A good buddy of mine, a guy I've known for like 25 years, is a big-time surfer. He's filled with that intense passion that afflicts so many of his ilk. The passion is all about finding the perfect wave in the perfect place. Usually, that means a place that is NOT infested with other surfers, especially those who don't surf well. I believe the term is gremmie.

And all over the world these little surf spots are both slowly being discovered and destroyed. more so the latter than the former. I suppose that is the nature of things. As a skier, I know what it's like to lose a great hill to the trundling tards that have infested places like Mammoth.

Anyway, all this is to say that I stumbled upon this rather cool story in the Belfast Telegraph, not one of the online newspaper I check often. The piece is all about efforts by surfers to save a wee slice of beach in the Basque village of Mundaka in Spain. My friend knows this place. He's been there before. The waves there are legendary, as they break with the perfect shape of, shall we say, a Greek goddess. But no longer. As you will read, the waves one day simply stopped rolling in as they had before. It is a tragic story, and one that just might bring tears to the eyes of surfers everywhere.

Filed under: Surfing, Festivals and Events, Europe, Spain