I'm planning a (hopefully) cheap holiday to Tarifa before my annual holiday runs out at the end of April. I was wondering if anyone out there knows:



a) will it be windy at this time of year?

b) If/where I can hire kit and how much this is going to cost for a week / fortnight?

c) If it's possible to camp or does anyone know of a cheap place to stay?

d) will I have to hire a car?



Any thoughts welcome



Cheers



Rich

P.s. If anyone else fancies heading out there - the more the merrier, let me know.

Rich,



I went to Tarifa a few years back in the May and got 14 days of crazy winds (most used sail - 4.0m). However we were told that this was unusual that early in the year...in other words you may get very little prior to April.



There are plently of places in town to hire kit and, when I was there, there were Fanatic and F2 centres on the beach. Check out some of the HOLIDAY _link_s in the _link_s section - particularly Sportif.



You can camp, Hostel, B&B or hotel it in Tarifa the choise is yours depending on your budget and there are plenty of Restaurants in town and even in the surrounding area.



Car Hire - always useful. We picked a car up from Malaga airport piled about 6 boards and 20 sails per car and drove from there to Tarifa.



Cars ae also useful if you want to sail further afield - there is an excellent wave sailing location further up the road toward Portugal - the name of which escapes me at the moment.



Anyway wind or not, it's better than being at work.....



Ernie



p.s. one member of our party loved the place so much he only came back to England to hand his notice in and went straight back to Tarifa - never to be seen again (by me at least !).

Hi,



Here's my two pence worth as well. Don't expect too much wind in the winter, the summer hwoling winds are called levante winds which move from the med to the atlantic and generally don't hapen in the winter. They are replaced by poniente winds which are winds coming off the atlanic in the opposite directkion as the levant winds, these are generally mch weaker and sails needed are 6.0m +. Ernie mentioned a wave spot, which i think he was talking about canos de mecca(not sure if that is the right name).n i think this place needs very strong levante winds before it gets any good. how it works in the winter with swell and poniente winds i don't know. If there is no wind then nortgh of tarifa can have excellent surfing, checkout ww.winterwaves.co.uk. For further information do some reasearch on the internet, theres tons of stuff about tarifa on it. If you are solely interested in getting wind and not fussed where you are going then there are places in the canaries which have a higher chance of getting wind.



steve

Yes indeed, Los Canos de Meca



I witnessed some of the most radical sailing I've ever seen (other than on video) at this place. Steve is quite right -it needs to be blowing it t*ts off in Tarifa for this palce to really work.



Bert and I have talked about an 'International Venues' review section - I reckon this would be a useful addition to the site !!!!

I reckon an international venues section would be great. I read simon Bornhofts article (Gul Website) about which places in the world your guaranteed wind - tho I reckon few people will have been lucky enough to verify his list!



Tips on where to go, kit hire as well as places to aviod etc. are all really useful when someone has already been there and done it.

I'm off to Tenerife in June for a two week blistering rampage on what I've heard are decks smaller than ironing boards and sails that are smaller than napkins - if anyone wants to hear how I am going to be pulverized daily by force 10 gales and banter about the nightlife and Chicas then an international site sounds like the outlet for me - party on dudes!