A more detailed inspection of the surf scene on the island revealed that there were a variety of breaks right around the coast line with all types catered for, beach breaks, point breaks and reefs were all in abundance with many of them
working under different conditions. This plan was getting better all the time! There was just one catch, in every book and on every website that we looked at, the waves were described as big and fast! A re-think on which boat to take was 
going to be needed, a butt bouncing play boat was just not going to cut it After we talked Ben out of taking his squirt boat, and with him being in the fortunate position of working at Pyranha his choice came down to the fast Seven-0 or to revive the very fast SBT (Surf Boat Technology) concept boat It was a bit of a no brainer For Chris Mac, Jamie and Chris J the choice was a bit more complicated Jamie had been paddling a Dragorossi Squashtail for some time and despite trashing one, at Crantock Bay in October, in a particularly nasty swim his decision was a simple, one Buy another' Chris J had also paddled a Squashtail at Crantock and after half an hour was hooked The guys at High N Mighty, who offered him the use of their demo Squashtail, eased Chris Mac's decision So, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth he was set.So with bags packed we were ready to go to Gatwick Airport, armed with one composite SBT and three funny little Welsh boats' (One onlooker thought the DR logo of a red dragon was the Welsh Dragon and as they really are funny looking boats the name kind of stuck') Now British Airways are a remarkable bunch of people The expected hassle of arriving at the check in desk at 5am with four boats (cunningly disguised as surfboards), two paddle bags and enough electronic equipment to stock a small Dixon's store before trying to get on a rather small airplane never materialized. Despite the boats and equipment weighing at least 5Kg more each than the allowed baggage allowance, no one batted an eyelid. We were through check in, boarding, over the flight, through disembarkation and customs and in Lanzarote in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

The hire car however was a different story. Despite ordering a car with a roof rack, large enough for us inside and four boats on top, we arrived to find that we'd been allocated a very small Seat Ibiza sans rack! Now the Ibiza is a great little car but, there was clearly no way that we were going to get four boats and all our kit into it for the forty- minute drive across the island to our accommodation. What we needed was a roof rack; so abandoning Jamie and Chris Mac at the hire depot Ben and Chris J went in search of what was hoped would be the Spanish equivalent to Halfords. No problem, with our excellent (read non-existent) Spanish it was easy and in two hours we had returned with no roof rack! What we had instead was the promise of one, 'manana.' Genius' So a quick nip back to the hire car centre saw us with an extra car hired for the day and we loaded up and headed off to Caleta de Famara to sort out the accommodation. No problems there and we were soon settled into a very nice little apartment positioned about 200 meters from the beach Sorted. The roof rack eventually arrived and we could get to the job at hand, surfing some sweet waves.
The first day on the ocean set the standard for the rest of the trip, were treated to 6ft glassy, clean surf. We were taken back by the quality and speed of the waves, so spent the first couple of days acclimatizing ourselves to the awesome conditions. No one had really spent any time in their chosen craft, so some comedic, schoolboy errors were experienced by all amazing how many times you can forget to lean the right way.

Once the boat trim and fin positions had been set to individual tastes we were ready to go and explore some of the island's better treats.
The first reef we visited was very memorable. Half an hour of talking yourself out of it before getting changed only to realize that there was no way of getting on in the traditional style with the fins attached to the boats. So we ended up sat on a vast black slab of sharp looking volcanic rock, waiting for a gap in the sets rolling in before seal launching in, desperately hoping you've got your timing right, because if you haven't you know the next wave is going to dump you head first back where you've just come from!
Then it was a sprint out across 8ft breaking waves to the relative safety of the open sea. In true theme park style the words, ‘Don’t look down’ were beginning to be muted.
The water was so clear that you could see the sea bed below, quite alarming when the water was only 3ft deep and you were being chased by huge wall of water.

A few days of high wind speeds finally dropped to allow a days worth of immense swell, between 12 and 15ft, to come crashing in. Whilst the break outside the apartment was on great form, we still hankered for something different and a break that we had checked out a few days before was calling the complex; the sort of break you only see in magazines. Some of the biggest waves that Ben, our very own pet loony, paddled on were at this spot. Chris J had a great time urging Ben to paddle into the take off zone to catch some larger waves, which were breaking closer to the volcanic rock reef, where he was stood ready to take photo's. Isn't it funny what some people will do in front of a camera? Chris J could only roll around laughing as Ben sprinted like a man possessed with a look of sheer terror on his face back the way he came as the huge 'mystical seventh' set came steaming in.
The quality of surf in Lanzarote is truly excellent, with the winter months offering the biggest swells. In the two weeks we were there, there was only one day when we couldn’t have surfed on clean waves. There are lots of spots to surf, too many to visit in one trip and most are suitable for surf kayaks. The water is warm and we found ourselves surfing in shorties every day despite it being January, and the water quality is generally very good When the surf gets too big or too messy on one side of the island, its location is such that the swell tends to wrap around it and it is only a short drive to go and find a more sheltered spot on the other side of the island The small surf shops dotted around the island proved invaluable for faultless surf and weather forecasts. For those days when the winds do come up and the swells go down, there is plenty of cool stuff to do. You can visit the volcanoes, where you can take a tour around Europe's youngest volcanic landscape, have your dinner cooked on the volcano or even get on a camel train! The caves at Cueva de Los Verdes are also well worth a visit.

Surf etiquette, as always, is very important, as some spots are very localized; we experienced no animosity from any other type of surfer with most being friendly and chatty. However this was due to that fact that we think that we were, if not the first, then definitely one of very few groups to surf kayakers to have visited the island. We quickly got used to being a novelty, whether it be sitting out the back chatting to fellow wave riders, or the island residents just plain staring at the strange things on the roof of our car!


The three main dangers that we encountered
were the obvious, and ever present, sharp volcanic rock, which you DO NOT want to be landing on! The urchins in the rock sting like hell if you touch or step on them, so you need to watch where your feet and hands are going when getting in and out of the water. Oh and some of the local kids, and some of the adults too, are really not that stable on a board, we are sure it must be some kind of initiation the locals go through to spend some time in the surf even if you really don't know what your doing!

Ben would like to thank Pyranha and Nookie for their support during the trip. Chris J, Chris Mac and Jamie would like to say a huge thank you to High ‘n’ Mighty for there support.

Report by Chris Jones.

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