====== Tarifa Surfski ====== Tarifa is a Spanish municipality located at the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Although it has been a popular destination for water/wind sports like windsurfing for some time, surfskis had not attained any significant presence until **Boyan and Valerie Zlatarev established the Surfski Center** there. Since then Tarifa has been **building a wide spread surfskier fan base** for the usually **consistent wind** and **excellent downwind runs** and the **[[http://www.surfskicenter.com/|Surfski Center]]** has been been building a reputation for **enjoyable and safe downwind practice** and **improvement of one's downwinding skills**. ---- Map from kitesurfing [[https://www.progression.me/blog/travel-tips-for-kitesurfing-in-tarifa-spain/|webpage]] {{ :locales:mediterranean:blog-tarifa-map-wind-1024x709.jpg?direct&500x346 |blog-tarifa-map-wind-1024x709.jpg}} ---- [[:spain|Main Spain Page]] ===== Downwinders ===== ---- * **West Wind (Poniente)** * **Gibraltar Strait (Tarifa - Getares Beach) **24 km [[https://downwindable.com/gibraltar-strait|Downwindable.com]] {{youtube>hDfxFVRVm0U}} * **East Wind (Levante)** * **Dos Mares** * **Dos Mares - ****Playa Valdevaqueros **4.5 km * **Dos Mares - Bolonia **12 km * **Tarifa** * **Tarifa - Playa Valdevaqueros/Playa Punta Paloma **8.5 km [[https://youtu.be/Po0R8x9SZoY?t=205|video]] * **Tarifa - Bolonia ** ~ 16 km, [[https://www.downwind.fun/courses/tarifa-to-bolonia-run|Downwindfun]] {{youtube>n63CB7BW7cE?start=51}} * **Tarifa - Canos de Meca** approx. 44 km, [[https://www.downwind.fun/courses/tarifa-to-canos-run|Downwindfun]] Canos de Meca is next to Cape Trafalgar (Faro de Trafalgar) {{vimeo>115818569}} * …. ---- ===== Surf ===== * **Playa de los Lances** Surfing for fun (no wind for downwinding?) and practice can be sometime be manageable along the shore west of town, particularly near the Rio de la Jara river mouth. [[https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1RnMJwgSHA/|video (facebook)]] * ... ---- ===== Tidal Races ===== **[[:tidalrace:tidal_races#safety_-_learning_tidal_races|About General Tidal Race Safety When You Are On Your Own]]** **[[:tidalrace:la_bajeta_videos|La Bajeta Videos]]** Tarifa often has the **La Bajeta ****tide race** for wave catching on occasions when downwinding is not available or to spice up runs on average days. On strong wind days La Bajeta can be far more challenging. {{youtube>GBNyMsYP3YM?medium}} **Tarifa Tide Race** ---- ===== Safety ===== As of 2025 there are several rescue services in Tarifa. It appears that you can buy passes from several of the rescue services that will cover you for several rescues. (Learning kite surfers can get blown off course or not be skilled negotiating upwind and thus sometimes be in need of a taxi back to Tarifa on occasion) **Surfski Center - ** We believe that Boyan contracts with [[https://www.searescue.es/|Sea Rescue]] for his safety services. When he is less familiar with his paddlers he may have them accompany a downwind. Usually they are just available to call up if an issue occurs. Boyan has all of his students wear radios for communication on their shoulders and he keeps all of his paddlers within a reasonably close grouping, varying at times depending on conditions and abilities. ---- ===== Conditions ===== From Greykite.surf: “The **Levante** and **Poniente** are the dominant winds in Tarifa. The Levante can be extremely strong in Tarifa, usually around 30 knots, but sometimes it blows for days at a time at 50 knots or more. It is an easterly wind that originates in North Africa and blows across the Mediterranean and out into the Atlantic ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Poniente is the Westerly wind blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. It tends to be less strong than the Levante, generally about 20 knots or so, but is usually much smoother and less gusty. The Levante and Poniente both blow more strongly in Tarifa than elsewhere because of the Venturi effect created by the Strait of Gibraltar.” **Boyan talking about** **Conditions** (you can turn on Closed Captions to help understand his English - not a perfect transcription but it can help) {{youtube>ukMPqyWQNE4?large}} . He's looking at Windguru for wind and another website for tide/current. He doesn't want to rely on Sea Angels for rescue, but they are on call to help if he gets into unexpected trouble. * [[https://www.tarifaspinout.com/weather-webcam-tarifa-spin-out|Tarifa Spinout Wind/Weather]] * **Windguru** * [[https://www.windguru.cz/43|Tarifa]] * [[https://seatemperature.info/tarifa-water-temperature.html|Tarifa Sea Water Temperatures]] 10° C = 50° F; 20° C = 68° F (°F= (9/5 * °C) + 32) * **Webcams** * [[https://de.tarifaspinout.com/webcam-tarifa-spin-out|4 miles west of Tarifa webcam]] * [[https://www.beaches.gi/eastern-beach/|20 miles east of Tarifa (by the Rock of Gibraltar) webcam]] ---- ===== Resources ===== * [[https://progression.me/blog/travel-tips-for-kitesurfing-in-tarifa-spain/|Kitesurfing & Tarifa Travel Guide]] * [[https://sydneyharboursurfclubshop.com/en-us/blogs/paddle-adventures/europe-to-africa|Tarifa to Morocco]] Luke Horder sneaks across in a surfski * **Tarifa Surfski Center** * [[https://www.surfskicenter.com/|Surfski Center Website ]] * See [[:races:most_lipps|staying on runs without paddling]] * Emphasizing stability so students can build confidence and concentrate on their downwinding skills, Boyan for a long time put his students almost exclusively in **Epic V8s** and occasionally in an **Epic V9**. In **2023 he expanded his available boats** to include beginner level surfskis from **Fenn and Nelo**, as well as some intermediate skis from Fenn to give students a greater range of choices, more variety to experience and learn, and possibly to offer ski styles and fits that more students may already be familiar and comfortable with. * **Trip Reports & Reviews** * [[https://www.ultimatekayaks.co.uk/newsdetail.asp?NID=43|Ivan Lawyer's Trip]] (from early days of the Surfski Center, but the basics - (fun, safety, learning) are still the same) * [[https://surfskipaddling.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/surfski-center-tarifa-a-quick-review/|Sune Wendelboe 2014]] * [[https://www.totalsup.com/news/surfski-tarifa-downwind-siri-schubert/|Siri Schubert 2021]] * [[https://tcsurfski.com/2015/05/19/a-midwest-paddler-spends-an-amazing-week-at-the-epic-surfski-center-in-tarifa/|Zach Handler 2021]] * [[:stories:tarifa_2022|Bellhamsters 9/22/2022]] * Paul Reavley: "**Boyan Zlatarev** is a very **thoughtful** and **observant** teacher and he is **very safety minded**. He teaches a style of downwinding that is kind of **a surfski version of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling|"hypermiling"]]**which is neither passive nor slow but aims to wring every bit of **free energy** and propulsion **from the waves** available in a downwind run." * **Related BZ Content ** * [[https://www.facebook.com/boyan.zlatarev|Boyan on Facebook]] * [[https://www.gosurfski.com/|Boyan's GoSurfski.com]] primarily posts about surfski technical topics * [[https://www.gosurfski.com/post/five-myths-about-stable-surfskis|Boyan on Stable Surfskis]] * [[https://www.surfskicenter.com/zen-master-blog|Boyan's Blog]] * TCSurfski [[https://tcsurfski.com/2016/06/29/ppp-episode-005-master-the-art-of-downwind-with-boyan-z/|Interview with Boyan]] History of the Surfski Center and Boyan's paddling and teaching philosophy * **Learning Principles of Surfski Center** * **"LESS" = L**ongevity, **E**fficiency**, S**tability**, S**afety * … ---- ===== Video ===== * [[:tarifa_videos|Tarifa Videos]] * … ---- **Some Extra Tarifa Background (from Markus Ziebell)** {{youtube>3X_6lXtgrtI?large}} . ---- **Gibraltar Run (Tarifa to Algeciras)** **Boyan teaching in Double Surfski** {{youtube>XayZWCL4ylo?large}} . ----