Yes, This Is Mundaka

Earlier this winter, members of the Silent Rock broadcasting corporation traded their cosy Southern California homes for a brief European winter tour.

Their sojourn coincided with a conveyor belt of storms named Harry, Ingrid, Joseph, Kristin, Leonardo, and Marta, which afflicted Western Europe for what felt like aeons. With Portugal’s west-facing coastline taking it straight in the teeth, they drove north to the Bay of Biscay, looking for shelter and bounty at the northern hemisphere’s most coveted left.

The thing is, at least a couple hundred others had the same idea, and waiting your turn among Basque locals with very limited sympathy toward visiting surfers didn’t make for great odds of getting a single set wave.

From a recent trip there, Paul Evans wrote: “You could go up top and try your luck, but statistically your best chance is sloppy seconds, or even thirds, on a set wave when someone goes down valiantly in the pit.”

Ian “Gato” Gottron managed to put his hard-edged CI Black Beauty through some proper Mundaka laps, while Diogo Martins — the only goof in the group — wasn’t about to drive nearly 1,000 kilometres and burn through 500€ in fossil fuel to not go left.

Remy Armstrong, who recently shot this, and DJ/producer/freesurfer Nibius didn’t bother circling the pack to sit wide at the end of the left waiting for a bone. Instead, they went straight to the short, slabby right, breaking toward the harbour.

Sometimes the wave you didn’t come for is the one that remembers your name. And you know better than to overlook a gift unicorn in the rivermouth.