With cheerful sunshine lying on your shoulder, soft breeze kissing your skin, and exotic Spanish food satiating your appetite, you’ve started your holiday on this blessed happy land, Cádiz. While you keep working out as a routine back at home and now during vacation, you also feel like maintaining yourself active? Great! You know what? You can surf in Cádiz!
Surfing is a whole-body workout and it’s getting more and popular nowadays. It’s a great way of cardiovascular training that is efficient in burning off calories, building up muscles, and shaping your body.
The Province of Cádiz has some of the best beaches where you can not only get tanned but also learn how to surf!
Contents
1.Why come to Cadiz for surfing?
-Great natural conditions
First thing first, just like the Andalusian people, the sunlight is here is super generous. We have more than 300 sunny days throughout the year. What else is more enjoyable than even just watching those green waves breaking into white in the sunshine?
Thanks to the swells coming onshore formed by storms in the Atlantic Ocean, Cadiz offers a superb natural condition for surfers. Alongside our coastline (Costa de la Luz), there are plenty of surfing spots.
With lots of offshore wind days, surfing is more fun as waves break in a smoother shape.
The climate of Cádiz is very idyllic for aquatic sports. Summer in Cádiz and El Puerto de Santa María is less hot than inland Andalucía, while in winter temperature rarely drops under 8 °C. Waterwise, the minimum is 16 degrees Celsius (60.8 °F) in winter with a maximum of 23°C (73.4 °F) in summer, making it ideal to wait for waves in the water.
-Friendly surfing culture and easy access to the beach
As more and more people trying out surfing, we are building up a friendly surfing culture. It´s no surprise you might end up clinking glasses after a surfing session with someone you met in the water. And if you accommodate in the city, it takes very little time to get to the beach since many surfing spots are in urban surroundings.
-An intimate conversation with the ocean
Besides the improvement of physical health, surfing is also good for your overall mental well-being.
People who have experienced surfing describe it as actually a very relaxing sport despite the intensity when paddling. The moment when you´ve managed to swim through those breaking waves and sit on your board floating in the line-up, you’ll be in another world. It´s a precious tranquil meditative moment. You feel somehow secretly happy.
There are only the ocean and you.
2. When should I go there?
In Cádiz, you could go surfing both in winter with a not too thick wet suit and summer in some refreshing water.
There are many spots distributed on our coastline. Thus surfable waves here are spotted all year round for both beginners and more advanced surfers.
For beginner surfers, you could always find optimal places to train your skills throughout the whole year. While for more experienced wave-catchers, some of the spots may better empower your technics from September to June.
3. Beaches to go to catch some waves!
Playa de las Redes: This beach is located right at El Puerto de Santa Maria, an idyllic place for people with entry-level to polish their technics.
Playa de la Cortadura: With sandy bottom breaks, mild waves, and little current, this beach in the city of Cádiz is quite safe for beginners as well. Trust me, the famous Atlantic sunset will perfect your experience if you went surfing in the afternoon.
Playa de Santa María del Mar: Right in front of the old city wall, this urban beach provides lots of après surf possibilities. An easy access to the center of the waves is through paddling alongside the jetty.
4. Notes for beginners to learn surfing
Equipment: You usually bring a surfboard with a leash to bond your ankle to it so you don’t lose your board in panic. To start with, pick a soft board. It comes with more volume and provides more stability, so naturally, higher the possibility of surfing a whole wave.
Position while entering the water: Make sure to hold your board by the nose beside you and keep it perpendicular to the waves, so you won’t get smashed by your board when the wave comes. And trust me, that hurts-even if it’s a foam board.
Paddling is essential: As the wave approaches you from a distance, start paddling mildly and speed it up when nearly hit by the wave. Don’t forget to give it an extra paddle even you believe the wave is pushing, or you may get stuck right on the peak.
Stay perpendicular while paddling: It’s crucial to check your board’s position before starting to paddle. Keep it perpendicular to the wave so you fully utilize its’ power with higher stability while taking off.
Quick and fluid pop-up: It takes time to dominate a proper way to take off. Try your best to get the pop-up quick, clean and smooth.
Physical preparation: Like any other sports, a heat-up stretch can minimize injuries in the water. Do some exercise such as push-ups, pull-ups, and squats before starting a surfing trip to achieve better performance in the water and less fatigue the next day.
Mental preparation: Surfing is considered an extreme sport, but that doesn’t equalize danger. Be respectful to the ocean and don’t go to spots where there’s nobody nearby. Go surfing with some friends or even locals who know the area would make it safer and more fun!
5. What about after surfing?
After several hours in the water, your stomach must be growling. In El Puerto de Santa María and Cádiz there´s a huge variety of places to go for an après surf night out. Taverns or restaurants for some Andalusian tapas and sherries (a typical local wine), or even go to watch a flamenco show if you want to live the night to the maximum!
There’s just so much fun and good vibe surfing can bring you!
Feel free to write us if you can’t wait to come to our picturesque beach for an ultimate surfing experience!