By cojones , 19-03-2009

sweet & sour - cotillo can be so super sweet - but it can be so nasty.
a lot of the sand that had been in cotillo up to 2005 is now gone - drastic winter storms have taken it off and a lot of rocks are now visible in the sand. the first section of the beach used to be super sweet and soft even on bigger days, but these days it gets really nasty and when the swell gets big you just get close outs and a mean rip towards the harbour which you need to escape in case you do not want to get in trouble. in addition to that all of the surf schools will go to cotillo - so on a weekday you have up to 40 young guns in the water with boards flying around.
if you are serious about your surfing go to the southern part of the beach. you still get better wave quality there due to more sand, but take care: the incoming tide will push you towards the rocks and so will the rip.
i have a love/hate relationship with cotillo: some of the best rides i had, i had them there, but ....

By Anonymous , 17-02-2009

Ed - One of the heaviest beach breaks ever when its on...the shoredump from hell...i nearly snuffed it there bigtime...

By Anonymous , 04-12-2008

It can be really heavy! - NYE 02/03,6-8 ft(I've surfed all over the world but never seen power like it) I saw a gap between sets and paddled hard, got caught in a mega rip, took me right round towards the harbour, when I finally managed to get back to the impact zone, snapped my leash and lost my board on the first wave( huge closeout) and got held under from 20-30 seconds from every wave, after finally washed up on the rocks 15 mins later, just as the coastguard chopper arrived. I thought I was dead that day. Don't go in if it's closing out!