Le Road Trip!

Not too long ago we recently made a joint purchase with my folks on a camper van and we had a week free in the middle of July to load her up and head south in search of wind and waves.
Over the past couple of years we have made several trips down the west coast of France and every trip away has produced the goods with regards to wind and waves so hopefully this time, van loaded with kiting kit and SUP we were going to score lucky again!
Initially I wasn't sure which way we were going to travel but after studying the weather forecast prior to going we decided to head down to an Island called Noirmoutier. The charts showed an approaching low pressure and the chances of scoring some good wind seemed very optimistic.
Also one of the local surfers had mentioned that he had been to Noirmoutier before and it was a great place to surf and kite.
We set off on the Monday evening and arrived at Noirmoutier on the Tuesday morning and were greeted with sunny skies and a steady force 4, the only problem was, that the sat nav had taken us onto the island via the cobbled low tide causeway and not the recommended bridge. I could see the kites in the distance but it took about 20 minutes of driving to finally get to the kite spot. The tide was super high and the spot was at the edge of the estuary so it was damn choppy but never less great to get in the water.
We spent a couple of days down at Noirmoutier, it was a great place to chill out, eat and kite. The tide went out for a fair old distance as it does around a lot of these places but we scored some brilliant conditions and the wind blew constantly.
A brief check on the net and the forecast showed the wind tailing off towards the end of the week so the call was made to head North which brought us to a great little spot called Gavres where we had been to a couple of years earlier.

This is the scene that greeted us at Gavres. On one side of the road was the sea and on the other when the tide was high there was a sheltered inland estuary which was unbelievably flat.
.....get me my 9m!

Now that is smooth as....

Tide out at Gavres

Gavres is a brilliant spot. On one side you have the waves and on the other you have flat water perfect for learning those kite loops or riding blind. So far the trip had been epic but we were running out of holiday time and needed to head north. The next stop on road trip was a place called Penhors. This is the only time we stayed on a camp site whilst away so all in all our accommodation costs probably amounted to around 35 euros in total-not bad for a week away.

The plan was to get some surf time in when we headed north but the slight onshore wind left over from the passing low pressure made the surf messy and unrideable.
Penhors

Eating out French style..

Dimi chilling after a few hard days kiting

Ours is the blue beast

We spent the last couple of days in and around the St Malo area mostly shopping and chilling out. We certainly did very well on the kiting front even if the SUP didn't get off the roof of the van. France has some great spots to kite and the people are friendly and the food fantastic. The camper went a treat and the living can be cheap if you've got your home on your back. Next year we will have more time so hopefully we will get to travel a little bit further and find some new spots to kite and more waves to surf!

Sunset, St Malo area

Team Hutch!!

Basstastic!

It's great living on this beautiful little rock in the middle of the ocean. Even when there is no wind or waves there is always something you can do involving the sea. This time of year is great for snorkelling and the warm seas have had a brilliant effect in attracting the sea bass into shallower waters. I've been a couple of times recently and have had some lucky strikes with my spear gun as you can see from the photos.

Who's the man?



















Ready for the oven..

Summer cruz'in

We've certainly been starved of wind recently. The wave sailing fraternity have been chomping at the bit and are in need of some serious action which is still looking pretty bleak.
Saying that, it is the height of the summer and windy wave sessions are few and far between at this time of year anyway.
On the plus side the weather has been unseasonably warm and we've been blessed with small but consistent swells. The paddle board has had numerous outings and Oly and I have had some fun little sessions. Portinfer and Perell are the venues which have produced the best waves, our most recent outing was on the big peak at Perell. This place is a daunting place to SUP. It picks up more swell than anywhere and you have to have your wits about you as the odd rogue wave can catch you out and give you a good pasting if your not dialled into the place.
The forecast is looking good over the coming week for bigger swell and I've got a new Naish 9'6'' on order which will hopefully be here towards the end of next week just in time for the trip to France.
Here are a few photos taken by Dimi at Portinfer the other day. Unfortunately she arrived too late and I was just getting out and Oly was looking for the last wave in.

Oly looking for the big one..









It was pretty good..honest!









Good cover shot for the Naish SUP brochure