Knowing for sure that in 50 seconds a reeling left or right hand wave (Yep, thats right, you can choose) is coming and its got you name on it has to be any surfers idea of a dream. Sat on my board in the middle of a totally calm swimming pool half way up a mountain it was pretty hard to believe it was about to come true!
Ok, so I’ll admit, I was super nervous for my first wave and yes, I completely messed up my take off and yes, I fell off! But from then on it just got better and better!
I was in Tenerife for some last minute waves before heading to the WSL pro junior event in Portugal. Amazingly Siam Park gave me the opportunity to surf their epic wave pool. Believe me I didn’t need to be asked twice!!! I was so excited I arrived at the water park over an hour early (I felt like a kid at Christmas!). Although I’d seen lots of photos and clips from different wave pools I still had no idea what to expect. Walking toward the pool is pretty incredible, the sun was setting over this bizarre high sided channel. The channel opened into a massive, super blue pool surrounded by white sand and sun loungers, it looked awsome!! After a quick chat with the wave technician we decided to go for wave level 6 and the first half of the session right and the second lefts, insane! I jumped into the pool as quickly as I could. The 5 minutes I was sat waiting for that first wave seemed to take for ever, then ooooossshhh you hear spit of the hydraulics and from nowhere a wall of water is surging towards you! After totally messing up my first wave I got the hang of things and found that the wave is long enough to get a fair few turns in (and leave you with a Cheshire cat sized grin on your face!). A dry hair paddle back out, a few seconds wait then ooooooooossh and the next wave is coming your way! As the sun went down, the lights came on and we just kept surfing. Incredible.
Tenerife is a pretty perfect spot for training. The coast hugging the Island is made up of a variety of shallow, barrelling reef breaks, point breaks, black sand beach breaks and all that comes in between. Tenerife’s best known and busier spots are to the South of the Island around Las Americas (the touristy bit). The waves, such as La Fitenia (where I surfed most), are mainly flat rock on the bottom, super fun, peeling lefts and rights, suitable for all levels of surfers. What’s not to love? Well, unfortunately come the weekend lets just say the wave to people ratio turns pretty far from ideal. An hour drive into the North and almost seems like you’ve stumbled into a different country. The wide, rocky, dirt and cactus landscapes replaced by luscious green. Here you can be sure to stumble on some emptier waves. Socorro is the well know beach break here, a fab wave for all abilities with a few little barrels to be found. There is also plenty of reefs here too; Lago Martiánez is well worth a look at! About as far North as you can go lies the stunning little gem that is Taganana, a rippy beach break full of shred-able lefts and rights. The hardest thing I discovered about this spot was keeping my eyes open long enough to enjoy the outstanding views from the volcano on the drive home! That’s another thing, if you are thinking you quite fancy heading to Tenerife, I would definitely recommend having a car so you can explore the Island, find empty waves and superb scenery. Though it may look like a small Island crossing from one coast to the other may mean a little trip up the highest volcano in Europe!
Blessed with consistent waves year round, water that rarely dips below 18oC, plenty of sunshine to go around and super cheap flights I can definitely see my self heading back! ....Hmm, January looks like it gets some decent swells...