Surfing in the week 19-25 October in Crete
For the first time after seemingly weeks the swell direction in Crete turned from West to North starting with the beginning of the new week.
On Monday we had an epicly nice session with bright sunshine at the bay of Kissamos. You can read everything about it in the blog post of Monday.
Starting from Tuesday things became a little bit more tricky regarding the weather. While the surf was great the weather was arguably not so with predictions of rain and thunderstorm. At what time of the day to schedule the surf lesson becomes a tough question. Especially because this local weather is very unpredictable, changes fast and is different within the span of a few kilometers. But on Tuesday morning the weather gods had a great gift for us. Hardly any rain, zero wind and glassy sizable waves! There was open channel to paddle out and everyone learned from surf coach Andy how the surf spot works. The clean glassy waves made choice of wave a bit more easier and our participants had many great rides. It is safe to say that Cosima had the ride of life today at Kissamos bay! Check out the photo album!
On Thursday we had the most tricky day so far. It was difficult to figure out which slot of the day would be best that would have the least of rain and of course, please not thunderstorm. While we scheduled the lesson in the afternoon, we at Kalo Surf surf school became nervous in the morning hours and decided to start driving around, to see what the actual weather was like at the various surf spots in questions. Low and behold there was a small window with no rain and 100% likability of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. We quickly called our participants to see if they can change their plans. Luckily we were able to get most of the surfers to come down to the beach for a memorable session. Big waves that broke further out than the harbor wall, a mix of rain and dry patches as well as strong wind. What does not kill us makes us stronger, and this surf session was definitely an experience.
On Thursday was arguably the peak of the bad weather. Only Nina could bring herself to get in the water with Andy on such a rainy and grey day. The waves were nice and really big. Throughout the time of the course conditions became better and she was awarded with a great surf session.
On Friday finally the sun was back out and we had a lovely sunny day in Kissamos. Today's group was a mix of first time surfers and intermediates. The waves were very nice, not too big and not too small, glassy with no wind and clean peaks. Nina's goal of the day was to be able to catch the wave on her own. Paddle into the wave correctly, optimizing the take-off, guiding the surfboard to one direction and turn. She was able to nicely train this aspect of surfing and perform both front side and back side turns. Our first time surfers first learned safety and communication on the beach. Then in the water they learned where to catch the wave and how, following the push & jump technique. After the gliding exercises they learned how to pop up on the surfboard. They all achieved the goal of the first day: learning to catch a wave on their own, finding the position on the surfboard and having a ride, no matter in what position.
After a break of one day of super sunny and calm October weather the waves came back today. This time back on the west coast. We met with our group of beginner and first time surfers directly on the surf spot and started to change into the surf gear. On the beach Andy explained the basics and the goal of the day: being able to catch a wave on your own. First off we did a couple of exercises for the prawn position and then moving on to the pop up. Each surfer progressed at their own speed and received individual feedback or the next exercise. Very nice day at Falassarna beach, empty surf and empty beach this time of year!
