PT - Surf’s up! Portugal promoted as surf destination in California
“We want to promote the connection between Portugal and California through surfing”
Portugal’s stunning beaches and increasingly famous waves were promoted last week in California, one of the world’s leading surf destinations. The event served as a prelude to the Global Wave Conference, an event focusing on surf, sustainability and innovation which will take place between October 2-5 in Ericeira, Nazaré and Peniche.
“Portugal has positioned itself in recent years as a surf destination,” said Francisco Rodrigues, president of the National Association of Surfers, in an interview with Lusa news agency in San Diego, USA. “We’re not just talking about the practice of surfing itself; there’s a whole lifestyle around it.”
He was speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Surf Industry Sustainability in California and Portugal’ conference, which was held at the University of San Diego and was attended by surfers, professors, environmental activists, entrepreneurs and students.
The conference was organised by the Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco in a bid to strengthen the connections between Portugal and California through surf and ocean conservation.
“As I often say, California is Portugal on steroids,” said Portugal’s Consul-General in San Francisco, Pedro Pinto. “It’s four times larger, (has) four times more population, but there are many similarities, and there is a natural empathy,” he said.
“This is something we work on to promote mutually beneficial synergies at a political and economic macro level, but it’s also important to do this at the local level.”
Pinto explained that the idea for the conference was to “raise Portugal’s profile in California through an issue that unites the two West coasts, the West Coast of the United States, which is California, and the West Coast of Europe, which is Portugal.
“The idea was to use surf as a tool for raising awareness in promoting sustainability,” the Consul-General added. “We thought it was an interesting path within this logic of bridging Portugal and California, which have many similarities.”
But these similarities also mean that they also share the same challenges.
“One of them is coastal protection, another is the use of offshore renewable energies,” he explained. “This is something we increasingly see as relevant; this connection between Portugal and California, and (we want) to promote that through surfing as well.”
During the conference, the concept of “surfonomics” was discussed, an area in which Portugal has grown, according to Pedro Pinto.
“These days, you not only see many people surfing, but you also see surf schools, and there’s a whole small industry around it that benefits restaurants, people who rent houses, and so on,” he said.
The growth of Portugal’s ‘surfonomics’ has been aided by the coastal town of Nazaré, which has become world-famous for its huge waves.
