The Continent guide which covers the North Sea nations, France, Spain,
Mediterranean & Morocco is an attractive looking book with its high gloss
cover of a perfect barrelling wave, making it seem so different to the
original stormrider guide now with its bent corners & dirty crinkles running
through it, providing proof it's been a well used piece of kit.

The new bi-lingual book in both English and fracais names more breaks & in
more detail than ever before, the original stormrider came out over ten
years ago and since then Europe as a surf destination has changed
considerable amounts, with ever increasing crowds in the water, causing high
tensions with locals, fuelled by the pure ease for anyone to check the swell
via the web, so the new stormrider has documented this which helps the
travelling surfer become more aware of the environments they are about to go
catching waves in, but still letting you know about more & more breaks
without giving away too much on all those secret spots that the locals
surfers treasure so much.

If you've never read a stormrider, it doesn't just tell you where the surf
is, it gives detail to the conditions it works on, hazards in and around the
break, water temp with a wetsuit guide & accurate maps. One of the most
helpful parts of the book is the detailed info on how to predict swell i.e.
reading charts and weather maps, knowing about tides and how to read the new
technologies on the surf websites, knowing how to predict and find surf is a
big part of being a surfer.

Basically I think this book is a must have for every surfer who wants to
venture off their home peak, but if you have the old version & heading down
to France and skint I wouldn't worry too much about this new one as the
oldie is still a goodie, but if you do have a spare £20 I'd definitely
recommend updating and being in the know, it will also be a guaranteed
birthday or xmas pleaser.