I’ve just returned from nine days in Morocco. I went to settle a score with the Moroccan swell. Taghazout was the first place I ever surfed after getting to grips with it in Bali in Jan ’25—and safe to say, I was humbled. I spent five days in the washing machine before joining GSC to level up.

I’m very pleased to report that my beef with the Moroccan swell has now been squashed.

The UK trips with GSC since Sri Lanka have seriously paid off. I felt so much stronger and more confident in the water, especially when it was bigger.

After a disastrous start—with highlights including my rucksack being run over at the airport, and arriving two hours past my hostel check-in during a complete blackout—I woke up to a very windy Imsouane.

I’ve wanted to surf this wave for a while now, but sadly it was completely blown out on the first day. There was nobody in the water all morning, which is crazy given how busy this spot usually is.

I did, however, get to meet the brilliant Harry Jowett-Spring, who was also in town hosting a retreat. We had a great catch-up over coffee, and I’m really excited to hopefully surf with him soon and get some coaching.

I eventually managed to catch a few waves on Saturday morning before heading to Taghazout.

Taghazout

In Taghazout, I stayed at Amayour Surf & Yoga Camp. It was super central, with beautiful food and great people. However, I was a little underwhelmed by the variety of spots we visited.

The group was around 30 people on some days, with roughly 25 beginners, so the intermediate group was sometimes sent out to get on with it independently.

That said, I did get some time with head coach Ismail, who was amazing. He gave me great feedback on my stance, and we worked on positioning and going over the back of the wave.

We ended up surfing at Taghazout Beach/Bay, which was a fun 2–3 ft on some days, but super dumpy and shallow on others (I definitely hit the bottom a few times!). We also went back to Imsouane for a day trip when it was working much better—lots of fun on a 9 ft board that day.

We surfed at Anza on one of the WSL Taghazout Pro lay days and spotted a few pros out practising. I saw Alys Barton surfing twice on the trip—and she’s now in the final! We also had a day at Tamri, which was interesting, with some heavy 5 ft+ clean-up sets coming through, but also some amazing 3–4 ft waves.

Boards & Progress

I switched between a 9 ft Torq (2+1), a gorgeous old beat-up 9 ft single fin, and my lowest-ever volume board—a 7'6" NSP funboard (which I swear said 46L?).

I definitely caught my best waves on the funboard and was really happy to surf something that felt more responsive than my foamie (sorry Brad, the board).

Final Thoughts

I’ll definitely be back in Morocco next year. It’s getting busier for sure, but it’s always a good time.

Time to rest my noodle arms, ready for the next trip…