Certainly the coldest holiday in Tenerife I can remember for a long while, though still much warmer than at home. We wore sweatshirts most of the time during the day, and coats at the open=air restaurants in the evening.
I am fortunate to have a very old shorty wetsuit which is quite thick and close fitting. It is warm enough on the water. At times, there was a warning about jellyfish, so I wore a convertible wetsuit, with the detachable arms to give extra cover. There were some dead jellyfish on the beach - small circular brown lumps of jelly. I never saw any jellyfish on the water.
It has been very dry here this year. Everything is very dusty. We did have a little much needed rain on one day, not so much as to be an inconvenience.
We enjoyed a very tasty paella at the El Trillo Bar Restaurant. Unfortunately, when we went back later in the holiday, it was closed.
January 6 was a public holiday. They have a lot of public holidays here. The first you will know about it is when the supermarket is shut, or the bus does not turn up. Even the tourist information centre was closed, without so much as a note of explanation on the door.
The rescue system has been changed, and leaves a lot to be desired. Under the current system, when you report someone in danger, they will send the helicopter, even though there is a jetski on standby on the beach. It helps to know exactly who is missing, and their capabilities for self rescue, as well as a good description. If you are in danger, it is best to attempt to come ashore on the rocks, regardless of the damage to your windsurf kit and to yourself, rather than wait for a rescue which may not turn up.
El Medano can be a dangerous place to windsurf. The helicopter was really busy at times. I was washed up on the rocks myself one day when the wind was not strong enough to waterstart. In this case, there was no call-out of the rescue service, and the jetski could not have reached me anhow before I was on the rocks. I would have gladly paid 30€, possibly 50€ to avoid the damage to my sail.
Remarkably, one person, afraid to attempt a landing on the rocks and assured that help was on its way, managed to swim with windsurf kit all the way around Montaña Roja to Tejita Beach. This is certainly not something I would like to attempt myself. Only when they were safely ashore did the helicopter turn up!
My 6.2m² Gaastra Poison sail has been well used here over the last year. There was a problem with two of the battens, which came through into the mast sleeve. The sail was fixed by Mike of Mike's Sail Repair, situated under the Marineda apartments.
The 6.2m² sail is now getting old, and needs to be replaced.
We saw the egret, and a fine looking yellow grey wagtail. We saw a hummingbird hawk moth, though I did not have my camera with me, and we have not seen it since. A whimbrel found a fish on the beach - a large fish for this small bird. It carried the fish onto the rocks, banged it around for some time, and eventually swallowed it whole.
| Thu | 05 Jan | 6.2 | |
| Fri | 06 Jan | 6.2 | |
| Sat | 07 Jan | 5.4 / 6.2 | |
| Sun | 08 Jan | 6.2 | |
| Mon | 09 Jan | 6.2 / 4.7 / 6.2 | |
| Mon | 16 Jan | 4.7 / 4.7 / 5.4 | |
| Tue | 17 Jan | 5.4 / 4.7 | |
| Wed | 18 Jan | 4.0 / 4.5 / 4.7 | 62L wave board |
| Thu | 19 Jan | 6.2 | |
| Sat | 21 Jan | 6.2 / 4.7 | |
| Sun | 22 Jan | 6.2 |
I have had 11 sailing days. The 6.2m² sail has been used a lot, but I sailed wave boards on 5 days. On one of these days, I hired a 62L wave board from SurfCenter and used sails from 4.0m² to 4.7m².
Construction of the new commercial port has begun. You can see it from Montaña Bocinegro, or Montaña Pelada. See Granadilla Port.
This was a very good windsurfing holiday, with lots of wind.
The first day was good - out on small wave boards. The wind howled all night, and by the following day was clearly far too strong for me to attempt anything. The day after started with strong winds, which dropped off steadily throughout the day. I used 3 boards and 4 sails and had a really good day.
After that, the wind dropped off. The first day, I went out with a large sail, but then there were 4 days with not much wind at all. This was followed by 5 good days with the wind getting steadily stronger, and the next day the wind was once more too strong for me to attempt to sail.
I sailed on the morning of the following day, but conditions were extremely gusty. On the final day of the holiday, conditions were similar, and I did not bother to sail.
In all, I sailed 9 days from 16. There were two days when the wind was too strong for me, and another when I chose not to sail. I sailed a 62L wave board on 6 days. This was certainly the windiest winter holiday I have had for some time.
On Saturday 17 March, after sailing a wave board, the wind was dropping so I rigged my Gaastra Poison 6.2m². Out sailing by Bocinegro, the mast broke, suddenly and without warning. This was an expensive MaverX mast bought new in February 2011 and used only on holiday in Tenerife. I was grateful for the rescue service for bringing me and my kit ashore, but the sail was completely wrecked. I will buy a replacement in Britain as there is not much demand for large wave sails in Tenerife.
This part of Tenerife has had very little rain for a whole year, so everthing is very dry and dusty. Most of the time, it was quite chilly. I wore a convertible summer suit most of the time, complete with detachable arms. On occasion, I wore a summer shorty over the top. In the evenings, we wore fleecy coats, and preferred to eat inside at the restaurants when possible.
El Médano can be a noisy place, as normal noise regulations do not apply to outdoor festivals. There was a fiesta on the night of Friday 11 March, with events both in the main square and Plaza Roja. Excessively loud amplified rhythmic drumming from Plaza Roja continued until 04:00.
May started off very much as March had left off, with cool temperatures and little wind. We had a couple of afternoons with wind from a Westerly direction, when I could have sailed if I had wished.
Then things changed, and it became very hot. We had two days of wind from the NE direction, and good windsurfing. My new Ezzy Wave Panther 6.0m² performed well, with lots of power in light wind and still very happy when the wind is stronger.
There has been some rain since March. Everything is still very dry in the direction of Tejita and Los Abrigos, but the Pelada area is greener. We took a walk in Granadilla, and enjoyed the spring flowers.
I enjoy spring holidays in Tenerife, particularly as the weather back home was so dreadful. Good to see so many local people on the beach and in the restaurants, particularly at weekends.
Lots of wind on this holiday, and lots of windsurfers around. At a guess, there were over 100 windsurfers in each of North Bay, South Bay and off the harbour wall at times. July is peak time, and there were lots of folk in town and on the beach.
The wind was very strong, rather too strong for me much of the time. The PWA windsurf championship took place from 12 July. They had very good conditions, and all heats were completed by 15 July.
Though there were waves at Cabezo, the swell in South Bay was disappointing.
There was wind every day, but I took some time off when the wind was very strong. Overall, I sailed about half of the time.
The wind continued through August too. This was a wonderful summer season for El Médano.
The holiday started with rain and wind from a Westerly direction. It rained all day on Wednesday with water pouring down the streets. After that, we only had light rain, which was not a problem in the warm weather.
This part of Tenerife has not had any rain for a long time. Pleased to see the vegetation respond so quickly. The shrikes are back in Pelada and on Montaña Roja.
We had several days of sailable conditions with winds from the West. Westerly winds bring flat water, and wind of variable strength in different parts of the bay. My kit is not well suited to flat water sailing. I do not enjoy sailing with larger boards.
We saw one guy sailing at Tejita. The wind is definitely better here, and there was swell near the shore. There is an access road by the apartments at the far end of the bay. This is probably the best place to launch when winds are from the west.
The warm Atlantic seemed to have ruined our chances of any good wind. Then, on 7 November, contrary to expectations, we had NE wind in the morning and stronger winds in the afternoon. Sailing for a while the following morning too, then nothing the following day.
On Saturday 10 November, there was no wind in the morning, but the wind came up at lunchtime. I had a good sail, then a late lunch and some more sailing. The following day was similar, except the wind came up later and was extremely gusty and not much fun. I sailed morning and afternoon on my last day too.
In all, 8 good sessions on 5 separate days. All of these were with my Ezzy 4.7m² sail, except the very first when I used my Ezzy 6.0m².
The airport was really busy, and the flights were full. El Medano itself was quiet, though there were a lot of windsurfers around in the second week then the wind was blowing. The weekend of 3 November was busy with local people.
The day after we arrived, I sailed with my 6.0m² sail. For many windsurfers, this was the last of 8 consecutive days windsurfing. After that, there was no sailable wind at all for most of the holiday. On Sunday 16 December, the wind eventually returned, and I sailed with a 5.4m² morning and afternoon. Monday 17 December was my last day. I started on the 6.0m², fairly quickly changed to the 5.4m², then on to the 4.7m². The 4.7² was fairly marginal, but it was good to be sailing a wave board once more !
It was quite cool at times, comparable to a British summer.
After recent rain, everything was very pleasantly green. I spent some time photographing the birds.
On 11 Jan 2013, a sign appeared saying Tenerife Windsurf Solution.
| Photos Nov 2012 | Photos Dec 2012 | Shrikes | Photos on Flickr |
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