Thomas Traversa
“Every winter, low pressures constantly hit Brittany, bringing wind and waves. Unfortunately this rocky and complex coastline does not offer so many options with the dominant westerly winds: half of the spots are onshore, the other half, being really sheltered from the west swells, need serious size to start breaking. The locals like to wait for southerly and northerly winds to see their favourite spots work properly, but they also know where to go when the wind is west: l’Île aux Vaches, located on the north side of the Baie d’Audierne (opposite La Torche), this spot faces south but still receives the west swell.
The name of the spot means “Cow Island” but there are no actual cows! The reef becomes an island at high tide. Its flat and round shape is ideal for the wind to blow cross to cross-off shore on the wave face. The sets wrap around big boulder rocks, before breaking into a clean right-hander. This particular setup, on top of offering good wave-sailing conditions, allows people to stand right in front of the wave at most tides, and take stunning pictures that make this place an absolute classic on the French windsurfing scene.
I had my first session there in the winter of 2007. The conditions were epic, the sun was out all day and with only a handful of local windsurfers to share the line up with, I quickly realized that I was going to come back to this beautiful place. Ten years later, I can count on one hand the sessions I have had there, after dealing every time with the tricky tides, rain squalls and cold temperatures but always having a lot of fun. Of course the spot works more often than that, unfortunately I live more than a thousand kilometres away from Brittany so I can only risk the trip when the forecast is solid in terms of wind and waves.
This session happened in November 2016, after I missed The Aloha Classic due to a face injury. I was so bummed that I bought myself a full-face hockey helmet and didn’t hesitate one second to plan my trip when the wind maps started to show some promising conditions for Brittany. Like always, the few local windsurfers were there; most of them are my friends after my frequent visits so it was nice to meet up once again for what looked, on paper, like a great day of wave-sailing. But the morning check got us all a bit disappointed as the forecasted swell didn’t seem to be there as it was only head high and choppy! We grabbed a quick session and decided to stick around in case it improved.
A few hours later, as the tide was pushing, the wind went down a notch and with only a couple of hours of daylight left, we decided to give it another try. The swell had actually grown, and the wind went from side to side-offshore: it was finally on! All the frustration was suddenly gone and we caught wave after wave for over an hour, until it got really dark and cold. We were stoked and all ended up in the nearest pub to celebrate with a few beers. The exciting ending of another worthy effort to ride this great wave.”