Surfing in Crete, we surf the Reef
The big storm that was blowing from the south all day yesterday and the night before that, slowly turned with a westerly direction this night and brought big waves with it to the west coast. Crete has a very long northern and southern coast but a short coastline on the west. On the west there are only a handful of beaches to go surfing and those surf spots were oversized this morning. Luckily we have a secret bay that is more protected just as a port that does not get the waves head on but they wrap around the bay and come in nicely organised. So in addition to our usual surf gear we put on reef booties, because the ocean surface on the surf spot of today is stones rather than sand. A hard ocean surface has the advantage that it does not shift with big waves as sand does, so the surf spot does not change overnight as some beach breaks do. We started our surf lesson with safety explanations and signalling. Surf instructor Andy explained how the spot works in terms where to paddle out and where to catch the wave. For the drills on the beach we covered the pop up and paddling. Out in the line up our participants caught waves with and without Andy's help. Some had rides on their bellies in the prawn position, others could pop up and surf. Antonia and Emily even attempted the turn and had long rides.
