2022-07-11

Det stod 10-14 m/s i prognosen men det gick knappt att gå mot vinden på land idag så när jag skulle träffa Boyan för första dagens kurs så blev jag faktiskt glad att Boyan åkte iväg till en lugnare strand nära Gibraltar. Där kunde han gå genom några basic övningar med brace och teknik för att hitta stabilitet i surfskin, i morgon skall vi troligen gå ut här i Tarifa men då det skall blåsa ännu mer (hur det nu är möjligt) 😮 så blir det troligen i en SS2 . Men Boyan är verkligen en bra coach som driver på en på ett bra sätt 

Tarifa is a small town on Spain’s southwest coast with a lot of charm, especially in the old town with narrow cobbled streets with lots of cozy restaurants. We got there by plane to Malaga and with a rental car to Tarifa, where the drive takes about 2 hours. Once there, we stayed in a nice smaller hotel that had everything except AC in the room, which was quite difficult in the heat. Tarifa has a long beach and you can see Africa’s mountains in the distance, the place is known for being “windproof”, which was good during the days we were there with strong winds from the southeast

Day 1

The place where the owner Boyan Zlatarev runs the Surfski Center is only a short 15 minute walk from the old town and once there the nice Boyan meets me and shows me down to the premises here he is staying. Boyan starts by asking me about my background and what I want to achieve with my 4 days with him, and based on these conditions, he sets up the program for our days together.

After a theory briefing where Boyan shows and explains the conditions that prevail in the waters around Tarifa with tides and winds, we take the car to Algeciras as today’s strong winds prevented paddling from Tarifa. Algeciras is in a bay with the Rock of Gibraltar on the left so it was quieter there. Boyan starts teaching techniques to find stability in the surfski, which by the way was an Epic V8, a surfski that I had never paddled before, I felt good in it as it had good stability and I actually got better cockpit space in this one then my own Nelo 520. After a few turns with a focus on brace and some surf towards the beach, we finished the first day. The winds today were about 11-14 m/s