Hi Jim
I live here and that's one of my surf spots. The island never does what it's supposed to do with regard to wind and sometimes what you see on line isn't representative of the true facts. Any of the wind prediction sites will always be wrong as to what's actually happening at Soto as it's got it's own weather system due to the topography of the surrounding area. Even on days where the sites say they'll be no wind you can usually find yourself hanging on for dear life to a 4.5 or less by 3 or 4 in the afternoon when the thermals kick in. If you're bringing your own gear then make sure you get some water time at Matas Blancas a few kilometres north. I was there again today and had a fanatastic time once the wind kicked in but when we arrived it was only 8/9 knots and then, as always, it slowly built. Plenty enough for a few runs down to Costa Cama then a nice long blast down to Rene Egli and back. If you fancy doing that run you need to get a couple of kilometers out to avoid to dead zones the hotels on the bluffs create. For out and out speed you can't beat the flat waters of Matas. There's a nice kick at the southern end of the bay for those couple of extra knots but heading north make sure you gybe before the bluff as it dies rapidly or head out a bit and get the kick from the wind change.
Your get some nice waves to play in at the southern end of the laggon where Mistral have a centre to hire gear from. Soto tends to be more cross than offshore and (Risco del Paso) will often be straight off and and can catch out the unwary when it picks up to an force 8 in the afternoon but I don't think a man of your experience need worry.
Just had a look back on my records for days surfed and for April 2013 I had 9 and for 2014 I had 16 and I surf everday there's wind. This years average is 19.25 so you can see that April can be a bit hit and miss.
The Lagoon is great fun when it's full so you might want to check on the Egli site to see if that coincides with your planned trip. Great fun blasting along like a possesed demon carving your way through the beginners. I feel it creates ambition but others just reckon I'm a hooligan. Makes me smile. I've got a special fin I've cut down to 100 cm so you can make the most of the water as it can get a bit shallow in places.Most of Egli's stuff is wave and freestyle based and not too much speed set ups but excellent gear that they renew every six months. Great for me as I go down and get almost new stuff whenever I break something at a huge reduction.
Hope all the above is of use.
Paul
|