Essaouira · Sports & events

The trade wind blows hardest from April to September; schools on the main beach rent gear and teach beginners over three or four sessions.

The bay hosts wave and freestyle events through the windy months, with the sand as a free grandstand and the town filling up around it.

Pick-up games run the length of the sand every evening as the water drops; visitors get waved in, and the wind picks the worse end.

Botola football runs roughly August to May and the national side draws the whole square; cafés put screens outside and chairs face one way.