4 Days Weekend Getaway Surf Camp Porto, Portugal

Overview

Onda Pura Surf School now presents an innovating program for your holidays that features beginner, intermediate and advanced surf classes at the best beaches of northern Portugal, combined with unforgettable entertainment in Oporto, a city whose beautiful downtown is part of the World’s Historical Patrimony. During the days, you will learn on how to surf like a professional in one of the best and safest beaches in Portugal. In the evenings, you may get some rest and relax in the hostel or become a party animal in Oporto's excellent nightlife right in the historic center. Onda Pura will pick you up from the Porto Airport (OPO) and drop you off either at the surf school or at your hostel.

The main goal of Onda Pura is to give you the fantastic and exciting experience of surfing. Initially, this involves giving you the basics of the technique, sea conditions, safety, and surrounding materials. Moreover, Onda Pura will guide you in the initiation and enhancement - following techniques and methods adapted pedagogical-didactic. In a later phase, the monitoring focuses on the more refined analysis on the issues of technical, tactical, and physical preparation for competition.

Beginner

Level 1

• Get to know the environment and equipment.
• Learn paddling control, catch the wave, and slide with your body (bodysurfing).
• Grasp paddling technique, seating, and turning.
• Catch the wave with the surfboard and ride it all the way to the beach lying on the surfboard.
• Get to know your stance.
• Assume the basic surf posture.
• Learn the balanced distribution of your weight on the board.
• Learn the safely stand up on the foam and get the basic surf posture on waves with a maximum 8 of 0.5 meters.
• Catch the foams without any help.
• Ride on a straight line all the way to shore.
• Learn grasping techniques of a jump off the surfboard in a motion.
• Learn to grasp and use basic safety techniques at all different stages.
• Be autonomy on waves up to a 0.5-meter high.

Theory

• Identify the location and adequate conditions for the practice of surfing while ensuring the safety of other surfers.
• Get to know the equipment and its function (surfboard, leash, wax, and wetsuits).
• Get to know safety rules in and outside of the water.
• Identify the various types of waves and their related dangers.
• Identify the tides plus breaking area and how to exit safely with or without the surfboard.

Level 2

• Grasp and use all the knowledge of the previous level.
• Be autonomous on the water with or without the surfboard.
• Know how to use various techniques on how to pass the breaking point.
• Stand up on the wall of the wave, frontside drop turn, and backside on the foam.
• Grasp paddling technique, laying down posture, and know how to apply more or less speed according to each situation.
• Turn the board while seating.
• Learn the controlled falls and efficient wave exiting of the board at the end of each wave.
• Demonstrate an efficient stance and adequate weight distribution.
• Guarantee the safety of others during the paddling to the waves, take-off, and ride.
• Manage to fully surf one wave without any help.

Theory

• Identify the best place to pass through the breaking point.
• Identify the various types of surfable waves.
• Practice and learn equipment knowledge.

Intermediate

Level 1

• Grasp all the knowledge of the previous levels.
• Take off on the lip of the wave.
• Front and back side turn one wall of the wave.
• Learn controlling techniques of passing through the breakpoint.
• Know how to pick the right waves to surf.
• Know how to exit the wave after the ride.
• Be autonomous paddle on the sea with waves superior to 0.5 meters high.
• Catch the waves by breaks with and without help.
• Execute the take-off and drop the wave in a safe way.
• Know how to apply the safety rules in and outside the water.
• Know how to stay outside and manage to pick the best quality waves to surf.

Theory

• Analyze the sea and wind conditions.
• Read the weather conditions, swell, tides, as well as wind direction and intensity.
• Know how to use tides to your advantage.
• Placement on the peak using reference points.

Level 2

• Grasp all the knowledge of the previous levels.
• Manage to execute a take-off from the lip of the wave in a smooth and safe way.
• Learn to drop.
• Learn how to change a direction of the wave (bottom).
• Learn the frontside and backside turn on the wall of the wave.
• Explore the face of the wave to execute an efficient trimming.
• Be autonomy inside, outside, and under the water on the inside and outside of waves up to 1 meter.
• Be autonomy to pick waves.

Theory

• Identify the various parts of the board and know their function.
• Know the various types of fins and how to use them.
• Identify the damage in the equipment.
• Identify the sea conditions and choose the best place to practice - taking in consideration your own skill level.
• Adapt to the picking of a surfboard in consideration to the type of surf, level, and personal physionomics.

Advanced

Level 1

• Grasp all the knowledge of the previous levels.
• Do the angle, take-off, and drop.
• Do the bottom turn as well as a frontside and backside trimming.
• Do the cutback.
• Know the rules and the priorities of snaking.

Level 2

• Grasp all the knowledge of the previous levels.
• Do the angle take-off.
• Do the frontside and backside trimming as well as frontside and backside bottom turn with a spray.
• Do the frontside pocket top turn.
• Do the frontside and backside roundhouse cutback.
• Predict the best conditions for surfing on the various types of beach breaks while considering the tides, wave direction, and weather conditions.
• Control the kick out in close outs or in the end of the ride.

Principles

Onda Pura is governed by well-defined principles. Teachers are specialized and trained in a physical education with extensive experiences in surfing. The ratio of teacher / student is 1 : 8 in practical classes. Materials are suitable for all levels of learning. Onda Pura provides uniform programs and advanced teaching techniques. Video recording is in the classroom and later in the theoretical analysis. There is a choice regarding the best times of the tides and surf zones in order to facilitate learning - a group division by levels.

Material and equipment

The surf material and equipment include wetsuits isothermal mid-range high with different thicknesses depending on the season and the student’s needs, Lycra T-shirt for signaling and differentiation of levels of students, a support framework that accompanies the course, covering all aspects from surfing beginners to competitive surfing, weather, and materials, plus hardboards (resin and epoxy) and soft boards (essential for your first contact in a total security and control) of different sizes to monitor your progress.

The team

The team that embodies on this surf camp has an extensive practical and teaching experience that contributes to that - a medium and long-term - and arises a new generation of promising surfers. The classes are taught by physical education professionals accredited by the Portuguese Surfing Federation.

Matosinhos Beach

The Matosinhos Beach is one of the most-suited beaches in Portugal for surfing lessons, ideal for beginner and intermediate surfers. This beach is characterized by fine white sand and clean water, being a stone’s throw from the hundreds of bars and seafood restaurants for which Matosinhos is renowned.

In the summer, it is a beach very requested with very easy access and lifeguard protection. From a huge cultural heritage to an endless number of beautiful beaches with a wide variety of waves for every level, Oporto is just a 15-minute away. In the north of Portugal, you will be able to surf more than 20 surf spots during your surf camp.

Get to know excellent, crowdless beach breaks where you can enjoy great surf sessions every day and all year long. In this region, you’ll find a temperate climate with consistent surf, a culturally rich city, full of surprises which will make your holidays unique.

Oporto

Oporto is a colorful city cherished as a World Heritage Site, a lively hub for all ages, sharing of culture, food, and music which makes Oporto a popular destination for tourists year upon year. With open doors, Oporto shares unique features such as the beach, riverside, important historic landmark, great gastronomy, and vibrating nightlife.

With an excellent urban trendy atmosphere, you will find a population that is known for being welcoming in a city that has the perfect size to walk by and a great transportation network. Lonely Planet, a leading international publisher of travel guides, named the city of Porto and the Douro region as one of the 10 best European travel destinations for 2013.

Distances

• The beach - 5 minutes
• Oporto - 15 minutes

+−

• Birthday party
• Cycling tours
• Fishing tours
• Music gigs in Casa da Música
• Oporto walking tour
• Pub crawl
• Sailing tours
• SUP lesson
• SUP tours
• Visit to the port wine cellars

• 3 nights’ accommodation
• Airport transfer
• All surfing equipment rental
• Daily breakfast
• Daily surfing lessons (3 surfing lessons and a free surfing session)
• Free Wi-Fi on the beach
• Health insurance
• Multilingual surfing lessons in Portuguese, English, and Spanish
• Photo / video sessions
• Professional surf instructor with fun teaching methods
• Transportation to the beach

• A reservation requires a deposit of 100% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.