Surfing Waves

Got a month to kill, I'm heading over to South West France now and will be there by middle of next week, got a couple of questions.

I'm a beginner who has only surfed less than 20 times, been to Biarritz/Lacanau in July and loved the place, but what are the waves like at this time of year ?

Where can i camp ? I am in a largish motorhome so somewhere very close to the beach that i can either park up for free or a site on the beach would be good, but a lot of sites seem to be closed this time of year, i only found one place which is near Ondres, any more

Friend of mine is coming out who is also a newbie, except more so than me, will the waves be ok for him as well, and anywhere around the area that is open that he will be able to rent a suit/board from ?

And finally, anyone else going to be down there ?

a friend of mine came back yesterday from hossegor, he told us about real great waves, but difficult to surf for beginners..
you should definetely go to hossegor and seignosse, its about 25 min away from biarritz, but is way more beautiful not only for surfers..(there you should go to "rockfood", its a great bar where kelly slater and all the guys hang out,)lots of dunes and great surf spots.. in france it' s not allowed for "vans or camping-vehicles" to stay at a parking lot over night because they consider it wild camping, might get expensive for you (even though they don't send you the ticket if youre not from france), but you'll find enough campings there!go to the tourist information at the beginning of each city and ask them for cheap campings, or, like we did last year, just park in a residential area, you wont get into trouble with the police in this season!
Have a great time!

wow thanks for the info Fran, how busy will it be this time of year, last time i was in Hossegor i parked on the bank of the lake in car parking places overnight :)

no prob
well all the pro events and school holidays are finished, so won' t be overcrowded..but the weather's still gentle (can u say that?)...theres a parking above one beach thats really cool but i dont remember the name..a lot of surfer stay there over night, because it might be the only parking owning a shower , its quite nice, you get in contact with lots of "loose-hangin" ppl.. ... is this the one you stayed at? where ya from , by the way? sometimes we just parked beside the road but to fall asleep was kinda hard with all the longboard-wheels-noise next to ur ear..
have fun, greetz

we didnt stay near the beach, it was alongside Hossegor lake behind the town itself.

We stayed at quite a few places up around the coast there, i.e. Vieux Bacou(Spelling?), Cap Breton, Lacanau, Carcans etc.Cap Breton was prob best one, right on the beach, electricity for hookup, €6.60 per night and a boulangerie van every morning at 0900 right outside the van :)


I am from UK but have spent the last 8 months living on a large motorhome travelling around ;) 5 months of it in France which i love.

I normally travel with wife, but she is back in UK for a month visiting folks etc so i am on my lonesome, hence surfing time :)

I am in St Tropez atm, nice place but no surf !!

Where u from ?

well just arrived at Cap Breton and man is the surf blown out, its so blustery that the sea is just frothing away real angry.

Hope it dies down a little tmrw so i can get wet !!!

Anyone recommend anywhere else i can park up down this way in a largish motorhome, preferably with electric hookup as i work from my van ??? as the damn local council has turned off the electric points here and switched off the water supply !!!

If you want to get all the hook ups for you mobile home I highly recommend heading down south to Saint Jean de Luz. They have really nice setups and the waves can get really fun. It's not too far from where you're at. If you get on the highway it will take you a good 30 minutes from Hossegor.


Be patient cause once the weather and wind backs off it will get epic.

Thanks for the info TubeSplit, I moved in the end to Biarritz. I found a cool Aire De Service with Hookups, water etc all for free :)

I am overlooking the Plage de la Milady, looks excellent surf today, but wary as no other surfers around at all. I cycled down to Grand Plage and about 20 surfers there.

Any ideas as to why no surfers on this beach ? Just a little concerned as im only a beginner and thought might be a bad place to surf for reasons like rocks, pollution, bad rips etc ??

Sorry for the late reply.

Head over to the other side of the lighthouse of the Gran Plage. The spot is called VVF. It has numerous jetties and offers super fun surf, when the conditions are right of course. In my opinion The Gran Plage is one of the worst waves in the area, although it has its days too.

Just up the road there is Les Cavaliers which is an epic spot and can hold some serious size. Although if your're a beginner stay away from this place when it's big.

Is Plage de la Milady south of the Le Gran Plage?

Later!

hi TS
Well the plage here is south of Grand Plage afaik,
I took a drive into centre of Biarritz and down a winding narrow road to a plage, it was excellent surf, as a beginner i got knocked about a bit but fun nonetheless, it is a dead end road with a few restaurants and a surf shop overlooking it, not sure of the name. I think Grand plage is the next beach north from it

btw whats nightlife here like this time of year ?
mate of mine is flying over tmrw so wanted to know if much happening this time of year ?

I did see a club called Playboys ? heard of it ?

and apparently there is a Halloween festival on in a few days ?

fuzioneer,

I think I know what break you are talking about. I was in Biarritz in Halloween and it gets fun as hell. The whole city goes off. You guys are gonna have a blast... hopefully the weather will cooperate. There are plenty pubs and bars and there are a few clubs as well. Have fun and practice safe sex.

How's the swell these days?

I'm headin' back to France the end of November and the water temps are gonna plunge. I'll take it anyway... with a smile!

Later.