Porto surfing in June -Notes from the locals

Surfing Portugal in the Summer is not only about catching waves and standing up. Checking different spots, chasing the best rides and discover the coastline.. It’s actually about the road to happiness. Or using an old cliché, “happiness is the road”. You are thinking about being near Porto surfing in June? Let us tell us our experience.

PORTO SURFING IN JUNE

Porto’s beaches became busier compared with the past weeks and Esmoriz and Espinho were no exceptions. Not necessarily crowded, just busier. Warm temperatures and, in most of the days, small and fun surfing. That sums up June in a nutshell!

The first couple of days a bigger swell came and most of our sessions happened in Espinho Bay beach ( Praia da Baía), just in front of our surf house window. Nice long left-handers on the bigger days and fun right-handers during the smaller northern swell days made our surfing visitors go crazy. After a few hours in the water, they had no trouble sleeping at night. When the swell dropped, our surfing lessons moved to the Esmoriz area. There were some windy days but mostly it was very nice and calm. The surfing became small and friendly, the temperature was warm and people were having loads of fun. It really made it look like a typical surfing vacation in Porto. Basically, the surf holiday mode was turned on: surfing, eat, rest, repeat.

AFTER SURFING

In June there were a couple of events that made our hometown even more interesting and allowed us to meet new visitors.

The International Fitness / BodyBuilding Event in Espinho, an event that made us realize how skinny we actually are. Nevertheless, we got second place in the women’s category.. Well honestly, our beloved Russian guest did, and us number one fans, we were there to support her!

Then there was the WSL Longboard surf event in Gaia, which had plenty of swell on offer and remarkable performances. Of course, we were cheering our guest and friend Ben Howey. but, unfortunately, not enough. Our fault, not his! The best part was watching him surf on our Espinho home-ground in the days previous the event. Who knows how far he could have gone if he got similar conditions during the event? Either way we were happy to see it.

A nice music & entertaining event occurred at a Tanoaria, Esmoriz. Tanoaria is the name of the producing process of the big barrels where the wine is kept. And also the name of the factory. Lovely set up over there!

Back to Espinho, there was the FEST – Festival de Cinema de Espinho, which had probably the best line up so far, and with it, lot’s of visitors and a great atmosphere, both around the city and at our beach house in Espinho.

During the same period there were several more events. The Espinho Surfing Destination was running and after the Circuito de Surf do Norte (local surfing contest), the Miss ESD and the Girls On Top. The main focus was on the big contest- the WSL Pro Júnior 2017. The surfers raised their surfskills once again, and showed some outstanding performances on the small, clean and fun waves that came during the event. Again, and because we always cheer on our friends/guests, our fingers were crossed for them (Lenni Jensen and the girls). They went all the way to the final day and were only bested in the semi-finals. Respect to them!

During this event we had the  biggest and most popular party in Porto – São João, also celebrated in Espinho and Esmoriz. Thousands of people on the streets carrying the typical plastic hammers, beer, grilled sardines, music everywhere and fireworks… lot’s and lot’s of exactly that! Of course the party went on till dawn. Sleeping during the next day. And so concludes our story about “Porto surfing in June

SEE FOR YOURSELF