12 Years in Business

Blog

Today, Surf Lisbon – House & School is officially celebrating its 12 years anniversary. When we started back in October 1st, 2008, the surfing schools industry in Lisbon area was growing but nothing compared with nowadays. Opening the business was kind of dropping a wave i have never surfed before even with the large experience i gathered from working with other schools and surfing coaching. This time was different: i was the person responsible for everything and, at the moment, the only instructor.

I still remember it as if it were today from our first class at Praia da Saúde with Manuel Stone and António Eça Pinheiro. How in a few days the friends of the students’ friends also brought new students and the first groups began to form. Very special days with very special kids, today all adults and with whom I have some contact, always proud to have seen them grow as surfers but also as human beings. Those first surftrips to Vale Figueiras on the Peugueot 505 (RIP) and shortly afterwards on the Seat Alhambra (also RIP!) will last forever in my memory and in the history of Puro Surf (the name of the School at the beginning) and Surf Lisbon.

Making a reflection and looking at these last 12 years what comes to my mind and what I’m most proud of is the impact that the Surf School and later the Surf House (from 2013) came to have on the lives of many people .

Starting with the team that quickly moved from “one man show” to collective and team work, as such. Right now, we can be proud to have a collaborator working at Surf House since 2013. We can be proud of having 3 surf instructors working full time throughout the year at the Surf School, some of whom I would say for almost 10 years (the friendship with some of them goes well beyond that time). We can be proud of having close friends on the team who at some point in their lives helped us grow while helping them with some extra work. Being in this business for 12 years requires having extraordinary people working with us. I am very grateful to everyone who has passed through the various teams over the years and even more grateful to those who are currently part of it. They are passionate about what they do, they are talented in their craft, they treat customers always in a special way and do their best every day, without exception, with an irreproachable commitment to the company, to customers and to colleagues. And good surfers, of course!

The direct and immediate impact also caused to customers’ lives. This is easily noticeable when we have Portuguese clients who take classes with us almost from the beginning because Surfing has changed their lives for the better. Customers who have become friends. Customers who recommended our School to other friends and these in turn also did it to their friends. In the foreign client who visits us regularly several times a year. In the foreign client who visited Lisbon, who surfed on the beaches of Caparica, Cascais or Oeiras and who fell in love with the city, the climate, the people and who now resides here and who even married a Portuguese citizen and does in Lisbon their new life. Will there be more direct and positive impact than this?

It is to our customers that I also give a huge thanks. It is a privilege and a pride to welcome you and share the passion for Surfing with you. Thank you for believing and trusting us (in the ocean, there are days when trust is the number one condition) but also for challenging us to improve and evolve as a business and as professionals. Some of you have become friends and even advisers, allowing us to grow and learn every day. Thank you for your commitment and the relationship we have with you all.

Also thank our partners and all those who collaborate with us with their work and allow Surf Lisbon to have a clean, sustainable, credible and professional image. Be suppliers of surfboards, wetsuits, designers, programmers, surf shops, hotels or small accommodations, universities, … we grow together and help each other to achieve each other’s goals.

Last but perhaps the most important thanks. To my wife and my two children who are, without any doubt, a blessing, something greater than I could ever imagine. It is incredible the loyalty, support and affection that has always been given to me to be able to take this business forward. Thank you for accepting me as I am and who I am and for helping me to grow and prosper as an entrepreneur even when we don’t agree in certain decisions and when family time is often hampered by the business. Precisely 12 years ago, the beginning of this business changed my life forever and my gratitude will be infinite and eternal.

In a year that will be marked forever in the history of mankind and where we are currently facing a crisis on a global scale, it is time to unite with other professionals in the Surfing area (other Surf Schools, specially) and Tourism. Learn from past mistakes, take the good things that have been done and improve in a safe, sustained and above all with quality to face uncertainty and the future with optimism.

At Surf Lisbon we are prepared to make this company even stronger by finding solutions and alternatives to the current challenges both in the global scenario and in the teaching of Surfing as a physical and leisure activity but also as a differentiating experience.

See you at the beach! Happy Surfing!