La Gravière (Hossegor) Alert Guide

Landes, France · part of the La Gravière (Hossegor) spot guide

La Gravière is forecast-only — the nearest buoy is hundreds of kilometres away, with the closest proxy the Cap Ferret buoy up the coast — so the alert is a "get down and check the banks" trigger. The height below is an open-ocean reading; the canyon makes the wave over-perform it.

The forecaster's checklist

1. 1.Look for a deep North Atlantic low aimed into Biscay toward northwest Europe (or an ex-tropical system going extratropical near the Azores) throwing west-to-northwest long-period groundswell.
2. 2.Want roughly 4 to 7 ft of open-ocean height at 13 to 16 seconds from about 280–300° for overhead hollow faces; 8 to 12 ft at 14 to 18 for the heavy days, watching for closeout.
3. 3.Check the bank state — you need well-formed autumn banks, and the tell is recent good barrels at La Gravière; post-storm the banks reset.
4. 4.Time the tide to a dropping-toward-low phase and want a light east offshore, ideally the dawn land-breeze under autumn high pressure.
5. 5.Give it two to four days of model lead and confirm on the Cap Ferret buoy and the Puertos del Estado Biscay buoys as the swell fills the bay — there is no buoy at the spot.

Local winds & tide

Best wind: E offshore (the autumn dawn land-breeze is the classic groom) — from 45° to 135° (NE–SE).

La Gravière is tide-sensitive even though no tide series is modelled here: it prefers a dropping, outgoing-to-lower tide and holds its shape best then, while a pushing or high tide bulges, backwashes and closes out.

Dial it in