TIMO MULLEN
My very first windsurf trip abroad was to Lanzarote with my parents when I was 14 in 1987! We stayed in Costa Teguise, which back then was a pretty quiet small resort. I remember the windsurfing was amazing and we sailed the reef at las Cucharas every day. I learnt how to loop on that trip and it was also that trip that showed me what windsurfing was all about!
I have always wanted to return to Lanzarote as I have had such fond memories of my times there but I didn’t think it would take me over 30 years to return!! This year I chose to stay in the UK again for the winter as I figured that after the awful winter we had last year it could not be as bad this year, well I could not have got that more wrong! We had snow, ice, ‘Beast from the East’, but hardly any windsurfing so I was desperate for some good sailing and some heat! I spotted the Canaries were going to get their first hit of trade winds to start the spring season and a pulse of swell. All the usual spots would be cranking like Pozo and El Medano, but I wanted to ride some waves, so I figured Fuerteventura or Lanzarote would be the place to end my wave drought!
Planning these sort of last minute trips is always a bit of a logistical nightmare as once you have spotted the perfect forecast you are at the mercy of the airlines to get you there. Easyjet is my number one choice as they always take windsurf gear, yes you have to pay for the privilege but 100% they will take it! This trip involved a bit of flight juggling but where there is a will there is a way!!
Social Media these days seems to lead the way in all walks of life, fortunately or unfortunately depending which way you look at it, pro windsurfing has been swallowed up by it. Personally I am not a fan, but you have to embrace it for the sake of your sponsorship. I have found though its benefits are keeping in touch with friends all over the world. I have admired the talent of Noah Vocker from afar, I like his attitude and style, he likes to let his sailing do the talking rather than his Instagram account, the way it should be! So ironically I managed to get hold of him on Instagram to let him know we were coming to visit Lanzarote. Having Noah around was great and kept us on the right track to sail the best spots on the island.
The sailing was sick, Jameos is just like a spot I sail in the Outer Hebrides, in fact it is virtually identical. Breaking in front of a pretty ominous pile of lava you have to be pretty confident to hit the first section before the wave opens out and mellows a bit as it fires off down the line. The first section does have consequences though, if you get it wrong 100% you are on the rocks, but if you chose to miss the section you pretty much have missed the best part, so it really is a ‘do or die’ type of wave. I think we scored it at a good size to be fun, it was about logo high with a few bigger sets which was perfect I guess, I’d say with the swell direction more from the NW then the wave would probably wrap towards you much better, we had quite a NNE wind swell on the days we were there so the wave was more critical right in front of the rocks!
The standard of sailing at the spot is very high, Noah and the locals all rip to a world class standard, you had to be on your A game here to shine! Oh and did I mention that Mr Köster turned up? Yes, as expected he was ripping the bag out of the place, but I gotta give move of the day to Philip’s best mate Jorge (Spanish George) who nailed a very impressive frontside 360 right in front of us all as we sailed out through the channel!
I had just taken delivery of my new Severne Mako Quad 84L so I was stoked to have plenty of wind and waves to try it out, I was stacked on my 5.0 and 4.5 Blade for the whole trip, it was a good virgin run on my new board and 84L is a great size to take as a one board for this sort of short trip.
I will 100% be coming back to Lanzarote very soon, I loved the vibe and the sailing, it is a lot different to the other Canary Islands and I think a perfect place to bring my family as there is a lot more to do and see on the island than just windsurfing.