surf-matic

Graham does Guincho from umi pictures on Vimeo.

Brendan and I crashed the party at Guincho this summer. Even though it is one of the best summer wave spots in Europe, Guincho remains off the main map of the windsurfing media. We took a quirky hotel right on the beach and focused all of our attention on capturing the essence of Guincho wavesailing.

Guincho is no easy spot to capture. The main wave is a heavy shorebreak; it is a slab so thick that the lip is full of sand breaking onto knee deep water. I was doing takas on it, and the locals told me to watch out or I might break my neck! The wind is always onshore; even when the wind is considered to be ‘side-off’, it is the onshore version of it. Onshore wind and heavy waves make for hard but really fun wavesailing. In Portuguese, ‘guincho’ means scream: a sign of the angry extremity of the place!

When not on the water, we spent a lot of time watching the water. Guincho is just as extreme in the way it always changes. The wind can go from 5.2 to 4.2 in an hour, so we kept a constant guard on the sea’s changes. Our vigilance paid off, and we were able to see the spot in all her forms—sails from 3.7 to 5.2 and waves from waist-high to mast-high.

Our mission accomplished, Guincho captured, I look back at Guincho with fond memories. Memories of the sea’s attack on the black cliffs, the beach bursting with beautiful Portuguese girls, and nights spent exhausted from countless wipe-outs in the heavy shorebreak.