Liberia

On the West African Atlantic coast between Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast, Liberia is known to many only as a trouble spot. Here surfing is literally still in its infancy. Accordingly, there is hardly any equipment and little infrastructure, but there are world-class waves. After a surf trip to Robertsport in 2019, the friendly, euphoric locals and the perfect pointbreaks remained in our memories and inspired us to create "Provide The Slide“ to actively support surf communities in West Africa.

For this reason we share a special relationship with the community in Robertsport, as they are PTS' first and founding partner destination and somehow we consider Robertsport as the birthplace of Provide The Slide. The set-up in Robertsport is truly unique: you find five left-hand pointbreaks in walking distance. All of them can get epic, some of them make it into the elite top 10 waves of the planet, on their day. Combined with year-round warm water, tropical beaches and not much to worry about, it is a miracle that this area is still off the charts.

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Our partner here is the Grand Cape Mount Surf Club. Since 2019 we sent more than 80 board-sets and hosted a surfboard-repair workshop with Stefan Weckert from Kun-Tiqi in 2022. Meanwhile we have been working with Kent Bubbs Jr., one of the first surfers in Liberia and pro free-surfer Arthur Bourbon on the creation of the surf club buildings and infrastructure.

And yes indeed, the Robertsport surf community now owns a brand new Surf Club property with several buildings, which is open for business since mid 2022. The Surf Club has around 60 members, is well organized and now offers food and drinks along with surfboard hire and surf training and coaching. Soon they will offer accommodation too.

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Board repair workshop with Stefan
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Kent Bubbs Jr.
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Club house - work in progress
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The workshop crew
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Arthur Bourbon and Damien Castera

The impact of the PTS-boards and the new club infrastructure is huge! Since 2019 a large and independent surf community of men, women, boys and girls has been firmly established. They all love surfing and consider themselves as surfers, which is even more meaningful in a country which is still struggling to find and assert its identity.

Since the beginning of our activities the partnership with the Surf Club in Robertsport has shown us how a community, and the individuals who make it up, can benefit from our idea of support and cooperation. Since the early days they have impressed us with their unique approach and understanding of what surfing is and how it is performed.

Finally the world is showing more interest in the surfing-community and the unique waves in Robertsport. New organizations like Mami Wata and Waves for Change have partnered with us to be involved in delivering more support for this community. Through surfing, the future is looking up for Robertsport.

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Chris Klein
Bern | Schweiz
+41 76 69 05 473
chris@providetheslide.com

Valentin Janda
Berlin | Deutschland
+49 1577 42 10 746
tino@providetheslide.com