Tarifa report

From: Rubiano, Rodrigo R (rrubiano@tycoelectronics.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Tue May 16 2000 - 17:49:08 PDT

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Message-ID: <674FEF5A406DD311BE3D0008C707B401012D7F2C@ammex006.amp.com-DeleteThis>
From: "Rubiano, Rodrigo R" <rrubiano@tycoelectronics.com-DeleteThis>
To: "'wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis'" <wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: Tarifa report
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 20:49:08 -0400
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I was in Tarifa for three weeks - last week in March to Uncle Sam's tax day.
I still dream of the cold, clear, clean water and the North Africa vistas.

All was not perfect though. The wind was inconsistent this time of year and
there were several storms that blew in during my stay --all which made for
extremely varied conditions. Tarifa is touted as a flat water, slalom
sailing spot but I saw none of that Tarifa while I was there. Waves were
6-12 feet (due to storm surges) with an intimidating shore break and some
strong side currents right at the beach. Coupled with light winds (sail
size of 5.8 - 8.1, weight 220#) this led to some pretty amusing situations
early on, in retrospect only. After a bent boom, hole in a sail, broken
mast, and dented forehead, I joined a clinic led by Guy Cribb from the U.K.
(mid 90's speed champion and amazing wave sailor) who helped us deal with
these conditions and did a fantastic job of teaching us to jibe and duck
jibe (on land).

Once I learned how to deal with the shore break, the sailing was phenomenal
- bump and jump swell of 10-15 ft. on the outside was seen on at least 5
days. Wind shifted from Poniente to Levante a couple of times so both
starboard and port jumping was attempted/practiced. The Levante is the
reknowned wind of Tarifa and when it blows, it blows. I recall the one day
I could not hold onto the 3.5 sail I was dared to go out on - nobody else
was on the water but I did get my beer. On the way home, an 18-wheeler had
been flipped over by a little gust. The water in Tarifa is cold (colder
than the Bay) so full wetsuit is required, unless you're a member of the
Polish National Windsurfing Team which was out practicing in "Farmer John"
outfits. The beaches are mostly soft sand with some rocks close to shore
but the ocean gets deep in a hurry thus not a beginner spot. Equipment
rental is all first-class - I sailed at Club Mistral on all new 2000 boards
(Flow and Vision) and North Sails. Insurance is cheap and a must for this
location.

The days not spent windsurfing (only 7 of the 21 days) were spent learning
to surf or on a mt. bike or sightseeing to nearby areas. My recommendation
to folks heading there is to wait for summer when conditions are more stable
and few storms blow in killing the wind or creating non-sailable nuke days.
The scene does get more crowded but it's not tough to go find your own space
to play away from the common launches.

The town of Tarifa is a very lively place to spend the evenings - tapas
bars, discos, restaurants, and cheap beers help the place stay up for way
too late. There some interesting sights right in town (old castle, church,
and walled old-city) and some first-class (both quality and price) surf-wear
shopping. Outside of town, there's some neat places as well - jerez tasting
room and distillery 20 minutes away, City of Cadiz 1 hour away, and Sevilla
2 hours away. North Africa trips are aplenty and folks typically just go
for the day - a one hour ferry will get you across the Strait.

All in all, a great trip and a fantastic location I would go back to in a
heartbeat.

-Rodrigo

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