Surfing in Forte Dei Marmi, Italy

Another weekend, another nice forecast, another trip to Italy. Why does that read like a complaint:)?

Levanto time. If it’s small you can jump in from the pier. If it’s big, a jet ski can get washed onto the rocks. If it’s flat you can drink coffee and chew on pizza. La vita e bella.

Saturdays moody weather turned into a sunny evening with nice sunset, with surfing finished for te day, it was time to pack and head for our apartment in the hills.

The view from the terrace was amazing. These tiny colorful little villages with houses cramped together into the steep surrounding hills…am..yeah, it’s nice.

Now…you know how people from warmer climates pretend that winter is also warm and while building their houses don’t put in any heating? Then they sit in their living rooms wearing down jackets and watching smoke come from their mouths while saying:”It’s not that cold..”? Well, this apartment was not like that, fortunately :). Still a warm tea was welcomed.

Levanto is hipsters heaven. Retro Vespas on every corner.

This is day view.

We better pack out shit and head for Forte dei Marmi. Just one more photo of the Cinque terre.

Il Pontile at Forte dei Marmi. This is the northwest Italy surfing hotspot.

Before you get all excited let me tell you a few things about the water. It’s dirty. It resembles a mix of grated tree bark and ground coffee mixed with dish washing powder and a little bit of fish scent. The fish scent probably leads few optimistic fisherman into thinking there are actually fish in the water. They bring these huge nets to the pier and start soaking them in the sea. Obviously the only thing they catch is grated tree bark, the ground coffee and fish scent are too small in size and slip through the net:).

The takeoff by the pier is pretty tight so it gets crowded quickly. The best time to surf was during lunch hours when surfers go and eat lunch:). So when they returned in the afternoon it was low sun evening light photo time.

The lineup and the nets.

The sea look completely disorganized and messy. But the section by the pier is pretty sick.

Both sides of the pier work, for a while the left is better, then the right. But in both cases, there should not be any wind.

This dude caught plenty of waves. Here he’s preparing for a sunlit cutback.

Here it is:)

The water suddenly gets really shallow and if you get a long one you get behind the shorebreak line. Good luck getting back into the lineup. Either paddle under or near the pier or go out, walk back and jump from the pier.

This dude was always just hanging around…

To finish the trip I managed to catch this guys tube ride. Here he’s setting up.

Grabbing the rail…

Covered

Squeezing through the pinhole.

Exit. Thank you and goodbye:)

It was time to go home, waves were still pumping, but there was a 6h drive in front of us.

Fortunately the local shop sold lasagna and fortunately my friends car resembles an airplane so I had my personal table and my personal light to eat my personal lasagna. The I took some personal sleep and tried not to disturb the driver with loud snoring like any true friend would do:))