Board Blog: Windswell Surf Chasing in the Mediterranean Sea

#2-3: Soda Waves

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It's winter alright.
It's winter alright.
This spot is always full of visiting surfer from nearby countries.
This spot is always full of visiting surfer from nearby countries.
The forecast promised something barely surfable, but as it turned out it was bigger than waist high:)
The forecast promised something barely surfable, but as it turned out it was bigger than waist high:)
Even surf vans look better down south.
Even surf vans look better down south.
This is the calcium chloride disposal river.
This is the calcium chloride disposal river.
The white beaches of Rosignano Solvay.
The white beaches of Rosignano Solvay.
From the start the water seemed suspiciously colored.
From the start the water seemed suspiciously colored.
The Solvay factory turned this piece of coast from a swamp to a white beach tourist town.
The Solvay factory turned this piece of coast from a swamp to a white beach tourist town.
But not everyone in enthusiastic about the pollution coming from it.
But not everyone in enthusiastic about the pollution coming from it.
But everybody is enthusiastic about the waves.
But everybody is enthusiastic about the waves.
And soda makes the sea very attractive.
And soda makes the sea very attractive.
Yes it's January, it's sunny, 16C, and glassy.
Yes it's January, it's sunny, 16C, and glassy.
If people would not be wearing wetsuits I could have written a story how I went to Maldives over the weekend.
If people would not be wearing wetsuits I could have written a story how I went to Maldives over the weekend.
Once I've sold my Levanto trip as a trip to Bali. An I<3Bali dogs sticker, few darker skinned sunglasses salesmen, my Bintang towel, and a beach BBQ photos with some stupid drunken story of how it is possible to profit from time difference so that you almost get back before you depart and I was in Bali. Am..yeah, ok :)
Once I've sold my Levanto trip as a trip to Bali. An I<3Bali dogs sticker, few darker skinned sunglasses salesmen, my Bintang towel, and a beach BBQ photos with some stupid drunken story of how it is possible to profit from time difference so that you almost get back before you depart and I was in Bali. Am..yeah, ok :)
Soda pipes
Soda pipes
This is my useful friend that speaks Italian paddling for anotherone :)
This is my useful friend that speaks Italian paddling for anotherone :)
Need a Rip Curl wetsuit? Talk to this guy! I love small surf communities, everybody knows everybody and everything is cheaper haha.
Need a Rip Curl wetsuit? Talk to this guy! I love small surf communities, everybody knows everybody and everything is cheaper haha.
Spiagge Bianche, white beaches.
Spiagge Bianche, white beaches.
The crew: the stoked rookie, the lost in translation dude, and the supplier :) Good times!
The crew: the stoked rookie, the lost in translation dude, and the supplier :) Good times!
It's impossible to end a good surf trip without an epic sunset.
It's impossible to end a good surf trip without an epic sunset.
The sky gladly cooperated.
The sky gladly cooperated.
When the whole trip covers almost a 1000 miles, you are tired and surfed out, it's time to switch to warp speed:)
When the whole trip covers almost a 1000 miles, you are tired and surfed out, it's time to switch to warp speed:)
It's winter alright.
This spot is always full of visiting surfer from nearby countries.
The forecast promised something barely surfable, but as it turned out it was bigger than waist high:)
Even surf vans look better down south.
This is the calcium chloride disposal river.
The white beaches of Rosignano Solvay.
From the start the water seemed suspiciously colored.
The Solvay factory turned this piece of coast from a swamp to a white beach tourist town.
But not everyone in enthusiastic about the pollution coming from it.
But everybody is enthusiastic about the waves.
And soda makes the sea very attractive.
Yes it's January, it's sunny, 16C, and glassy.
If people would not be wearing wetsuits I could have written a story how I went to Maldives over the weekend.
Once I've sold my Levanto trip as a trip to Bali. An I<3Bali dogs sticker, few darker skinned sunglasses salesmen, my Bintang towel, and a beach BBQ photos with some stupid drunken story of how it is possible to profit from time difference so that you almost get back before you depart and I was in Bali. Am..yeah, ok :)
Soda pipes
This is my useful friend that speaks Italian paddling for anotherone :)
Need a Rip Curl wetsuit? Talk to this guy! I love small surf communities, everybody knows everybody and everything is cheaper haha.
Spiagge Bianche, white beaches.
The crew: the stoked rookie, the lost in translation dude, and the supplier :) Good times!
It's impossible to end a good surf trip without an epic sunset.
The sky gladly cooperated.
When the whole trip covers almost a 1000 miles, you are tired and surfed out, it's time to switch to warp speed:)

For some a 2h drive is something that needs lots of planing and an early night sleep. For others it’s a regular work day. For me it’s the distance to the closest surf spot and all the more distant surf spots are measured by this stick. So Italy’s east coast is times 2. West coast is times 3. Am…I have no idea where I’m going with this… Anyway, people might thing that there are no waves in the Med. Or that there are some waves but they never go over waist high or something. Well, these people are wrong. In our rookie surfing years, we wanted to be sure the waves will be there before making the 6-7h drive to Liguria….you would feel pretty stupid to sit in the car for 14 hours and not surf. So we wanted the biggest baddest strongest forecast possible. Quite a few times a forecast like that got us sitting on the beach watching the sea go mad with huge maxed out waves. Or squeezing in the corner of the bay behind the pier where the waves were smaller, water moving all over the place, far from epic. But we got smarter. With a 3-4m forecast on Sunday it was time to move from our usual west coast spot and go somewhere new. And if you ask me it was about time:)!

So after a gloomy Saturday in Levanto we headed south towards the sun and warm weather. And warm and sunny it was, 16C in beginning of January?! We slept in a cosy two PlayStation apartment in Piombino and in the morning we checked few spots in the area. It was a bit to small so we headed back north past La California to Rosignano. You might have heard about Spiagge Bianche of Rosignano Solvay, a town with a funny name and a weirdly white sand beach that looks completely out of place in this part of the world. I mean, this is not some small island in the Maldives, it’s right in the middle of Italy. Where did all this snow white sand come from? Sea also had a strange glow to it, I felt like I was surfing in soda. Turns out all the bright colors are the result of a giant sodium carbonate factory that has been pumping Calcium chloride into the nearby sea since 1914. Calcium chloride itself would not be a problem, but up to a few years ago it was mixed with heavy metals like mercury. Fortunately their production is a bit cleaner now, but health wise this is probably not the best place to surf regularly. Which is easy to forget once you see the waves. This is one of the rare spots in Italy where we did not see a single longboarder in the water. The wave is a nice hot dog a frame with an “I’ll run you over” pack of locals sitting on both peaks. If all this doesn’t sound to inviting… it was the best surf I’ve had in Italy for a long time:). BTW: I also had time to take a few shots with a GoPro Dome Port that I’m testing.

Levanto – Lillatro, Italy, 9.-10.1.2016

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