Free Camping

The key to successful free camping is not to take the piss. Be subtle and keep tidy, respecting the locals. Putting up a tent makes it looks a bit obvious, so if you have to do it, put it up late and take it down early (pop up tents are ideal). If you make it too obvious what you’re doing, you will risk being moved on at 3:00am by the police, although this is pretty rare.

Many key windsurf or surf spots have large van communities where it’s clear that free camping is accepted, however the police will intervene by moving you on if it’s obvious free campers are getting lazy, making a mess, lots of noise or making camp a little too permanent. One of the few times I have been moved on was when I parked up 100 metres from a campsite – we got woken up by some friendly Spanish police at 6.00am, but ended up having an amazing dawn surf as a result. Make friends with the other windsurfers as most will have plenty of experience on where it is good and sheltered to pitch up.