Jean Tripier

More surf art! These watercolors show some of my favorite surf spots in the world… including the nearly always flat Bay of Saint Jean de Luz and then down the coast to San Sebastian (home to equally poor surf but phenomenal food and festive atmosphere) and finally Zarautz, the queen of beaches in the Basque Country and where I first body surfed as a kid.

Let’s start with a quick map to get us situated -the Basque Country is the swell magnet of Europe and there are a few reasons for that.

The Basque Country is a surf magnet

On the French side of the border, the best known surf town is Biarritz, even though most locals stay away at least during the summer given the horrible crowds and  masses of swimmers, bodyboarders etc. that invade the lineup. But it can be a fun scene.

Biarritz / Cote des Basques – swell lines

Further down the cost you will find amazing waves including these two I painted in a previous post. The home break for me though is the infrequent, small but can get huge wave of Ste Barbe on the north end of the Bay of St Jean de Luz. This is the spot to hit when everything else is maxed out but it can be a bit of a crazy proposition as well as I discovered a while back when being taken out by a surprising and furious rip. This is what it looks like during the day:

Breaking – The wave at Sainte Barbe (Saint Jean de Luz)

And this is what it looks like on a hot summer night when the sun sets…

Sainte Barbe at Sunset

Check out my first iPad book, Travelogue 1, for more Basque surf spots! You can also see a few more surf spots from the Basque Country here.