Once again, it is France that takes us back to the waves at sea, after returning from South Africa. Three-day trip, in excellent company, with windsurfing sessions at Carro, and at La Coudouliere.

Windsurfing, report: Carro and Coudouliere (France), 10-12 March 2023

By now, an increasingly close-knit group of travel and windsurfing sessions companions is forming around Waterwind, with whom I organize transfers to fun and pleasant sea spots. And this helps to repay me for the many efforts I put into keeping this website alive.

This time, the "dream team" was made up not only of me, but also of Adriano and Max from Brescia, who were then joined, on Saturday and Sunday, by Alessandro and his son Filippo, and Ale (Scuffia), who came out in spots other than ours, but who joined us for dinner on a Saturday night.

Once the main group gathered in Tortona, we started the trip trying to figure out which spot to prefer for Friday. The forecasts called for very strong winds, with gusts above 40 knots. La Coudouliere seemed inadvisable to us (and in fact we later learned that her cliff claimed many victims that day).

As alternatives, I had thought of and proposed Almanarre (where, with very strong winds at Coudouliere, in February 2022, I had a good session with strong but manageable wind and fun waves in front of Le Robinson); or Bandol, which I'd be curious to try, because it seems interesting when the Coudouliere is not rideable, as here the wind (from the West) is less intense, it blows side-shore, and the waves are tidy; as a last spot, I had thought of Carro, where I have long wanted to go out with a strong westerly wind, as it arrives on the spot with a side-off direction, and the waves remain smooth and glassy.

In the end, Friday, also having seen the values detected by the anemometers at Hyeres and at Coudou (average around 37 knots, gusts at 46-47), we headed straight for Carro, enlivened throughout the journey by the tireless stories told by Max...., who also made available his beautiful VW transporter Combi.

Carro, upon our arrival, looked like a playground.

Once the wind dropped further, we prepared for the return home, disarming calmly. I witnessed a nice exchange of views between architects and engineers on how to set up a van for windsurfing (nice to meet AleVenice again).

Then, we went back to the pastry shop...., and left for home.

In short, we have not encountered epic conditions, even if the sea and the waves, on a sunny mistral day, are always beautiful. The added value was undoubtedly the company.

Now, we need to think about the next trips (and during the return trip, we also talked about Chile...).

Slidegallery of Saturday at La Coudouliere

Saturday's Coudou video