It was my second trip to Tenerife and armed with my new (ish) filf 6’8” and a borrowed board-bag, myself and my girlfriend headed down to the Canaries. After a small heart attack whilst watching the Spanish baggage handlers literally throwing my Board onto the floor rail first, we jumped into the hire car and headed off to the hotel.

My first day in was at conquistador (its a mellow A-frame reef with slightly shifty peaks depending on swell direction) was about shoulder high on the sets. It was only me and a couple of ex-pats on long boards out, they were firendly enough. The waves weren't all that great especially considering it was my first time on a short-board in months. I Surfed about an hour and then went to do touristy things with my woman.

The next day was a bit cross-shore but I got the right all by myself (Derecha el cartel I think its called).

It wasn’t until about half way thru the week that I started to realize why this place is referred to as the poor man’s Hawaii!

Me on conquistador

Conquistador looked like a different wave. Waves would roll through constantly at shoulder high, but once every twenty minutes an evil 9 wave set would loom up from the atlantic. These waves were 1-and-a-half-times overhead and they were wiping out the whole pack. The locals were amazing surfers and seem to have a sixth sense about when to start paddling for the horizon. After getting caught inside for the third time I just started doing what they did!

Wedgy wave at sunset

I didn’t get any hassle from the locals whilst out there, i guess because I was on my own, but competition for sets is fierce. This is mainly because of how big the gaps between the sets are, you can wait 10-15mins for each 4-6wave set. Surfing is certainley a very different experience in the Tenerife to a new beach force 7 westerly in January!

Derecha (more crowded than it looks!)

The surf built and the swell direction improved as the week continued. It brought the right on in a big way. That’s when most of the piccy’s were taken.I did go in and I jostled as best I could but didn’t manage to steal a single wave from the superb local guys. Eventually I gave up and went back over to the inferior Conquistador (which still kicked ass I might add). That is one of the big Joys of Tenerife, five superb waves within a ten-minute walk.

Speaking of superb waves: If anyone is wondering why there’s no mention of Spanish Left, it’s because it needs the most swell of all the waves and didn’t really come on whilst I was there. Always a good reason to go back though, huh? Ad.