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Mini Capo:
This is a real jewel. The rocky peninsula gives a fantastic background to a deep blue sea that can deliver some of the best waves in the mediterranean sea. The quality of the breaks rivals the ones of the atlantic ocean. No kidding. You just have to be here at the right time.
To find it, you have to find the right dirt track. Be carefull, as some of the tracks are very hard to drive especially when it rained a lot. Better take a walk for exploring before you drive.
There is some limited parking at the cliffs right in front of the spot. Two waves are breaking here, the A-frame reef of Mini Capo offers some nice and sucky rights that run for a while. The shorter left is even suckier and closes out a lot. Both waves brake very close to the rocky cliffs.
Up to the right there is a fantastic looking righthand pointbreak. Be carefull, right where the wave is breaking, about 40 meters down the line, a rock sticks out its nasty head when an incoming wave sucks away the water. Hard to see, but very painfull when you hit it.
windsurfing: when the Mistral blows strong enough for a couple of days, solid waves up to mast high wrap around the point. The wind comes sideoffshore and allows very nice down the line wavesailing at the righthander. The wave is fast and getting caught inside too deep means finding yourself and your stuff swept on the rocks. If you´re lucky and bail at the end of the wave, the current takes you around the next point into calm waters, where you have time to recover. On a good day waves from the A-frame connect with a sandbar in the middle of the bay. This gives fantastic down the line rides of about 500 meters lenght. To get in and out of the water is very tricky here, as you have to struggle with very gusty winds close to a shore that consists of sharp rocks. Better start down in Mandriola and take an upwind course.
Very important: this is for experienced wavesailors only who know how to sail in fast reffbreaks with sideoffshore conditions. Due to its quality, the place gets crowded on good days with windsurfers and surfers. Know the rules and respect the locals!
surfing: when Capo Mannu is really fat with a solid northwesterly swell the waves find their way around the cape and start breaking here. In contrary to Capo Mannu, the Mini Capo waves have way more protection from the howling Mistral winds. This means surfable waves even during a storm. The most protected break is the point to the right. Just that submerged rock right in the track of the wave hinders this break from being perfect. Either drop out early enough or - for cracks with plenty of local knowledge only - pass it with a well timed topturn.
The A-frame has a very nice right, that stays open for a while and once in a while offers a nice tube. The left is shorter but suckier. Closes out a lot but the lucky ones find the odd tube ride.
When it´s on, this place has really good waves that easily can compare to Atlantic Ocean waves. Therefor it is very popular among local and mainland italian surfers. There is almost allways a solid crowd of skilled surfers to be found here. Combine this with the limited takeoff area of the classic reef and pointbreak setup and you´ll understand that it will be hard surfing here as a foreigner. If you want to go out surfing here, be sure that you are really able to handle these waves, know the rules, show respect to the locals and avoid weekends. When in doubt, walk around the point to the left and check the breaks further inside the bay. They might have less size but could offer nice and empty surf.
more pics in the galleries
sessions from 2017-11-14, 2017-11-13, 2017-11-11,
shots from 2007 from Mini Capo and the point
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