About Safety

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 becomes far more challenging.

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.”

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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.

• Tarifa Spinout Wind/Weather
• Windguru
  • Tarifa
• Tarifa Sea Water Temperatures 10° C = 50° F; 20° C = 68° F (°F= (9/5 * °C) + 32)
• Webcams
  • 4 miles west of Tarifa webcam
  • 20 miles east of Tarifa (by the Rock of Gibraltar) webcam

• Kitesurfing & Tarifa Travel Guide
• Tarifa to Morocco Luke Horder sneaks across in a surfski
• Tarifa Surfski Center
  • Surfski Center Website
    • See 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
    • Sune Wendelboe 2014
    • Siri Schubert 2021
    • Zach Handler 2021
    • 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 ” 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
    • Boyan on Facebook
    • Boyan's GoSurfski.com primarily posts about surfski technical topics
      • Boyan on Stable Surfskis
    • Boyan's Blog
    • TCSurfski Interview with Boyan History of the Surfski Center and Boyan's paddling and teaching philosophy
    • Learning Principles of Surfski Center
      • “LESS” = Longevity, Efficiency, Stability, Safety
• …