Boucan Canot

Boucan Canot is a well-known west-coast Réunion beach in the Saint-Gilles tourist strip, with a right-hand wave break that peels outside the fringing reef when swell and north-easterly wind combine. It is also one of the beaches most associated with Réunion's shark-attack crisis: Wikipedia's list of fatal shark attacks records serious incidents here in 2011 and 2013, and surfing/riding outside the lagoon anywhere on this coast has been heavily restricted since.

waves

titled Strand von Boucan Canot (beach of Boucan Canot) — Olaf2 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

another view of the same beach, direct match — Olaf2 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

street entrance into the village of Boucan Canot — Olaf2 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Wind

season notes	Réunion's west coast is the dry, leeward side of the island, sheltered from the moister trade-wind flow that hits the east coast; the batch brief for this spot specifies it needs a north-easterly wind component to work, which is a less frequent direction than the dominant south-east trades (alizés).
wind name	north-easterly wind episodes (outside the dominant SE alizés)

Water

type	waves
currents	point/reef current at the break

Levels

beginner	no
intermediate	no
advanced	yes
notes	This is an outside-the-reef wave spot, not a learner zone; combined with the shark-risk history it is a spot for experienced local/guided riders only.

Launch & crowd

vibe	Popular Saint-Gilles tourist beach on land; in-water crowd is thin given the shark-risk history

Monthly wind statistics

Station: Saint-Paul (weatherspark.com (NASA MERRA-2 reanalysis climatology), ~6 km) — Windfinder.com 429'd on every attempt (session-wide issue, see fuwairit note). Used weatherspark.com model climatology; batch had no known_best_months to cross-check against. Saint-Paul town is the nearest covered location, ~6 km inland/south of Boucan Canot on the same west coast. Windy season (Austral winter trade-wind season) runs May 6-Sep 26, peak July at 13.4 mph, calmest November at 9.4 mph -- consistent with Reunion's known winter-trade kite season. Direction reported as 'from the east throughout the year', which is a coarse regional trade-wind signal; local thermal/lee effects on the west coast (a classic reason west-coast Reunion spots are kiteable at all despite easterly trades) are NOT captured by this model source. No Beaufort-probability or per-month wind-speed table available, so avg_knots/prob_ge_4bft_pct left null.

Month	Wind ≥4 Bft	Avg kn	Dir	Air °C	Water °C
Jan	—%	—	E	27.2	27.8
Feb	—%	—	E	27.2	27.8
Mar	—%	—	E	26.7	27.8
Apr	—%	—	E	25.6	27.2
May	—%	—	E	23.9	26.1
Jun	—%	—	E	22.2	25
Jul	—%	—	E	21.7	23.9
Aug	—%	—	E	21.7	23.3
Sep	—%	—	E	22.2	23.3
Oct	—%	—	E	23.3	23.9
Nov	—%	—	E	25	25.6
Dec	—%	—	E	26.1	26.7

Hazards

Shark risk outside the fringing reef — Boucan Canot has recorded serious/fatal shark attacks (2011, 2013) and going outside the lagoon on this coast is subject to local vigilance/restriction measures
Reef and rocks at the point
Current at the break

Rules

Water activities outside the protected lagoon on Réunion's west coast are subject to shark-risk vigilance measures introduced after a spate of attacks starting in 2011 — check current local status before riding outside the reef

Travel basics

airport	RUN Roland Garros (Saint-Denis)
accommodation	Based in the Saint-Gilles-les-Bains tourist strip

Nearby: La Saline-les-Bains (Trou d'Eau)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikivoyage.org