Some surf schools start from a business plan. Penas Surf School started from a surfer — Rui Baptista, known as Penas, with over 30 years in the water. And it has about the shortest address a surf school can have: Avenida Menéres 207, directly facing Matosinhos beach. Cross the road and you are on the sand.
Where they teach
Home is Matosinhos beach, in Porto — a long urban sand-bottom beach with direct access from the city. It is one of the most consistent spots in the North for beginners: there is almost always something coming in, and the inside whitewater is where you learn to stand up.
When the sea does not work there, they move. It is a small decision that says a lot: instead of teaching where it is convenient, they teach where the sea is best that day.
From 8 to 80
Private and group lessons, from first day to advanced, and the age range they advertise is literal: 8 to 80. They are open all year, 9am to 6pm — not a high-season school that closes in September.
What is on paper
This part is not glamorous, and it is the part that separates a school from a person with boards. Penas holds:
- Portuguese Surf Federation registration — no. 394;
- Leixões Port Authority licence — no. 466;
- Personal accident insurance and public liability insurance;
- instructors holding an official Surf Trainer certificate.
Anyone entering the water with a licensed school is covered. Anyone entering with someone who is not, is not — and usually finds that out on the day something goes wrong.
And there is one proof that is on no piece of paper: at the Matosinhos Surf School Cup — a team contest between the city's surf schools, one coach and four students per team — Penas won three consecutive stages and the title. You do not win three stages in a row with one good student; you win them with a group that shows up.
Booking a lesson
Penas Surf School is on Surf Booking. You see real availability, the forecast for your lesson's hour and the level it is taught at — and you book without phone calls.