Salinas (Castrillón) — local surf knowledge

The wave

Salinas is a long beach break in the municipality of Castrillón, next to the Avilés estuary. It faces north-west and is one of the beaches with the longest surfing tradition in Asturias.

  • Type of wave: beach break, peaks spread along the sand
  • Workable size: it works on less size than San Lorenzo; its best range is when San Lorenzo is between 0.6 and 1.5 m
  • Too big: when San Lorenzo shows 1.5 m or more, too much swell gets in here and it stops working

Swell direction

  • Best: the same as San Lorenzo — NW–NNW arrives clean and ordered
  • It also works on a northerly swell; from the east it is sheltered

Period

  • 8 s minimum: below that the wave arrives with no power or order
  • From 12 s it works perfectly

Wind

  • Offshore (ideal): SE wind (~145°); the beach points further west than San Lorenzo, so its offshore is rotated compared to that one
  • From the east: a wind that is bad at San Lorenzo can be good here, because it comes in almost offshore
  • Onshore (bad): NW–N wind; the beach is open and suffers it like San Lorenzo, messing up and flattening the wave unless it is very light

Tide

  • Best on a high or mid tide
  • It can work on any tide: low water does not cancel it out, it only takes away