But those massive waves slamming onto the fantastic rock formations at Capo Testa were not our league at this time. Even more so as the winds came too much onshore at the beaches in this area.

So we stuck to Porto Pollo, used the only windless day for an excursion to the nearby Arcipelago Maddalena and otherwise windsurfed our brains out.

The crossing back to the mainland was easy. This time we had taken our sleeping bags to deck and spent the night at the outside deck. When we reached Genua we were covered with snow as a - for this area- very rare heavy snowfall plagued the locals. Traffic on the roads almost completely broke down as local drivers werde not prepared to drive on snow covered roads.

So the windsurf legend of Porto Polle proved to be true, but we started to get more interested in windsurfing in real waves and turned our focus on the Atlantic. So we forgot a bit about the qualities of the island. But a friend of mine kept going to the island almost once a year and came back with stories about good waves, perfect sideshore wavesailing and even decent surf conditions. That got me interested again and in the mid nineties I started to visit the island again.

But that very successfull first trip must have consumed all my luck concerning wind and wave conditions. Even though I came in the right time of the year which is autumn to spring I was plagued by a windless and flat ocean. The most I got was some very few days with force four winds and kneehigh waves. The beautifull landscapes and nice mountainbiking and snorkeling on the island didn´t really work as a substitute for the calm seas.

On the other hand I continuously heard and read stories about parfect wavesailing, epic surf sessions and I saw the pics as a prove.

So I got more and more obsessed with the desire to score solid windsurfing and surfing on the island. I regurarely checked the weather forcast sites and yes, there is plenty of wind and waves to hit the islands shores and I was just very unlucky during my visits in the past decade.

Finaly I gave it another try during March 2006 in the hope that my flatness and windless spell was over.

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