the story
The birth and rise of São tomé‘s
first generation of surfers.
Words by João Sousa
Photos by Miguel Ribeiro and João Sousa
In 2011, José Miguel Ribeiro, also known as Micha, moved to the west African archipelago nation of São Tomé e Príncipe to work. Along with him, he brought his passion for photography and his obsession with surfing. Every free time he had he would use it to explore the island in the search of surf breaks, and local characters to photograph.
What he discovered probably wasn’t going to make the cover of Surfer magazine, but the fact of it being almost completely uncrowded, meant that with patience and perseverance combined with a few hours analyzing and comparing conditions on Magic Sea Weed and Google Maps, it was only a matter of time until he would find himself in the right place at the right time. And after that, just rinse and repeat.
The most consistent and practical spot was clearly the Santana right hand point. Already surfed by many other expats who wandered and/or worked in the island it wasn’t long before this became the go to spot for surf in São Tomé. It sits in a small bay right at the heart of the fishing town of Santana, on top of a reef of some rock and a lot of urchins. It breaks on smaller swells, holds some of the bigger ones, and it was a mere 12Km from the capital city, ideal for a quick surf getaway before work. And on top of that, you could easily check it from the local church’s yard and figure out if it was worth it or not to go out.
– Jéjé and Micha checking the morning surf from the church yard.
...you could easily check it from the local church’s yard and figure out if it was worth it or not to go out.
But Santana had something else that made it unique. A group of local kids who had seen some foreigners surf there, and started to explore it themselves. At the time Micha arrived on the island, this group had already become a small community, with some of the kids finding access to old fiberglass surfboards brought by expats or tourists and attempting to recreate the maneuvers from the DVD surf films they could get their hands on (at this time, the use of internet wasn’t yet widespread in São Tomé e Príncipe).
This was a tight group. Any surfer who enjoyed growing up spending all day hanging out at his local beach sometime around the 90’s, early 2000’s, would shed a tear of nostalgia seeing these kids. Surfing first thing in the morning, dropping in on each other, being competitive, coming in, eating fruit and fish while still wet, watch the same surf films on DVD for the hundredth time all together, and go surf again at end of the day. What else, right?
And like in all groups, there was the funny one, the silent one, the young one, and of course, the most talented one. Enters Edmilson Camblé — Jejé.
“My name is Edmilson.
I’m thirteen years old.
I am a great surfer.”
Edu's backyard
The Santana break.
(above) Jéjé.
Jejé was the most gifted surfer of Santana, clearly. Not only he had a natural aptitude, he was always in the water. Always surfing, always focused on improving. This, and the fact that Jejé probably is also one of the funniest characters of the archipelago, quickly made him Micha’s most regular surf buddy.
At this point, it was clear that these kids were nothing less than the first generation of São Tomé surfers. And considering this was well into the twentieth first century at this point, it was fair to assume this emergence was something rare and unique to witness.
Micha gets word of all this to a filmmaker friend, me, and invites me to come down to São Tomé. We decide to start documenting this community and this moment in time in whatever way they can, going along after this open narrative, following it whatever it would lead, just so that it wouldn’t be lost.
Jéjé, Roling and Aílton
Laspique and João on church day
...the origins of this spontaneous habit of “riding the bar”
As the years went by the process of documenting became also a reason to make things happen. Road trips in search of new breaks, informal footage analysis sessions or just plain hanging out were a form of pushing this group of young surfers forward to see where it could lead.
Santana surfer
(above) “riding the bar” at Agua Izé
Back north in Santana, Paulo Pichel, a Portuguese expat who had been in São Tomé since 2009, was the force behind the first national championships and a lot of the equipment and resources that upgraded the level of all the surfers in São Tomé – a true godfather of São Tomé surf. Those events, started creating a platform for surfing to become something recognizable by the local people and more importantly, something for institutions and brands to be involved and associated with, namely those ones who benefit from outside tourism.
The quality of surfing grew, it became a thing in São Tomé. If you were a kid in São Tomé you wanted be a surfer, and hang out with the cool kids from the beach. At some point even the local mobile provider was doing outdoor campaigns featuring Jejé, Edu, and others. More foreign surfers came, friends, friends of friends, strangers that heard about it. They would bring new insights, techniques, boards and gear. Belinda Baggs, legendary Lady Slide form the Thomas Campbell Sprout film stunned Jejé and the others just by cross stepping on a longboard, and along with Teresa Abraços, inspired young African girls that never thought surfing could be also for them, to get on a board for the first time.
With all this, new doors opened. The surf in São Tomé was ready for a next step, going international.
The STP 2016 surf team.: Danilk Afonso, Edu Guerra, Zézito Guerra e Jejé.
The VISSLA ISA World Junior Championships is an annual competition where surfers compete representing their countries in two different male and female age, categories. In 2016, this competition was going to be held in Azores, which meant the logistics and costs of taking a team there were perhaps within reach.
The STP2016 team had three surfers — Jejé, Danilk Afonso and Zézito, were going to be the first surfers to ever represent their country in an international event. The team was completed with Paulo Pichel as the director, Micha as the surf coach, me on the communication, and Edu Guerra as Vice-president of the newly formed Canoeing and Surfing Federation.
But the team extended far beyond these six elements. Around this project a beautiful momentum developed. So many people had been to São Tomé over the past years, and fell in love not only whit the luxurious landscapes and west african culture but also with this surfing community, and were eager to support this team. From funding, to equipment, technical coaching, food, accommodation, or just by showing up and cheering, this was a demonstration of how these kids touched everyone who shared the line up with them in São Tomé.
The first chapter of the birth of São Tomé surfing, as told by yours truly, ends here. It goes from wooden boards to a world surfing championship. Today, new chapters are being written as you read this, by these surfers and by a next generation eager to follow in the footsteps of Jéjé, Danilk and company, afirming São Tomé e Príncipe as part of the world surf family.
to be continued...
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