Watch: Mundaka in late October
OK, good video this one but it takes a while to get going; except for some slo-mo of Natxo there's no surfing in the first 1:30.
A few points of order:
Firstly, considering what happened elsewhere in Europe, I thought Mundaka would've been bigger. I recall seeing photos of Mundaka back in the early-90s, with Wayne Lynch and Kong riding genuinely big waves, bigger than anything in this video. So what was the open ocean like during that swell?
No doubt swell direction plays a part but the latest swell was pure nor-west, perfect for the Oka Rivermouth.
Secondly, I'm not joining the chorus and calling this the 'Epsilon' swell. It's too convenient and entirely wrong. Hurricane Epsilon sent a spike of swell to the US east coast, but its effect on the Euro west coast only came about when the remnants of Epsilon - it was no longer a hurricane - merged with two other low pressure systems in the North Atlantic.
Pedantic? You betcha.
Correct? 100%
Now for the vid...
Comments
was interesting to see Naxto running soul arches and high line trim on a thruster.
quelle horreur.
awesome day for the Basque boys.
wonder if any mug punter got the wave of their life or it was a total local lockout?
My first thought too Steve. I loved his casual attitude towards those waves, you could tell he had it dialled and was just loving it.
...and in a hood no less.
At the risk of repeating myself. Man I miss Europe
https://joli.photoshelter.com/gallery/1989-Mundaka-Epic-Swell/G0000trHCo...
Right on, good find, Groper. They're the same photos I was thinking of.
Check the size here compared to the vid. So how big was Nazare and Mullaghmore, Belharra etc etc?
Epic conditions too...
guys this video isnt from the peak of the swell. I was looking at the mundaka surfcam the day of the nazare contest and it was closing out the whole bay. Looked fairly shit unless you had a ski it would've been victory at sea.
Fairies nuts.
makes sense.
Dave the Rave and I first knew of this wave back in 1980. A travelling French surfer living in his kombi in far north Qld showed us personal old polaroids of it. We were both just 2 blown away teen grommets. Couldn't believe Spain and France had waves. The french dude needed some money and sold Dave his spare board, a 6'2 green Skipp swallow tail for $20 by memory. If you're out there Davo, they were great times we had mate
That was sick
Yep, too big at the peak..
What about calling it 'Epsilater' here on Swellnet?
What a setup that place is.
Aritz backhand style, wonderful
You'd just about give you lefticle for an uncrowded session out there when its that good...
Nice work.
Pedantic? You betcha.
Correct? 100%
Glad you said that, I was thinking this watching the WAMs before the event
I've got some pics of big Mundaka from my time there in the early 90's. In one you can see a set out at the Island (Izaro) which is 2ks offshore and its got to be 20ft. Massive clean rights with no one on em' back then.
Another Winters day it was 12ft plus with a light onshore. After a while a handful of crew went out including Maurice Cole. They all got pounded out there and this older French guy called Bruno copped the worst. A solid 12 ft set on the head and washed about a k down the river.
About 20 minutes later he came staggering past us with his 8ft plus gun and someone said "How'd ya go Bruno?" He kept shuffling and in a thick french accent muttered "I swallowed a lot of wo-ter".
Later on when it was strong onshore and no one out 3 boats that had broken their moorings (apparently) drifted down the river on the outgoing tide. It was spellbinding viewing watching each of them drift in front of the peak and get demolished by massive sets hitting the bar.
I actually remember that day , as it was a long drive from Francde, and I remember the couple of days when you didn't score , but were so happy to be alive and to have survived.
This was before they dredged the port , and the take off felt like 1m deep and as the wave reeled down the bank it got shallower , reminded me of Corsair on steroids....seems like the tube now is at the top of the wave....
9 hours! That's a bloody good effort.
Great surfing from Natxo and Aritz. Barrel masters both.
thanks for slomo and slostart heads up Stu...
What a set up that place is ???
Looks pretty something to me. Has me questioning whether I get out enough these days...
... that's vision sticking with me next couple of years or so. That Nazare place has just become a by-product! Yeeew..
Those wide shots are really something.