Africa

Wind, swell & tides for Africa

Mediterranean Africa

This arid north-facing coastline relies on storms and cold fronts sweeping eastwards through the Mediterranean basin, driving windswell from the W, NW and N. The majority of these storms occur in December, January, February and March. The dominant wind in the northern Med, the Mistral, is the greatest swell producer, sending out NW pulses to Tunisia, Libya and sometimes as far as Egypt. Localised storms can bring windswell from all points of the compass and there is a name for most wind directions. The due N Tramontana brings N swell to Algeria, but the winter Poniente pattern will come from the SW-W, delivering swell to Europe. The Ionian sea can produce 24hr swells out of the SE for Tunisia when dust-laden Sirocco winds blow out of the desert. All swells are usually short-lived, with a brief window of clean surf before the passing storm blows out exposed coasts, forcing a search for sheltered spots in a dropping swell scenario. There is an anti-cyclonic current running west to east across the north coast of Africa, but with micro-tides in the 0.37m range, when there is swell, waves are on tap all day.

Northwest Africa

The northwest African coast from Morocco to Senegal, receives exactly the same North Atlantic swells that provide Europe’s surf. The best location for swell-producing low pressures is between Nova Scotia and Iceland, especially if they drift south, closer to the Azores. North Africa has an ideal NW orientation, and Morocco in particular picks up plenty of winter swell from November-March. The harmattan NE trade winds blow parallel to the coast, favouring the abundant rights that pepper the coast in Morocco, the Canary Islands and all the way down to Senegal. May-November brings more N winds, which are bad for Morocco and the Canaries, but fine for the S-SW-facing breaks of Cape Verde and Senegal. These strong summer N-NE winds can whip up surprisingly large windswell for the east coasts of the islands but are obviously accompanied by onshore winds, making them very popular with windsurfers. Africa’s Saharan coastline is the only true area of upwelling in the North Atlantic and is scoured by the Canaries Current, a consistently cool offshoot from the main North Atlantic, clockwise circulating, surface current. This water started its Trans-Atlantic journey in the Gulf Stream off Florida, on the same latitude, but lost 8ºC (14ºF) on the way. Macro tides in North Morocco quickly drop to micro in Mauritania and the whole Atlantic coastline of Africa is semi-diurnal even.

West Africa

Most West African countries south of Senegal’s Almadies peninsula rely on swell from the constantly raging storms that track between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, half a world away in the southern ocean. The strongest of these South Atlantic swells can make it as far as the Cape Verde islands, but swell decay is a big issue for all countries north of the equator. The west-facing coast of this region can receive remnants of storm activity off the SE coast of USA and some swell off the backend of hurricanes travelling west to the Caribbean, but it is wholly unreliable. When long-range winter S swells do arrive, between April and September, they usually coincide with the SW monsoon bringing light onshores and an intense rainy season to the Gulf of Guinea. These swells are generally small, but very clean and organised, with long periods, providing fun peeling waves in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana. Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon suffer from lower wave heights thanks to the draining influence of the continental shelf in the continent’s “armpit”. The same harmattan N winds blow straight offshore from Dec-April, shaping perfect, small beachbreaks, but it’s often flat during these months. The water temperatures are no surprise, radiating warmth from the Guinea Current, which flows down to the Benguela Current off Angola. Spring tides can reach 2m.

Equatorial Africa

The South Atlantic is notable for its lack of tropical storm activity because it doesn’t have the contrast in sea and air temperatures to get a storm spinning enough to become a hurricane. This makes the south and west-facing shores of equatorial Africa a little unexciting compared to other areas near the equator. Sao Tome, Gabon and Congo are all dependent on S-SW swells marching up the Benguela Current corridor in the depths of winter, so June-August will be the best months to guarantee enough size. Angola has better exposure adding the shoulder seasons and extending the winter from April-Oct, coinciding with the southerly winds that often blow out the surf in this region by midday. SE winds blowing up from Namibia can create some windswell for S-facing spots when it glasses off. 2.1m tides in Gabon.

Southern Africa

The water temp drops severely because of the Benguela Current, but the surf gets bigger and more consistent in Namibia. Often shrouded in dense sea mist and sometimes plagued by SW onshores, Namibia nevertheless holds the promise of challenging waves in a challenging frontier. Once again, the cross/offshore SE winds and large coastal desert combine to provide the world’s biggest area of upwelling. As the name suggests, you can’t get closer to the Southern Ocean storms than South Africa. Consistent SW swells together with SW winds spray the coast from Cape Town to Durban then keep on giving by sending first S then SE swells all the way up the Mozambique Channel. Winters get cold and windy, but the long coastline conceals plenty of classic surf tucked away in bays, including the planet’s best right pointbreak. As the lows march eastwards, the swell and wind directions change, but the SW winter and SE summer patterns are fairly reliable, as is the NE sea breeze that picks up strength from November to April. Cyclone swell is always a possibility for the eastern provinces of South Africa and Mozambique, during the tropical storm window from November to April. Benguela’s icy grip is loosened across the southern coast of Africa as the warm Agulhas Current heralds the arrival of the Indian Ocean. Flowing out of the NE, the Agulhas Current is only 100km wide off the Transkei coast and is one of the fastest-flowing currents in the world at around 9km/h. Tides hit 3m on the Western Cape but 1-2m is more normal for the rest of SA, until the 4m macro tides of the Mozambique channel.

Eastern Africa

Since Mozambique and Madagascar cut off the supply of southern ocean swells to Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia, this East African coastline relies on high pressure systems settled over Mauritius, to drive windswell in from the SE. The stronger SW monsoon typically sees SE winds blowing on the edge of the high, creating a regular 6-12ft windswell, mostly from June to September, which diminishes to 3-6ft by the time it reaches the coast. Most of that swell arrives with the strong SE onshores, so rights wrapping around reefs create the only options for side/offshore conditions. The weaker NE monsoon that blows from December to March does produce occasional windswells, but exposure is far from ideal and countries like Kenya remain mostly flat during the high tourist season. This is also cyclone season when powerful E-SE swells may show up, despite the bulk of the swell usually following the storm’s parabola and heading southwards. North of the equator, cyclones in the Arabian Sea form up in May-June and October-December which can affect the Horn of Africa and possibly a bit of action for northern Kenya. This zone is fed by the large South Equatorial gyre and the East African Coastal Current flows from south to north, getting warmer as it heads into the Arabian Sea. Big tides up to 4m all along this coast.