Do you like travelling in a camper van or motorhome and rarely get on a plane with your bag and baggage? Brittany is usually a bit too rough for you with the family, the Alpine lakes still too fresh at Easter? Tarifa? The journey too far? And let's say you already know Sardinia like the back of your hand? Then let's go: to the Mediterranean coast of southern France! Hardly any other region is blessed with more windsurfing spots over such a long distance: Basically from Perpignan, just before the Spanish border, to Nice, just before the border with Italy.
Many windsurfers have a rough idea of the region and have heard of the prevailing, strong winds called Mistral and Tramontana that bless this region all year round. But hardly anyone knows this 500-kilometre stretch of land as well as local and photographer Jean Souville. On behalf of surf, he travelled the spots in 2016, took heaps of beautiful pictures, structured the whole thing and divided the attractive coastline into three sections.
These three spot guides provide all the information you need to decide where to go. There really should be something for everyone here: whether you're a beginner or intermediate, a flat-water heater, a trickster or even a wave freak. There is something for everyone on this stretch of coast.
Leucate and the Lac de la Ganguise as an alternative
Leucate
Leucate is a very family- and camping-friendly destination in the south of France. If you're not necessarily looking for sideshore waves like in Carro near Marseille, but prefer flat water (or, for example, have kids with you), you're in good hands here. In the last 25 years, there has been a planing wind here on average 40 per cent of the days of the year, often with over 25 knots. Then it can get too windy, especially for beginners, even on the sheltered and sometimes shallow Étangs. Speed freaks and strong-wind tricksters then get their money's worth with offshore Tramontana on the Mediterranean side - for example between La Franqui and Port la Nouvelle. Endless heating just a few metres from the water's edge: as a flat water fan, you have to experience it once. When the onshore wind called Marin sets in, the spot is almost unrecognisable - a moderate surf builds up. You can camp self-sufficiently and inexpensively for 15 euros a day (with fresh water and waste water) in Le Goulet, directly at the Wesh Centre run by ex-worldcupper Julien Taboulet and his wife Caroline.
Lac de la Ganguise
In 2018, surf editor Julian Wiemar was able to experience that the south of France is not only attractive on the coast during a three-day lull on the beach at La Franqui. During the doldrums-plagued European Cup in Leucate, voices with French accents whispered to him about 4.7 sails and whitecaps on turquoise fresh water - that not too far away, at that moment, everyone on the coast was bored, staring out at the almost windless Mediterranean and waiting for the next Tramontana to arrive. Unfortunately, this is supposed to happen from time to time, especially in spring, when there are always phases in the Leucate region when there is hardly a breeze on the coast for a few days at a time and only a faint breath of onshore wind (Marin) fans across the sea. Should such a phase occur during the ten-day stay in the Easter holidays, this is both a curse and a blessing. A curse for those who stay on the coast - and a blessing for those who have heard of the hidden, turquoise salvation called Lac de la Ganguise in the hinterland of Leucate.
On sunny days when the Tramontana is not raging, the inland area often warms up more than the Mediterranean off Leucate due to solar radiation. This creates a pressure gradient and an inland air current builds up during the day, which is extremely focussed and accelerated here by special topographical conditions in the form of a swathe between two mountain ranges. And the extremely colourful wonder known as Lac de la Ganguise lies almost exactly in this aisle.
You can hardly believe your eyes when you drive over the last hilltop crowned with rapeseed fields, suddenly warmer air shoots past the window and you see the turquoise-green shimmering lake in the middle of the fields - and actually realise that white whitecaps are dancing all over it.
On the south side, you can park and board at the Castelnaudarien sailing club, on the north side at a small, wild headland ("Playa lago gangusse" on Google Maps). Even though the spot on the north side is relatively narrow, experience has shown that the wind blows more consistently there and you can let off steam until late in the afternoon. In the evening, the camping auberge on the south side is recommended - a place of tranquillity in the midst of nature where you can spend quiet nights. And it invites you to fire up the barbecue with a view of the lake and round off the evening.
