Text: Fabian Grundmann
The main holiday season for Mauritius is actually late summer, with the months from April to October being a reliable wind and wave season. However, according to the usual warnings, Mauritius is not a tip in the height of winter. To escape the nasty winter in Kiel and make good use of our parental leave, we nevertheless booked this destination with our two children (aged 5 and 1) - and were not disappointed.
Of course, we travelled with our own equipment, but limited ourselves to a minimum contingent of two sails (5.0 and 4.4 square metres) and a 94-litre waveboard. Of course, Mauritius has more to offer than great windsurfing conditions: Tropical forests, national parks, nature reserves with crocodiles and giant tortoises as well as other geological highlights offer enough variety to get you through some slack days without getting bored. In addition, the warm climate always offers the opportunity to go snorkelling or simply relax on the beach. We spent a lot of time at the Manawa/One Eye surf spot, as the temperatures inland were almost unbearable. The thermals often prevailed, even when the forecast was bad. It also rained sometimes, but not often and rarely heavily.
In general, the wind in Mauritius always blows much stronger in the well-known Le Morne lagoon than outside on the reef. I was often able to glide inside with the 5.0 and then bob around in the line-up outside, trying to catch one of the lines. The great thing is that due to the offshore angle, you still have real pressure in the sail on the wave - I sometimes had over 50 km/h on the speedometer when riding the waves in One Eye, even though the basic wind was only blowing at 12-15 knots.
As parents, we both wanted to get out on the water, so we split the windy days into 60-minute sessions. This meant that despite childcare, learning to walk and swim, swimming and snorkelling, we both managed to go windsurfing almost every day. Sometimes one of us even managed two rounds of surfing. Even on "bad days", the conditions were many times better than what northern European spots can usually offer. The clean waves, the summer temperatures, the angle of the wind - and the perfect reef! A challenging but also paradisiacal mix. But if you're unsure about wave riding, current surfing and dune surfing, you'd better stay in the lagoon! A local photographer accompanied me to Manawa on a medium-high day to take a few souvenir photos. I had 60 minutes to surf something in front of the lens. Memories that will last forever!
Manuel Vogel
Editor surf
