when it is so from North, the wind on the spot can not be very well spreaded, coming from the hills behind Juan Les Pins).

I had managed to get some of them, enjoying a real long and regular descent, from which to come down at full speed, or from which to escape, when it broke and roared behind. Emotion is always indescribable, a total drug, much more than gliding.

 

I had two short sessions in the day. The wind, at about 13.30, has fallen a lot, near the shore, and remained relatively strong only offshore, and in the channel between the island and Palm beach, probably due to further rotation from the North.

I, and many others, came out of the water, judging the conditions no longer good for surfing. And instead, after a while, those who really know how to waveride (maybe, only with a slightly larger sail, e.g. a 4.7) entered into the water. Among them, the italian Ezio Papalia from Riwmag, practically now a local guy of the spot.

He, and some other riders (5 or 6 in all), started to surf out and gained the open sea without, practically, getting planing, bypassing the waves/foams with skill, and balancing on small boards without ever falling. Then, on their return, they surfed three-meter-high beautiful waves in front side, realizing, on the same wave, even 3 or 4 consecutive bottoms. A really nice show (see video at the end of the article).

After shooting some pictures and videos, you can see in thise article, about at 15.30, we left towards Monza, where we arrived without problems just befeore 20.00.

 

So, our three days in France endend, not one of the most profitable, but it was a lot useful anyway to test some equipment, and to better know the French spots, so that we will be able to enjoy even more in the next trips.

Aloha. Fabio

 

Click here, for the full slidegallery of the day.

 

 

The video of the day, which shows the best riders doing bottoms on waves, offshore!