Packed up our shit, loaded it all into the car and we were out of Anglet apartment. Had a bougie brunch in the little cafe right below us and refueled after last night. Stopped at the Biarritz lighthouse that we had as our view and wandered around the grounds over there. Beautiful vantage point overlooking Biarritz to one side and Anglet on the other. Underneath the lighthouse (on the Anglet side) was a little walkway to the cliffs right up against the water. When we surfed there-ish a couple days back we saw bunkers in the cliffside that I imagined were defensive positions from WW2 and now down this path we had found the entrance to them. It’s a cement stairway down into a cave that’s all broken down with huge columns and rooms of concrete. The ceiling is leaky and there are big holes in the floor showing the levels below. Graffiti everywhere, this place is pretty cool.
Back in the car we are off to Hossegor. Our airbnb is actually an apartment beachside development in the town of Seignosse like 10 min north of Hossegor. Seignosse looks like it was built for a massive summertime population. Huge apartment buildings empty with many closed shops on the ground floor made the place feel like a total ghost town. Not a lot of people, just surfers parked in their vans waiting for the surf to get good. The unmanned, drained out water park right next to big sand dunes give it an eerie, post apocalyptic vibe. I'm sure when it’s bustling in the summer and everything is open the place is great, but arriving in the offseason to all this closed ugly development is a little off-putting. The good news is that for the first time since arriving to the French coast we get a splendid sunset over the ocean. Never really caught one in Anglet with all the shitty weather. Here things cleared up and gave us a show.
10/2
From here on out, our stay in Hossegor is all about the waves. The forecast has two big swells bookending our stay with good surf in between the two. The program everyday is to find a good peak for us somewhere along the miles of beach breaks that make up this part of the French coast, and surf til we can’t no more. Rest, eat, work, get to bed early and repeat.
Woke up, knew the surf was big today, excited to check out our beach out front in Seignosse. Couldn't see the waves because it was so foggy but we could hear them. Went into Hossegor for a cappuccino and a small breakfast to wait for the fog to clear out a little. Check La Nord, a famous break in Hossegor, and it is pumping. As we pull into the parking lot we see guys pulling out 9ft guns out of the vans, Oh Man. Huge 10-12ft peaks rolling in, some possibly bigger, with guys on guns charging them, others doing step offs with jet skis. Most of these massive waves filter through the lineup and then reform on the inside to dredge over and form a ridiculous 8ft barrel. Watched a couple guys take off on those outside bombs, from far away you can’t tell how big the waves are but seeing a man up and riding on one of those beasts hows the perspective of how big it is. Watched several others throw themselves over the ledge in the inside and get absolutely tubed in the shorebreak. We realize there are some really good surfers here, professional surfers come here as a sort of French/European proving ground in heavy barrels. I’m thinking about my 6’8” blue dolphin and my 5’8” twin fin, “I’m severely under gunned.”
Strike up a conversation with this dude Brian, from SD, who is manning a drone. He’s been coming to France every October and some winters for many years to surf. Kinda talking about the waves, he explains that with the drone he can scout peaks for miles around him and see what sand banks are working and watch the sandbars change. He’s been using this to score empty peaks all around Hossegor. The areas with parking are usually pretty crowded. He did give us some amazing intel about how Capbreton, just to the south of us, would be smaller and more manageable and where the good vantage points were to check several waves from atop the sand dunes. After watching the beautiful carnage and power of Le Nord, Kepa Acero walks by, we take Brian’s advice and head to Capbreton.
We end up at Le Piste, a beach with broken down Nazi bunkers, covered in grafiti, emerging from the sand. The waves there are 6-8ft and much more friendly looking. Take out the blue dolphin and begin the tough paddle out, duckdive after duckdive, but we push through and the reward is great. Get a couple good ones and head to town for some food and gelato. Great first day of surf, checked out several spots, got the lay of the land a little more, and were pointed in the right direction regarding Capbreton.
Wake up and check out front. Huge surf, peaks everywhere with a light offshore, spray coming off the top of the waves. Watch it for a bit and see an insane 3 wave set that breaks for a longtime, rifling, thick lipped barrels standing up real tall. It’s a wave that almost doesn’t get smaller as it barrels down the line. Looks like something out of a surf movie, definitely not like any beach break surf I’ve ever seen. This 3 wave set must have been 12-15ft because a guy out there on an 8ft board paddled into a wave afterwards and this one was double overhead, definitely smaller than those ridiculous sets. Again, severely under gunned but there's no way we’re making that paddle out. Check Le Nord and once again it is enormous and pumping. Same as yesterday but bigger. People charging huge outside peaks on their guns and madmen on the inside dodging the whitewater wash-throughs and throwing themselves into death pits. This is day two of the swell and there are really gnarly surfers in the water.
We run it back to where we surfed yesterday in Capbreton, La Piste, smaller than Hossegor but still big and really good conditions. Everyone out there is on shortboards and are chasing inside waves. I’m seeing set after set of peely, rolly waves bomb out the back go unridden and then make it where the shortboarders are and they can’t catch it either. So I’m out there on the blue dolphin dropping in way further outside than the rest of the people, totally have my pick of big clean offshore lefts, with spray coming off the top. Amazing session for me, dropping in right on the peak and going straight down letting the wave develop and stand up, bottom turn and go down the line. Making it to the inside would often mean getting pounded on the paddle back out but the rides are so long and clean, it was worth it.
Stop in Capbreton for a nice lunch that developed into a bougie lunch with escargot and bone marrow. I’d been meaning to get escargot in Paris but never got around to it so I got it when I saw it on the menu. It was gone so fast, two post surf hungry boys just ate right through them barely stopping to consider that we were eating snails. It just tasted like delicious lumpy pesto on bread. A badass day! Amazing surf to meal combo.
10/4
Check out front, much smaller than yesterday but still plenty of surf. I’m thinking that with the drop in size we can throw our hat in the ring in Hossegor and actually surf Graviere or Le Nord. Get down there but there’s a mist over the beach that barely allows us to see some surfers out there. We grab a cappuccino to wait for the fog to burn off. There’s an amazing sandbar with a pack of hungry surfers on it and just 100yds south is a completely empty left peak looking real consistent and fun in the shorebreak. We cannot believe our luck so we rush out there to grab that peak all to ourselves for as long as we can. First wave on my shortboard now, I take off slowly and rusty and fall and hit my bad knee on the rail right near one of the fins. Dodged two bullets there. Could’ve easily broken a fin if I had been an inch or two over or worse re injured knee in some weird angle. This was a nice wake up call. I’m here at a sick, fast, heavy wave. “Time to get your head in the game and go for speed!”
We scored that peak to ourselves for an hour and a half pulling into barrels and some more rippable ones just flying down the line. The shape and juice of this wave is exactly why I brought the shortboard on this trip, and it is holding up beautifully. On one nice left, I took it so far that I kicked out into the pack of surfers down the beach from us and up at the top of the pack is Jeremy Flores and some other hotshot taking off on big waves. The sandbar here was more A framey and I could see why all the good surfers were stacked on it. As I’m paddling back over to our peak a bomb comes and Jeremy obviously goes, he gets first pick, and the next setwave is kind of a shifty, wider one that comes right to me. I take off and take it all the way in and it drops me off right where Jeremy kicked out of his wave. I say, “Hey Jeremy, I’m a big fan.” “What?” “I’m a big fan.” “Oh, thank you.” “It’s good to see you” “Good to see you too.” I throw him a shaka and paddle back to my left peak down the beach. Kind of hilarious that Jeremy Flores and I went back to back on set waves at Le Nord, kinda ridiculous. So happy I got to get a real session at Hossegor, that it wasn’t too big for me, and that my shortboarding held up in the faster waves after using the blue dolphin so much.
10/5
Surfed out front in Seignosse. Today again was smaller than yesterday so shoulder to head high. With the sun out and a playful size, it was very crowded, people of all skill levels were out. It was a really fun clean sandbar just churning out crispy fast lefts. Like a sand bottomed point break. The current out there was pretty crazy so we kind of just paddle the whole time to stay in position. Really glad I have the blue dolphin because of this. Get in early and surf some long, well shaped lefts. Some of the waves would have been phenomenal for the twin fin but with so many people out, confined in a small zone, I’m glad to be able to get in early and set my line. Although this has been the smallest day, this has been the highest quality surf of the trip so far. Now we’ve seen the many faces of Seignosse, from 15ft right freight trains to 4ft sand bottomed point break like surf.
10/6
Daily check out front again, bigger than yesterday but the ocean is stormy and not good conditions. There is some potential at the same sand bar of yesterday. Don’t like how it looks so move down to check Hossegor and maybe Capbreton. Go through the rounds and check all the spots we know about and surfed and none of them are enticing us. The best surf actually was back up at the spot we checked, out front in Seignosse. Have a cappuccino and head back.
Brutal current, hard paddle out, stormy waves, this ended up being a total struggle, survival session. There were bombs coming in that were very shifty and hard to track down. I was hoping to catch a big one outside and fade and connect it all the way to the inside where it had some semblance of the good shape from yesterday. Did the rounds on a few but when you make it to the inside and time to paddle out, the current blasts you 100 yards to the south and each duckdive is a whirlpool. I only had enough energy for 3 long rides like that. Glad we surfed but worst session of Hossegor for sure. The swell was building and it was too crossed up and stormy, the ocean was figuring itself out.
10/7
I could hear the waves from the moment I left the apartment building so I knew it was going to be big. Check out front, waves are pumping again. The new swell that filled in yesterday is here and now the ocean is groomed with offshore winds. Similar to Oct 3 with the freight trains but not as big, Gnarly lines everywhere, massive playing field and an absolutely savage paddle out. We felt the current yesterday when it was half the size, today is an obvious no go but amazing mind surfing. Seignosse is a beast!
Alright, check Le Nord/Graviere like always and similar to Monday, massive peaks out the back glistening in the sun and stood up with the offshores. Chargers on guns take massive drops while some mad men on shortboards throw themselves into the large inside barrels and dodge the white water walls from the outside bombs. The surf is all over the place, you either get lucky or unlucky but the big ones look amazing in the light with offshore spray coming off the top of them. It’s always cool rolling up to the parking lot and seeing the guys pull out guns out of the van and you think “Oh man, it’s gonna be proper out there.”
Check the bunkers down in Capbreton. The surf is phenomenal. Big low tide rollers from way outside, that I know I can catch on my blue dolphin, march in. This is going to be some large drops and roll through the lineup dodging short boarders kind of session. I’m out there sitting way out the back like last time but chatting as best as I could with a couple of the guys who are on the same page as me. Strike up a conversation with a guy named Jeremy David who’s riding a cool looking 7’6” board reminding me of a Terry Topanga board. “What are you riding?” It’s a board by a Basque shaper named PETA. Super cool and he’s dropping in on massive waves, we’re alternating sets and paddling back out to the outside peak and chatting and waiting for the next big one to come through.
The spot is a low tide spot, at least for catching these big ones, and then as the tide rises the rollers overpass whatever bank they were breaking on and it turns into a high tide ledge that drops into a barrel. One big left comes in that I hunt down and scrap into. I drop in and the wave stands up in front of me. Coming off the bottom I can feel the water suck up behind me and I’m pretty sure it’s barreling behind me. I let out a hoot because I know all I have to do is stand up and ride this sheer perfection. The wave stretches out into the inside and I just stand tall in perfect position in the pocket, kick out laughing. People are hooting at me and throwing me shakas, I’m running on pure adrenaline and endorphins after that drop and feeling the power of the wave. Maybe the wave of the day, definitely the wave of the trip, so far, for me. Blue dolphin, perfect take off, super deep and drawing off the bottom as the wave unloads. Phenomenal.
Jeremy David invites us to his place to hang and have lunch. We get some meat and veggies for the BBQ and spend some time at his place in Capbreton enjoying the food and talking surf. Evan pulls out a guitar and they start jamming. He’s super into American country music and so we do our best to play random blues and country songs we know. Super sweet change of scene and fantastic to make a friend who surfs in Capbreton. He bought his place right before covid and scored because the values have skyrocketed since. Also, during lockdown they weren’t allowed to be more than 1.5km away from home and luckily the bunkers are only 1km from his place so he spent covid surfing and building out his van. Now he rents out his townhouse during the summers and lives out of his van while tourists pay the mortgage from Jun-Sept.
Epic final day in Hossegor.
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