Guincho

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Guincho:

This place is a european classic. In the early eighties an article in the surfer mag made the wourld aware of the immense wave potential in this area. Soon after the windsurfers found out about the exceptional strong and constant winds this place gets every afternoon in summer. Guincho became the wavesailing location in Europe. In fact it was the first real wavesailing spot to become widely known.

The rocky coastline gets more mountainous north of the sand beach of Guincho. Even with growing urbanisation there is still a lot of the original bushland left, that dominates this part of the coast. Not far away are some small towns which kept their original rural character. Near Sintra is a cultural highlight with its castles.

The beach is used by great numbers of locals from Lisbon who flee the summer heat. Not far away Cascais is an intense party town so this place is perfect for watermen / women who want to be active outside the water.

The beach is sand with rocks at both sides and one particulary nasty rock in the middle of the beach.

surf: the left got some fame allready and easily stands up to its reputation. When it runs it offers long rippable walls. With smaller waves there is a nice right and again a left in front of the rock. Winter sees some solid waves but spring, autumn and even summer have a high wave possibility. Depending on wave size all kind of boards are neede. Due to its proximity to Lisbon and its quality crowds are a factor. But if You avoid the partys and get up early there is a good chance to get some relatively empty waves even in summer.

windsurf: the summer months have a 50% probability of winds in the range of force 5 to 7. The mountain north of the bay accelerates the then predominant NE trade winds to some solid blast. The wind then comes side- to sideonshore from the right. This gives excelent juming and good backside waveriding conditions. Frontside turns are possible but due to the a bit too much onshore winddirection and the nasty rocks in the middle of the bay a bit difficult.

During the early 90´s the place hosted some PWA wavesailing events.

kite: when it´s good for the windsurfers it´s too windy for the kiters. But the other times it can get really good for some exciting wave kitesurfing.

other activities: there is some nice roads and tracks to ride Your bike. If You like party, You´ll be more than satisfied by what nearby Cascais and local bars have to offer.

For more infos and impressions check the info board and the galleries of the place, surf and windsurf (the pictures are a bit aged but still give some impression of what You have to expect)

accurate weather forecast:

 

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