Cape Verde - wind and waves
Monte Leao - amazing waves!
It was a five-hour flight after a drive up to East Midlands airport and a stop – so it felt like a long journey! Arriving in Sal we were tired but we powered on ready to embark on what became a particularly awesome adventure.
Our accommodation was a short taxi ride away, a simple flat at the east end of Santa Maria – a very short walk from the Angulo School and beach bar (Angulo Cabo Verde Surf Center ) where we were to spend the best part of the next 3 weeks.
After a sleep we were ready to go a wandered down to the school to introduce ourselves to the team at the Angulo school. There was Noah Angulo, Jasmin, Fredy and Jefferson – a great team and all wonderful people to hang out and sail with. When we were taking a break or waiting for a lesson they would play football with us which was great.
On the agenda for the 3 weeks was windsurfing, winging and surfing (long with some food poisoning which was the only thing that slowed us down) – we were going to make the most of the time in this great spot.
We only had a set number of lessons so we tried to fit them all in. Whilst we had 9 hours of surfing the first two weeks saw no swell so windsurfing and winging were priority.
Where we were launching there was a lot of rocks and depending on the wind direction the beach would fill or empty of sand making entering the water a little tricky sometimes. But once afloat there was usually plenty of wind, relatively flat water on the inside followed by some waves where we tried jumping which was great fun.
Learning winging was brilliant - I was so pleased that I seemed to take to it relatively quickly with 4 hours of lessons I was able to independently borrow kit and confidently foil staying upwind – I have to hand it to the great instruction from Fredy and Noah! On this sport I also did a little better than my older brother who didn’t foil confidently. ;)
Though we were tired we really made the most of the time heading out on windy and not so windy days on the trip. Our instructor Noah (Noah Angulo Instagram) was really nice and supportive of our learning journey.
There were some real learning points and highlights of the trip:
The windsurfing was amazing – great wind, great team, and we learned so much (and got to sail some amazing prototype Angulo boards! (Thanks Noah!)
There was one day where my UJ snapped out in the water – luckily Daniel was out with me and was able to sail in and alert the team who came and collected me. Lessons?! 1) don’t sail out further than you can swim back and 2) mental note to learn more self recovery…
Learning to wing was excellent – I’m hoping I can get some kit in the UK to carry on that journey
When the waves came surfing in Sal was great; we went on a surf trip across the desert to Monte Leao (the Lion Mountain) which had some of the best surf we have ever been to (and the biggest wave we have surfed at about 5 feet). It was tough to paddle out but amazing to be there and try it (we also got to watch Noah surfing a really big wave at Ponta Preta which was great)
I was so sad to have to go – the place had started to feel like home – but I’m hoping we can come again next year
