Europe surf forecast

The European Atlantic coast is fed by North Atlantic low-pressure systems tracking between Newfoundland and Iceland, and the swell they generate has an unusually short journey to land. That proximity means European surf is powerful and frequent through winter, but also less sorted than swell that has travelled further — periods are often shorter for the same size.

The coastline compensates with extraordinary bathymetric variety. Nazaré has a submarine canyon that focuses energy into the largest rideable waves ever surfed. Mundaka has a river-mouth sandbar that produces a machine-like left. Hossegor has deep-water trenches close to shore. These are not incidental — the bottom is doing as much work as the swell.