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John Lymer Activities 23 November 2025

Words & photos - John Lymer

El Medano, Tenerife works well in October/ November. Daytime highs of 24 to 30C and nighttime lows of maybe 19C. The wind seems to be as reliable as anywhere too - Force 4 or more for 7 or 8 of my 11 days there. As keen as I am, that’s more than I want to do or can physically manage, especially with tennis elbow!

Four members and 2 wives made the trip after the success of last year’s holiday around the same time, most of them for one week.

Hire centres typically open 10am to 5pm. The wind builds from early morning and is usually enough for planing by 10.30am. It’s not unusual for people with their own kit to be on the water by 8am. That seems over keen, but maybe essential if they have to work later. Conditions suit experienced windsurfers and wingfoilers best, though there are lessons for beginners in quieter spots and at less windy times. When we were on the water it was generally Force 4 to 5, so 15 to 20 knots, a swell of 4 to 6 feet and often a shore break that demanded a bit of respect, timing and technique to get through. We managed admirably!

After lunch on the first day I changed up and was beach starting with a larger sail. In the shore break I rested the sail on my head a little. Suddenly, BANG! The panel above the boom split. That cost me 250 euros, though the 39 euros a year VDWS (German) hired kit insurance I started last year should cover all but a 50 euro excess – I’m waiting to hear about my claim. Annoying as I’m sure the sail was considerably weakened by sun damage. In fairness, after I used up my 4 flexi-days, at least the hire centre discounted an extra days hire for me - 50 instead of 110 euros.

3 of us windsurfed. Norbert wingfoiled. We hired from Tenerife Windsurf Solutions. Norbert hired from Hotel Playa Sur, where he stayed, and also the Duotone Centre. He also had an E-foil session on a day without wind.

A novelty for me was seeing 2 flying fish whizz across in front of me. Not an everyday windsurfing occurrence! Another novelty was setting off in complete darkness on a sunrise walk with Andy. We almost reached the top of the extinct volcano, Montana Roja, at the far end of the bay by official sunrise about 7.15am. And just enough light to scale the rough track up.

Mostly we ate out together at the wide range of restaurants in the town. The bay offers extensive beaches for sunbathing and swimming and preferably safely segregated from those pesky windsurfers. Even so, some bathers are completely oblivious to the hazards of mixing with boardsports!

Buses can get you to the capital, Santa Cruz, or the much nearer resorts such as Los Christianos and Playa de las Americas. Or there’s car hire or coach excursions. Weather/wind forecasts seem reliable enough so you can arrange outings on non-windy days.

Holidays seem to be a choice between a Jet2 package, or Easijet or Ryan Air flights and an apartment booked online. Then pre-book windsurf hire, or arrange it in resort and even on the day with many centres to choose from.

Later during our stay there were incidents around the island with high waves. 15 people were injured and sadly 3 died, 1 of these just a mile from where we stayed! A little after that the wind switched 180 degrees (SW’ly instead of the more normal NE’ly), heralding the arrival of a Storm Claudia which followed us back to the UK. Gusts up to 100 km/hour across parts of the Canaries were forecast and rain up to 100mm in 12 hours! We didn’t experience the rain and the tail wind cut 25 minutes off our flight home. There were certainly fewer on the water during our last day in Tenerife and sails mostly around 4.0m. There was less swell and shore break with that wind direction though. Beaches were deserted then - understandable unless you actually like being sandblasted! In some of the later photos you’ll see wind blown spray and sand from this time.

Same holiday again next year? Yes, I think we will! How about you? There are few other places in Autumn with such reliable wind and good temperatures, except maybe more expensive options such as the Caribbean, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil …?

Click on a picture to see larger images then use the arrows or swipe to scroll through them

And if you want to see more, here's what it looked like in 2024 - click

John Lymer Activities 16 November 2025

After a rainy period including Storm Claudia, which followed us home from our windsurfing trip to Tenerife, we've finally got enough water back in the reservoir for windsurfing and other sports! It's enough for all foiling, but be mindful of the former village access road which crosses from slipway to dam. This may still be slightly shallow for foils, so stay West (right) of that strip until you/we are sure.

The gauge by the valve tower now shows the water level to be 2.55 metres below full - that's up more than 2 metres in just over a fortnight! And it's still flowing in at quite a rate. Let's hope the cold spell is short lived so we can get the benefit soon!

Of course, what this also means is there's limited opportunity to help us clear the remaining trees from the headland. If you're thinking of getting involved then best get in touch and come soon!

There's still a curved floating pontoon attached to the valve tower. This was for pumping for water supply when the reservoir was very low. United Utilities have work scheduled elsewhere week commencing 17th November, so the pontoon will be removed during week commencing 24th November. UU have also cleared out a drain at the foot of Brown Wardle (hill to West of reservoir) in an effort to intercept more rainfall runoff and channel it into Watergrove.

You can also see intrepid paddleboarders Fred and Mark in 2 of the photos below - just 5C on the day I took these!

John Lymer Activities 26 October 2025

Just 5 volunteers turned out for the working party. It seems the other 80 something couldn’t spare the time, but we realise that’s the nature of clubs and volunteering. We ask you to bear in mind though, general upkeep of the club is still needed even when the reservoir is low and even if we haven’t windsurfed in a while. And some jobs are best done when the water is low.

We’ve made significant progress over the last 2 to 3 months using tree popper tools to lever up saplings without leaving roots behind. We’re working to clear a 200 metre length of the headland to the West of the car park. There are still some very small saplings and quite a few much larger stumps too. Fred and Mark have perfected their technique with straps, chain and a winch to pull out the stumps, but it’s slow work and a lot of it.

In the photo below the strip between the wheelbarrow and trees was covered in trees, many around 4 to 8 feet tall, while others were just a few inches.

Branches have been lopped off the trees below ready for the stumps to be winched out. See also the 'dead hedge' of offcuts against the bank - this is over 150 metres long!