If you are a European surfer, chances are the surfing destinations that are on your ‘surfing bucket list’ are around the other side of the world…Indo, Tahiti, Fiji, Australia, Hawaii, South, Central & North America they are a minimum of a days travel away for any surfer living in Europe and in many cases a good 1.5+ days travel away. So this can mean you have just four surf days available on your trip. Where as if you travel locally in Europe, you can look to fly or drive and more often than not surf the same day.

So in the European offices of The Perfect Wave we wanted to ask the question and put the following scenario out there:

Surf 2

You have 7 days to get away, do you?

Go to Indonesia / Mentawai, which would mean at least three days travel for four days surf…but you have the ‘chance’ of scoring perfect waves that are uncrowded

The Mentawai
The Mentawai

OR

Go locally in Europe, which would be one day’s travel, leaving you with a ‘chance’ of scoring good waves that are much busier.

Portugal
Portugal

Which trip would you take & why?

Here in the office there was a mixed bag of opinions, so we decided to put the question out there to Kevin Olsen, founder of OG-Atelier and the principle shaper of The Original Plonka (TM). South African born and a former pro surfer on the ASP tour, he now resides in France and shapes full time in Capbreton under the label Kevin Olsen Shapes.

Kevin Olsen - Shaper and ex-ASP surfer
Kevin Olsen – Shaper and ex-ASP surfer

Kevin: “It’s a question of discovery or a short get -away trip.

It is the cost of this (short) trip away + the fact that the surf trip is very short (days of decent surf + travelling time)

VS

European surf scene that truly has great waves, everywhere from Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, etc.  I often travel down to Portugal and Spain to surf and get away. It’s cheap and there is a cultural history that’s different from place to place. For example Portugal’s reef breaks and coast line (like most of France) is West facing and is a magnet for the Atlantic swells + its reasonably uncrowded and cheap in general, everything from flights, food and accommodation is affordable. And the surf pumps!

So for a 7 day get away …….mmmmmmm

I imagine its the same case for most surfers nowadays duration of the trip and the cost?

Soooo…… For this time I am going to stay in Europe (considering its 7 days ), but for 10 days (and more) I will certainly take Indo as my first choice. “

TPW: Thanks Kev!

Kevin O - GoPro
Kevin in the Green Room – SW France
Kevin O big
Kevin on a bomb – riding his Plonka Design board. Photo: Yacha Olsen -gastebois

 

A few of us in the office felt that we would still make the trip to the Ments, even if we had just 7 days.  Bottom line, this question / debate did demonstrate that it’s personal choice. You’ll have your own reasons and rationale for how far you’ll go.

What do you think?

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Nowhere is too far or too much hassle and we are getting more and more access to world-class surf destinations by the day.

Here at the Perfect Wave, we all surf and are still trying to surf every destination we possibly can. It helps us to understand the locations and what each one can offer our many, many different clients; from single (Men & women) to groups of friends to families with children of all ages and couples surfing on boat charters, in surf camps and resorts. Some will be absolute beginners to intermediates and advance surfers looking to improve their existing level of surfing to well travelled and seasoned surfers looking for their next Perfect Wave.

Whichever sort of client / surfer you may be, we would love to help you in your search for the Perfect Wave. We get as much a kick out of getting you out to the waves as we do doing it for ourselves. Our hands on personalised services are free to you, there are no hidden charges or fees and we have a price match guarantee. If you can beat our price, show us and we’ll match it!

We make surf travel easy.

See you in the line-up…Happy Surfing.

 By Scott Robbins

 

 

 

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Perfect Wave

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