Talks with eight experts from various nationalities on sustainability, innovation and technology, the history and culture of surfing, and the regulation of the sport; surf school competitions; and educational activities on safety and rescue taking place on the beach are some of the activities planned for this three-day festival.

Afonso Teixeira, director of the Associação de Escolas de Surf de Portugal (AESP), the organising body, says that the initiative started with the aim of ‘challenging the [current] world record for the largest number of people surfing the same wave’, achieved 15 years ago in South Africa. ‘We want to get the local surfing community together to take part and break this record.’ The idea isn't new, but Covid-19 has taken its toll on the AESP, which has kept the project on the back burner until now. ‘We had the support of Turismo Portugal, through the Portugal Events Programme funding line, which was the kick-start for us to then, along with other support and sponsors, set up a whole festival around this event.’

When 110 surfers beat the previous record in 2009, ‘there were 400 people in the water because it wasn't possible for everyone to catch the same wave; a lot of people fall in. It's impossible to count the number [of surfers], it's practically impossible,’ he says. So, according to Afonso, ‘based on the attempts that have been made elsewhere, 500 surfers is the realistic number that gives us guarantees that we can break this record, taking into account the local surfing community and the interest that this has aroused’.

‘California, Australia and Brazil have already tried to break the record, and now it's our turn to try,’ he says. Those interested in taking part can register via the event's website.

The entire festival is free to enter, with the exception of the Surf Talks, which take place on 27 and 28 September at the Leixões Port Cruise Terminal and the São Francisco Xavier Fort, with eight speakers, including Sam George, surf journalist, Nick Hounsfield, surfer and entrepreneur, Nick Carroll, surf journalist and editor, and Ed Atkin, environmental scientist. These talks cost 40 euros per day (there are also two-day packs).

Afonso Teixeira believes that these talks ‘will attract surf professionals, not only from the competition area, but also businesspeople linked to the sport, university students and researchers’, emphasising that ‘there will be room for questions and answers and debate’.

The AESP director emphasises ‘three important pillars’ of these talks: ‘the history of surfing from its beginnings to the present day, which is why journalists come to the Surf Talks who are ‘veritable encyclopaedias’ on world surfing; sustainability, and we'll have speakers like Ed Atkin, a scientist specialising in the protection of coastal zones and the protection of waves for surfing; and technology, where we're going to have, for example, the founder of one of the first artificial wave pools in Europe, a technology that is emerging all over the world, with large investments, and we want to bring the discussion on this topic here and on how technology and innovation can intersect with surfing. ’

There are also two Nortada Talks that precede the Sunset parties with guest DJs. ‘We want to tell the story of surfing in Porto and Matosinhos, bringing in for a relaxed chat the key figures since the sport first appeared in the 1970s and who have made their mark on surfing here.’

The programme also includes a surfing competition, the Surf School Challenge, which ‘aims to foster a closer relationship between surf schools and promote the sharing of knowledge and experiences between participants’, and training, awareness and education activities on prevention and water safety, in conjunction with the Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos (ISN), highlighting the surfing community's contribution to saving lives on Portuguese beaches.

‘We're giving training to surfers, surf coaches and lifeguards on aquatic rescue, drowning prevention and basic life support; and we're going to carry out educational and awareness-raising activities with schoolchildren in the municipalities of Porto and Matosinhos,’ he says.

An event to endure

Afonso Teixeira recalls that there are already ‘several surfing events integrated into the formal competitive calendar’, but that there was a lack of an event like Norte Surf Fest, which focussed on ‘the more recreational side of surfing as a lifestyle’. ‘There's room to hold an event like this every year, as a way of rounding off the summer,’ he argues.

Although it's ‘not a very cheap activity, especially in destinations like ours with cold water, where you need wetsuits’, more and more children and young people are taking up the sport in Porto and Matosinhos, where there are 17 surf schools. In this sense, Afonso emphasises the importance of ‘social projects promoted by municipalities with surf clubs and schools’, such as ‘Surf for All’ and ‘Sport in the Neighbourhood’, which give more children the opportunity to have contact with this wave sport.