Good times at "Lombos Praia" in Carcavelos
Surfdrive Portugal
The idea for a surf drive in Portugal had been in our heads for quite some time. After all, surfing is practically a national sport there, Ericeira is a world surfing reserve and the quality of the waves and climate attract many surfing enthusiasts from all over the world.
Kepa Acero put us in touch with Tiago Pires, who was immediately taken with the idea and actively supported us and our project and did a lot of advertising for us.
When we set off, we realised once again how far away Portugal unfortunately is from us... In 2 weeks we drove more than 5000 km.
We started our surf drive at a leisurely pace in the Boardriders Store in Ericeira with a film screening of our Sere film, Arthur Bourbon's film "Water get no enemy" and a discussion round with Tiago Pires and Rita from Soma, who talked about her project on São Tomé. As there was an incredibly busy surfing programme in Ericeira at the same time with the WSL Tourstop, a surf flea market with Shapers Talk and co, the crowds were still limited.
We then collected boards at the ASCC surf club in Caparaica, the Lombos Praia surf club in Carcavelos, the surf club in Ericeira and the surf camp in Peniche. We had incredibly nice encounters and met many people who were very committed to us and did everything they could to ensure that we could return home with a full van. We also benefited partly from the rivalry between the surf clubs, who wanted to outdo each other in the number of boards they collected ☺.
We also had an incredible event in Santa Cruz at Noah's Surfhouse, which was organised and sponsored by Dan. There was another film screening on the cosy roof terrace with an ocean view of a stunning sunset, followed by a delicious barbecue buffet and drinks. The invited guests donated and even Adriano de Sousa was among the guests.
Finally, we had one last event in Porto, at the Picaba Natural Café. The Onda Pura surf school had already collected surf stuff for us there in advance. Once again, we showed the films and had a very nice discussion with Tiago, in which a few former volunteers from Soma on São Tomé also took part, as well as a family who surfed with our partner Mr Brights in Ghana for a long time.
As we had to make the long journey back straight after the event in Porto and the number of boards we had collected was already filling up our van, we made the right decision before the event in Porto and left around 50 boards in Portugal, which were shipped from Lisbon to our new destination Angola in February 2024. This was a good decision, as our van was completly filled in Porto.
So we drove back home with around 150 boards, lots of great experiences, inspiring encounters and the memory of many good waves surfed and filled our garage to the last place. A large number of the collected boards are now in use in Senegal and Angola. In Catanas Point in Angola, we were able to attend the handover to the surf club on our PTS surf trip in May 2024. But that's another story....
Many thanks to all the people involved who supported us so actively. First and foremost Tiago Pires! And of course to all the numerous donors! We would love to come back, it was a pleasure ☺