By Dan Millington .

Now I am all for checking out different surf spots, but at the same time (due to the fact that I don’t surf as much as regularly as I would like to) if I only have a week for a surf trip I do like to find a spot and spend some time figuring it out. Hopefully by the end of the week I would be getting more waves than if I surfed a different spot every day. Luckily due to the swell my less adventurous wishes were granted and after consulting with Mo at Surf Star we ended up at a place called Anza.

If I’m honest, we weren’t hoping for much due to the fact that all of the other spots were barely breaking. After a very brief episode of geographical mislocation (we took the wrong turn), we pulled into the car park to see Anza. In the distance a lovely head high peak appeared, breaking both left and right. Neoprene was hastily donned, quick stretch and out we went. Instead of recounting my failed attempt to shred, I thought I would just review the wave and I would hastily add that this is from my perspective. I am sure that better surfers have a different view!

 

 
The Peak

Whilst there are inside waves to be had, the best waves are a little further out where the peak breaks. Although having said that there was a French guy catching loads of inside waves and practicing his air reverse…obviously a little more skilled than your average surfer!

Word of warning: it is much easier to paddle out from the right hand side of the beach.

Anza picks up more swell than most of the breaks that surround it so if the ocean is stubbornly refusing to deliver enough energy to other breaks you should expect crowds. However, these are not Coolangata Super Bank style crowds with 300 people out, they are Moroccan crowds so expect around 30. Not exactly terrible!

Now to the wave itself. It tended to be what I would deem as ‘setty’ in that when you were waiting for a set it was pretty darn flat, and then all of a sudden a few lumps would appear and everyone would start paddling for their lives. It isn’t the end of the world because it tends to be fairly consistent in where it breaks. As I said above, it is a peak that breaks both left and right although every left that I caught was an effort to stay on so it is probably just worth battling it out for the right handers. This was backed up by the fact that you don’t see many the locals surfing left off the peak.

The right is short but fun and the wave walls up nicely to put in a big bottom turn and then a carving top turn. It isn’t all that punchy so the turns aren’t quite as snappy as those who can perform such manoeuvres would probably want, but for the intermediate it is perfect. Most people kicked out of the wave after a few turns, but I have a policy of riding waves until I no longer can. This ended up paying off rather nicely on a few waves where I fought to stay on them when others would have kicked out, it then walls up again and you can race down the line for around 60-100m. The photo above is in this little inside section and I remember that particular wave very well indeed!

I’m not sure how big it has to get for Anza to close out, but it felt pretty comfortable at head high and slightly above. However, I would imagine that anything above 6-8ft and you would want to start heading to Anchor Point or Killers because Anza would start closing out.

All in all, although the water quality probably isn’t the best, the wave is really fun and provides when other spots are not. I really enjoyed it and some of the waves I caught were very memorable indeed.

Thanks to Lucie and Mo at Surf Star and I am already looking forward to my next trip!