I am on a little bit of a holiday through Europe, my plan was some Euro sight-seeing then off to the Canary Islands for some of the Huey-hospitality. This was mostly inspired by Ben Proffitt's "Training Diaries"... as we know, wind can be a little fickle -> so I figure if there is decent sized rental shop, then there is likely to be the possibility of decent wind...
I grabbed a flight over to the island of Tenerife, to a town by the name of El Medano. Seeing the Training Diaries, I went ahead and didn't do any research, so just booked directly with the Diaries sponsor. Turns out that is quite a good idea -> one immediate benefit of a dedicated rental shop is that you can try out anything they have on the floor... I got to test out 5 different brands of sails and 4 different brands of boards - in both cases, I was able to compare similar sized gear from different brands, and similarly the different sized gear from the same brand.
I can definitely recommend the "TWS Windsurf" team... every time I walked through the door, the staff knew my name and were immediately responsive to offering gear to suit the conditions. So... I would sail for say two or three sessions in a day of about 2-3 hrs each. None of the gear was older than about 18 months or so - I even got to first-use some of the 2018 stuff.
I was there for two weeks when I saw the latest Training Diaries episode, so headed of to "Pozo" (aka, Pozo Izquierdo, Gran Canaria). I missed the "big days" from the Diaries, and I am both disappointed and somewhat glad I did [ more on this later ].
So I turn up to Pozo with nothing organised and taking a hint from the Diaries, walk into PozoWinds with my travel bags and thus explain my story. They immediately made me welcome - every one of the staff immediately knew me by name. They then gave some advice on local accommodation and offered to store my bags until I work out where I was staying. Once I had they sorted, I went back and arranged gear hire.
I am in Pozo just under a week, with 3 days of gear hire. I can also recommend PozoWinds... or even just Pozo... it is shed-loads windy, and the folks at shop will help you out.
In both cases, the cost of gear-rental from both shops, I do consider to be good value. You are looking between 30-60 Euro per day, depending on how many days hire.
... so I guess ... that is a plug for the Diaries sponsors....
While in Tenerife, I was sailing in conditions that I am most familiar with... light-wind slalom, bump-n-jump [ like we get in Port Philip Bay, Melbourne ], or wave-sailing. It is nice to be able to travel somewhere with a very good probability of sailing most/every day.... and this is at a time of year considered "not yet the windy season". Basically you get what is says on the box - worth the flight if you are in Europe and know how to waterstart.
In Pozo you get something a bit different - the wind here is strong - for those not accustomed to shed-loads of wind, a 4.5m sail is *big*.... Yesterday and today I sailed on 3.0m and 3.1m... maxed out... I found it quite hard to get any air-time without being swatted by a gust. I figured the wind was around 33-37 kn, so I checked out the wind-meter and sure enough it was within a few knots. I can see the appeal of Pozo - come here if you want wind [ but easy-waves are a little harder to come by ].... so for those that watched the Training Diaries, it *really* is that windy !
Pozo (Gran Canaria) ...
- yes it is windy enough to generate all of your electricity from the wind
- that is a 3.0m sail
- and windsurfing is popular enough for statues in the town
Hey mathew nice to meet you out there after discussing it here several months ago and being there at the same time..totally random! When I heard the accent I thought..nah! Really is a small world!
I agree with tws Center I personally thanked them today..complete rigging slaves and loved doing it so massive high 5 from our gang that went,
i only do slalom/speed blasting so never sailed a 4.2 in 30 odd knots in a couple meter swell before and what a laugh! Loved it..need to speak to peter on some wave sails now lol,
nice to to meet u dude!!
This was the day we turned up,
plane landed didn't even check in to hotel straight to sailing for 6hrs with no sleep 
