Surfing in Costa de Caparica

This was the summer when my dream of surfing finally became reality.

I’ve been dreaming of surfing for years. YEARS. I have been traveling to surfed dream destinations like Florida and Australia, and yet I never managed to even try it. I want to put a bit of the blame to my travel companions who didn’t want to do that, but part of it is also mine.

Last year, on my Camino, I stayed a night in a surf house in Porto. The house was actually filled with Germans who did their best to convince me to stay and surf with them. I was determined to continue my Camino, so the next morning I followed my plans, packed my stuff and continued walking. When I was returning from my Camino, all exhausted, I tried contacting a few surf camps close to Lisbon, but either didn’t get a reply or they were fully booked. I was exhausted after the Camino and ended up just strolling around Lisbon and waiting for my flight (as you already know, if you have read my Camino posts).

This summer I finally just decided to do it. I booked me and friend a surfhouse randomly from close to Lisbon. There was plenty of options to choose from and they all seemed pretty good. By a chance we ended up to Lost Caparica Surfhouse which ended up to be perfect.

We arrived late at night, got a pick-up from the airport and pretty much just went straight to bed.

The daily schedules were pretty much the same for the most of the days (the variation in the times was due to the high and low tide). The yoga was at 8am, the breakfast 8-10am, the surf lessons from 12pm and 17pm, then something for dinner, a glass of wine and then sleep.

The yoga was vinyasa style, a bit different from ashtanga that I’m usually doing. I attended it on the first day, but gave up after that. After being way exhausted on the first day I remembered that the yoga teacher I studied with during my Camino said to me when he cut my series into a fifth of what it used to be:

“Your body isn’t strong enough.” Back then that translated in my head into: “You’re body isn’t strong enough for both, yoga AND the Camino.” I remembered his words and decided to do the same I did on the Camino: concentrate on what I was actually there for.

The surf lessons always started the same way. We went to the surf school premises, got our wetsuits on, got our boards and then we walked to the beach. It’s not easy to carry a surfboard. We usually carried the boards in couples: two of us and two boards. The walk was several hundred meters and on the hot sand it felt endless. When we got the right place on the beach, we did some warming up before teachers started our theory part, which was usually very short.

On the first day our “theory part” was on how to get up on the board. We tried it several times on the shore. We got two different versions of it. And I must admit that despite my background in snowboarding and ashtanga, that was hard. I felt like my body was not doing what it was supposed to and it felt a little frustrating.

After a while we got in the water. On the first days the teachers chose the waves for us and pushed us into those, telling us when to do what. On the first day it was just when to get up.

The first day the waves felt pretty scary. They were high and felt really powerful. It was my first time ever surfing and I admit that I didn’t feel comfortable with waves that high. I fell from the board plenty of times. I didn’t get myself up on the board. I swallowed a fair amount of salt water and just kept falling off the board every single time I was pushed into a wave.

I ended up spending good part of the morning lesson in a waist high water just holding my board on the water. I felt I needed to get familiar with the waves. It felt comforting. After a while I went back in, but the waves had gotten bigger. They were big enough so the teacher actually made me dive through the waves with my board instead of pushing me over it. It felt a bit strange, but fun.

After the lesson was over, I was exhausted. My friend was too, so we skipped the afternoon lesson. I would’ve felt like a complete failure if I didn’t know from my earlier experiences and science I’ve read that I would actually do a lot of learning while sleeping. We spent the afternoon having a nice meal and doing some mandatory shopping.

The next days the waves were smaller and I did both lessons. Day by day I felt more and more comfortable in the water and I did a lot of learning. I talked with the other surfers, I asked questions from our teachers, and I tried endlessly. Everytime I fell, I got back on the board. Eventually, on the third day, I started to actually get up on the board. To the point where I didn’t fall off anymore.

Our lessons were on beachbreak and I took up a habit of riding the waves to the very end. So when I did, I actually stepped down from the board. Literally. I stepped down to the ankle deep water. I imagine it was pretty graceful way of doing it, instead of falling off all the time. On the fourth day I didn’t get my hair wet anymore and the days emphasis was on turning. It was the fourth day and I was already turning! I was damn proud of myself. My expectations had been that I might get up on the board like twice during the whole four days, but I got way further than that.

The time in between the lessons was about getting lunch from a beach restaurant and rest. It was about drinking some water. (Or sports drinks for me, I’m not good with drinking enough water, so that’s there to help me out. A habit I learned last year on the Camino.)

The evenings for us were about getting a shower to wash off the sea water, make some dinner and then go to sleep. The other people at the camp had their party mood on, they ate a little later than we did and then went to pubs and clubs and some nights they went all the way to Lisbon. We didn’t leave the premises, we stayed there and slept well.

On Thursday evening there was a BBQ night organized by the house. It was amazing. The food was so good and we were all together there, enjoying the food and wine and company. I think it was one of the best nights of the trip. It’s usually when you end up socializing with people and have meaningful conversations that make the difference.

All in all the experience was amazing. With all the amazing teachers we had from the Search School and the amazing volunteers at the surfhouse, it was as relaxing as something like that can be.

After four days we left for a few days in Lisbon before heading home.

You can read more about my Lisbon experiences on the previous (Camino related) posts as I’m not sure there’s much to tell this time. I spent time strolling around the familiar streets. I stayed in the same hostel as last time (Living Lounge). I went to Decathlon to get me new running shoes. I ate at the same restaurants. I met with old friends rather than made new ones. In many ways it was like coming home.

For a first time surfer going to a camp like this was a great way to get started! I also took the time and wrote my own tips and tricks that will make it a bit easier and more fun for you! I’ll be posting that next week, so stay tuned!

(For the pictures taken at the beach, thanks to Anna Vuoriola. For the first one where I'm surfing thanks to the photographer who still remains anonymous for me.)