Surf Destinations for 2010

Surf Destinations for 2010

After casting an eye over the current surfing landscape, Rhys Stacker lays out the best waves of 2010 and when to find them.

IT’S HARD TO BE a serious surfer without also being a serious traveler. As fun as it is to surf your local beach, it’s the chance that perfect waves are just around the next corner — or around the world — that keeps us on the road.

[Editor's note: Once you're finished checking out the spots below, make sure to visit Matador's surfing resources page].

Peniche, Portugal

Each year Rip Curl holds its premier WCT surf contest, The Search, at a different break around the world. Past locations have included Bali, Mexico, and Chile. In 2009 it was Peniche, a quaint fishing town about 1.5 hours north of Lisbon.

If the experience of past destinations are anything to go by, Peniche is likely to see an influx of traveling surfers keen to score the same waves they watched the world’s best compete in.

Peniche once had the distinction of being one of the smelliest surfing spots in the world due to local fish processing plants. Thankfully the factories have been cleaned up, but the world-class waves remain, the result of an undersea ledge that consistently produces hollow waves in clean swells.