Portion control
The following day we checked the dreaded 'El Cotillo' - close out capital of the world but at least the water was warm. It was 3-4ft and closing out.
We checked 'Izquierda' and found some huge surf rolling in, a solid 8ft+ but closing out and heavy so headed back to 'Cotillo' for a late afternoon surf.
'Spew pits' around the corner was also doing it's thing and Dave got in the following day and enjoyed a few hollow bombs and sketchy take offs over semi-dry slabs of rock.
I valued my fins so gave it a miss. 'Spew Pits' is great wave to watch, especially when hollow. We ended up filming it everyday but never with anyone actually surfing it.
'Cotillo' surprised us on our second visit as it had completely cleaned up and the gnarly high tide shore dump had all but disappeared.
It had been replaced by fun 4ft clean rights & lefts and we quickly got stuck in. Other than two french rippers, we were alone again.
Anna-Marie had a few nice big lefts, well over her head and the Plough had a couple of screamers. Dave and I had our share too. I had one lovely long right while Carlos filmed nudists on the beach and completely missed it...
The week was progressing at a rate of knots but we still had plenty of surfing to do. Our pad was great, we could see 'Isle de Lobos' opposite with 'Rocky Point' to our left and the harbour just beyond so surf checks were very easy.
The wind had dropped and the swell had increased so it was time to hit the 'Northern Track'.
You can't visit Fuerteventura without trashing your hire car on the track and with Plough driving ours, it was no exception. I guess this is why damage waiver was invented.
By the end of the week it was brown - we actually had trouble spotting it from the water as it looked golden in the sun instead of blue.
I daresay the back tyres had a few mm of rubber missing too, from all the 'Starsky & Hutch' style tail slides he enjoyed doing so much. I think I'd aged ten years sitting in the front.
'Generosa' was a good 5ft on the sets as we continued the drive around to 'The Bubble'. We checked a few other breaks and took the Polo 'off road'. 'Derecha' was okay, a bit shapeless but a good 5-6 ft and 'Hierro' to the left looked nice and empty.
I suited up and got stuck in while Dave hit 'The Bubble' and the Plough and Carlos disappeared in a rip the coast.
Sitting out there alone was really nice, my first taster of reef this trip and it was lovely to see the coral reef below me as 4ft glassy, peaks rolled by.
I caught a few rights and cocked up a few nice lefts, before Plough arrived back. He took off on his first wave and in true Plough style, ran over a local surfer paddling out. A couple more waves and we were done.
That night we hit 'Flicks' for some Karaoke. We brought the house down and were offered record deals but were here to surf and you need to be realistic about these things...
Carlos wooed the girls with his drunken 'Elvis' impressions - startlingly realistic (from his hamburger era) Plough sang our flagship song for this trip - Starships "We built this city" in his own unique way and brought the house down!
I stuck to 'Del Amitri' and some 'Stereophonics'. A good night was had by all. We even got nods of recognition in town the following day - good or bad I'm not sure?
The reefs were firing again and it had cleaned up considerably. A pack was already on 'The Bubble' so I got the binos out and spied a different reef to the right. I'd not surfed it before or seen anyone on it but I'm sure it's been surfedplenty of times before!
I had the pleasure of naming it this trip, snagging the first wave so it became imaginatively known as 'Gulls Nest' ;)
It looked pretty good so the Plough and I paddled out. It was perfect,'Surfer Magazine' stuff - 4-5ft 'A frames'with a mellow right and hollow left hander.
After sharing a few and finding it broke in pretty deep water, Dave and Anna-Marie joined us and we surfed in glorious sunshine for the next 2.5 hrs with Dangerous Dave practising his 360's and drop knee takeoff's before going in for some lunch.
After lunch and some R&R the tide was pushing in and we hit the same reef. This time it had picked up in size and become quicker and suckier.
With luck you could snag some half decent rides on the right. It began to get really nice and a fairly big with a few 8ft bombs coming through to keep us on our toes.
As the evening sun began to sink we sat on a left hand peak and took turns at dropping into super fast, hollow walls sharing the camera work.
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