Surfing in France in March

Conditions in March

Water temp. : 13 °C
Wetsuit : 4/3 mm, boots advised

March is the last month of the winter pattern. The lows are further apart than in January and the gaps between them longer, so a week here can hold a solid swell and two days of nothing.

The water runs late. Air temperature turns in March and the sea takes another six weeks to follow, so the beach can be pleasant at midday while the ocean is still at 13°C. Anybody who packs for spring gets cold.

Five months of storms have finished with the sand by now, and March is when the banks are at their least predictable of the year. Two beaches a kilometre apart can be a good wave and a shorebreak on the same tide, and no forecast tells you which is which.

Learning in March

For learning : Off season

Still too much. Winter water and the worst-shaped banks of the year, which is the combination that puts people off the sport.

Where a beginner goes in March

These spots are reachable all year. What the month changes is the size of the waves, not the access.

For an experienced surfer

Surf : Good

Swell without a crowd and without a queue on the good bank, as long as you will look at four beaches before choosing one.

How March compares

All twelve months, side by side

Where these figures come from

Air, rain and sunshine: WMO / NOAA 1991-2020 normals for Agadir Al Massira, a station some twenty kilometres inland and so a little warmer than the coast in summer. Swell, period and share of workable wind: Swell Archive and surf-forecast. Water temperature: seatemperature.org and weather-and-climate. Crowds and prices are an editorial judgement, not a measurement.