Surfing in Fuerteventura in the north or south?

Surf beach in the south of the island
View of the legendary northshore in the north of the island

For many surfers in Fuerteventura, the question is: if the north or the south is better for surfing, one of the most discussed surfing topics. Here is a brief overview of the debate.

Where are the best waves in Fuerteventura?
On the well-known north coast, which is also called northshore and is always compared with the north coast of the Hawaiian island of Ohau?
Or in the south of the island, which is rather unknown to many surfers, where there should also be reefs, but which are populated by unfriendly locals?

You can already tell, in the questions I put some of the popular surf clichés about Fuerteventura that go something like this:

The waves are higher in the north.
In the north are the well-known reefs and good surfers.
In the south there are mainly windsurfers and beaches.
Even in the south there are reefs and good beaches but nobody knows where and then there are supposedly very unfriendly locals ...

As with any cliché, the origin of the whole is a little truth, but the realities are a bit more complicated.
 

Wave height in the north and south

Fuerteventura is 98km long. The waves that reach us here are often several thousand kilometers away. It makes no difference whether these waves hit the island a few kilometers further north or south.

Of course, the strength of the low pressure area is responsible for how big the waves are. But also the surf spot and the underground of the sea in front of it decide what happens to the incoming wave energy.

When there is a large swell / swell, the waves are big on one beach, on another beach where there are never other waves there are suddenly small clean waves.

So it depends on how strong the waves are and from which direction they come.

And then of course whether you like big waves or prefer small clean waves.

The knowledge or rather the experience at which wave height in the forecast the waves look at different surf spots often has to be acquired over years.
 

The reefs in the north are for the more advanced, the beaches in the south for the beginners?

This question can be answered shorter than the last one :)
There are reefs and beaches in the north and south of the island.

There are more reefs in the north of the island but most of them point north. Since the wind on Fuerteventura often comes from the north, there are many days of onshore wind at these surf spots. But waves always break on these reefs no matter how big the swell is.

There are also reefs in the south of the island, but not as many as in the north. The north wind is almost always offshore here, but the waves have to be bigger to break on the south reefs.

There are beaches in the north of the island and in the south of the island with partly similar orientations and therefore similar waves. In the north of Fuerteventura there are more surfers due to the popular clichés and well-known northshore, which is why the beaches in the north are a bit crowded.


But the most important question remains, what are good waves? For different types of surfers, these can be very different waves. In the next articles we will clarify which type of surfer is best cared for where on the island.
 

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the question of whether the waves in the north of Fuerteventura are better than in the south is not so easy to answer.
The simplest answer is:
The waves are equally good. Where it is on a specific day or worse depends on the specific conditions: how high are the waves, from which direction do the waves come, from which direction does the wind come ...

In the upcoming blog articles I will explain where there are better waves for beginners and where for advanced surfers.

Until then
Your Christof