A cool milestone, 50th surf day of the year. We were on Elba island next to Tuscany region of Italy, mostly mountain biking, snorkelling and enjoying warm autumn sun. Sea was still warm enough to swim in and temperatures during the day were boardshort and t-shirt range. 10 straight days of sun and bird blue skies were interrupted by a weak south wind storm. I have never surfed here, I found some info on the possible spots online but it was pretty scarce. Forecast showed waves barely reaching 0.8m or even less, so I was not sure if waves would break at all. The big sandy bays did look interesting, but on the other hand, they offered some protection from the wind which is perfect if waves are big, but if they are small protection can make them non existent. First spot we checked was one that was supposed to always be bigger than everywhere else. Not this time. Or maybe it would be bigger, but 0.8m was not enough for it to start working. The second beach would be surfable, but waves were really extremely flat. The last bay that we checked was noticeably better. Some bigger sets made maybe 1m waves, there was some wall to go sideways and I had a fun session before dark.
Elba, 8.11.2024