Can you surf in Slovenia? Yes. Do people surf in Slovenia? No. Although every self respecting Slovenian surfer should catch at least one wave on Piran’s punta or in Fiesa (I am giving out spot names here :D), this is not the type of surfing that you would want to do regularly. Gale force northern winds, freezing temperatures, wind moving water drops over sea surface…it’s wind swell surfing into the extreme. And even if you would want to, conditions like that don’t happen that often. For a good surf you have to wait for those epic conditions down south on the Adriatic sea, drive to west Italy or to be extra sure go to the ocean. In the spirit of wind swell surfing roots and in the spirit of conditions on our closest surf spots every now and then we run Slovenian surfing nationals held on the Adriatic sea.
We drove to the island for an afternoon surf shared with what seemed like millions of windsurfers and not very good waves. It was only one hour before dark when the wind turned a bit east which is not that good for windsurfing but very good for surfers. The waves cleared and grew and last hour was sick. One bumpy ferry ride got us seasick for the rest of the drive to the NOA. It took 3 burritos to set my stomach and head straight.
Next morning we woke up to big lines coming from the south. Wind was strong, but no too terrible. It was contest ON. Unfortunately during the first two heats wind just got stronger and the conditions got really difficult so congrats to everybody that put some numbers on the scoreboard and still managed to find some gems in the rough. Rain, wind, flags fluttering, speakers blasting tunes, me and two other judges sitting in the van taking scores and talking shit, people cheering… good times. After the second heat the wind died down and the beginning of the finals the waves got good. Suddenly everyone was catching waves keeping us busy in the van. The calm did not last long though. The wind turned, but it only turned more sideways instead of full offshore and the waves went extra choppy again. Congrats to all the competitors and to organizers.
After the contest was over I caught a few before it got dark and another surf weekend in the crazy November was over.
The island, 23.11.2019
NOA, 24.11.2019