surfing

July 24 2018

Support the Harapan Project in Sumbawa, Indonesia

Zoltán Bakró Charity, Culture, Surfing charity, donate, harapanproject, help, sumbawa, surfing

Finding the right project

Have you ever considered supporting a good cause, but most of the time end up supporting nothing at all for the lack of finding a good project that is close to your heart? Leaving you with this nagging, useless feeling where you and the ones around you are enjoying all these privileges without sharing, even a small bit of it? We at The Magnet Projects did.

We have been looking for a while for a good cause we care about. To simply dump our hard earned money into one of these big ginormous NGO’s just won’t cut it. We actually wanted to see the people or subjects affected by these causes doing better. We want to help. But a project that drives and impassions us, where our voluntary work or donations actually really are noticed, is not easy to find.

Then we saw The HARAPAN Project in action.

On our recent travels to Indonesia we were so lucky to spend a few days at the fantastic surf spot of Lakey Peak in a village called Hu’u. Here we ran into Carlos Ferrandiz and his non-profit organisation HARAPAN. This Spanish former lawyer turned ‘the messenger of hope’, as the local population of Hu’u calls him, completely changed his life around and now dedicates all his time and effort to improve the living conditions of this small community in South Sumbawa. Talking about a hands-on good cause, this is it!

The current situation on Sumbawa

Hu’u is a very poor region on the south west coast of eastern Sumbawa, two Islands east from Bali. The monthly income is an average of 20$. They produce basically 3 products; rice, corn and they harvest seaweed. At the moment they are totally exploited by large companies, which buy their produce for 0,10$ per kilo and resell it over the border for more than 30$ the same kilo. There is hardly any proper education and most of the children need to help out in the fields anyway. A high percentage of babies are born with birth defects due to malnutrition. There is no basic health care available and criminality is starting to pick up due to the abandoned and homeless children hanging around the surf spots where tourists stay.

visit at the local school — Visit at the local school

Harapan1 — Their teacher is a 12 year old girl

What does HARAPAN do?

In practice HARAPAN works on several levels:

Education > Help improve education giving at the local schools by training the local teachers in English and in any other subject they teach at school.
Health care > Build a small medical centre and have at least one doctor in the community who can perform free medical care. If someone is in need of even the most basic care they are not able to get it. Because this would mean they need to fly over to Bali and pay for a hospital, doctor or medication.
Establishing a cooperative > to coordinate all the production of the population. By selling as a unity instead of single families they have a better chance at negotiating a stronger and fair price for their harvest. Also, teach them to produce new products. This would not only add new financial opportunities as well as a change to their very unbalanced diet.
Build refuge for up to 40 abandoned children, which have been ganging up and call themselves The Lakey Peak Boys. These homeless kids all ended up at Lakey Peak where they of course get into trouble begging and stealing. HARAPAN motivates them to go to school and keeps them active with learning them to surf and other activities.

– And finally, setting up a Surf school and homestay > to create new working opportunities for the local population by giving surf lessons, rent and repair surfboards and offering accommodation.

The ultimate goal

In short, Carlos’ ultimate goal is to help Hu’u become a self-sufficient community. A daunting project that can use all our help till the time is there that the community can support itself. Literally every cent you give to HARAPAN, someone in the community fiscally benefits from it.

For example, just the day we were flying back to Bali to indulge in the crazy scene of Canggu, Carlos flew out with two mothers and their young sons who were in serious need of medical care. Simple procedures, but without there would be no future for them. The days before Carlos was actually going around all the local tourist restaurants collecting money so he would be able to pay their flight tickets and food.

Help or donate?

If you are looking for a real involvement, this is the project! By giving to this cause you actually help create a future for kids who, without HARAPAN, would have none.

Donate directly on the HARAPAN site (http://proyectoharapan.org/en/donate)
Leave a donation at our guesthouse HARAPAN savings jar and we’ll make sure it gets to Carlos and his team.

Want a bit more hands on action? If you’re planning an amazing surf trip to Bali, make sure to go and spend some time at Lakeys’. Not only for the amazing surf, but also to give some of your time to this amazing project. Contact (http://proyectoharapan.org/en/contact-us) Carlos and his team in advance to see what you can do or bring; toys, (note)books, pens, surfgear. Everything is welcome.

Carlos makes regular updates about what is going on at HARAPAN. Check out the Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/HARAPANPROJECT/) or go on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/harapanproject/) to see for yourself what kind of amazing things HARAPAN is doing.

Bagus Bagus!

September 20 2017

How to read waves?

Zoltán Bakró Costa da Caparica, Portugal, Sports, Surfing Costa da Caparica, guesthouse, Lisbon, ocean, surf guiding, surf lesson, surf lessons, surf teaching, surfhouse, surfing, szörf oktatás, themagnetprojects

Reading the ocean

Today’s blog entry is with the aim of helping you reading waves and have good orientation in the water.

After spending our first summer in Portugal and teaching all levels in the waves of Caparica, I can tell that the biggest challenge for my students has been the reading of waves.

If you know the feeling of nosediving because the wave broke on you or you just couldn’t manage to catch a wave because you were sitting too far out, this article is for you.

Nosedive — Nosediiiiiive… Happened to you as well before, right?

Here are the major points to become a better wave-reader:

Initial tips:

-> Look at the horizon
-> When you see a set approaching, compare the horizon with the wave’s line.
-> Find the highest point of the wave, this is where the wave starts breaking.
-> The side with the steepest angle/slope down is the direction of the breaking wave.
-> The direction of the breaking wave is the direction of your ride.

Set — Waves come in sets… Try not to take the first one, the ones after usually have better potential.

Personal advice:

– Practice makes perfect, so be patient. You will learn by trial and error, you’ll make mistakes, misread waves but don’t give up, progress will come.

– Observe: Before you get in the water, watch some sets from the beach, so you can identify which are the biggest waves on the given day. Also watch, how far left/right and how far in/out the waves are breaking. Imagine an X-Y axis along which you will be moving – pretty much all the time.

– Try to be in motion all the time. The first couple of times you will feel like that your arms are falling off, it is going to be really tiring, but after a while you will get used to it and you can get to the breaking point of the wave at the right time.

– Find a landmark -> pick a fixed orientation point at the beach (buildings, poles, trashcans, trees), anything that will still be there in 1 hour. Compare this point with the position of the breaking waves and try to position yourself at the same line.

– Watch and learn: try to follow more experienced surfers to get a faster reaction. Start moving when they start paddling, he probably sees that a new set is approaching.

– Again, be patient! Try not to take the first wave of the set, because it is always smaller than the others after. 3 is the magic number, in my experience the 3rd wave of the set is almost always a really good choice.

– And the most important: smile and be grateful – if you catch one at the right place and time, you’ll be the happiest person on Earth after your ride.

Here’s a little video on the subject – Source: 110% Surfing Techniques

Get out there and learn!

The Magnet Projects

May 16 2017

Surf Lesson – Lili & Gabor

Zoltán Bakró Costa da Caparica, Lisbon, Nature, Portugal, Sports, Surf equipment, Surf spots, Surfing Costa da Caparica, guesthouse, Lisbon, Portugal, surf guiding, surf lesson, surfing, szörf oktatás

Surf lesson with Lili & Gabor

Last week we had some surf lessons with a Hungarian couple, Lili & Gabor. They were staying for a short week in Lisbon and wanted to combine their city trip with some action so they decided to take some surf classes with us. After the morning pickups from the ferry in Cacilhas we were very pleased to teach them some new skills about the ocean and on the board. Although they had some challenging conditions with rain and wind, they still managed to catch waves and stand up. They definitely got infected with the surf virus and we hope they will be back in the water soon. Here you can see a little edit about one of the lessons. Great students, was an honor to teach them!

April 13 2017

Costa da Caparica – Our New Home

Zoltán Bakró Costa da Caparica, Culture, Lisbon, Music, Surf spots, Surfing city trips, Costa da Caparica, festivals, guesthouse, sightseeing, surf lessons, surfing, themagnetprojects

Why Costa da Caparica?

We have been coming to Portugal for the past 2 years at the end of our summer seasons. First we stayed in an appartement in Paco d’Arcos and last year we rented a flat for 5 weeks in Costa da Caparica. Here we found plenty of sunshine and the important things we were looking for: as our cornerstones we consider two elements: nature and culture. We can call these surf & city as well. Caparica is the perfect combination for offering both to our guests.

As you can see on the picture it is already summer weather around here. Ladies, it is a good place to work on your tan!

Lively beach town with consistent waves

Located 15-20 minutes drive from the heart of Lisbon, Costa da Caparica is a consistent beach break. The northern coast is divided by 7 jetties which provide variety and stability to the sand bars. So no matter what tide and size, there is always something to surf around here. Costa is a great place for intermediate surfers and longboarders.

Compared to the open beaches of the Sintra region and the reef breaks of Ericeira, Caparica hardly ever gets too big in size so if you have the right gear it is possible to surf here year-round. If you want to surf at the northern side of the Tejo we can organise daytrips to the above spots.

Events in Caparica

As we arrived last week to Portugal we quickly discovered that they are organizing Caparica’s biggest surfing event of the year, the Caparica Primavera Surf Fest. This is a Word Surfing League Qualifying competition. Surfers of all ages (Junior Pro and Caparica Pro) compete in the 10 day event. There is a contest for bodysurf, bodyboard, skimboard and longoard as well. This festival is not only for surfing. There are lot of other programs as music in the evening, a mobile skatepark and foodtrucks. The local Portuguese surf brands are also showcasing their products during the 10 days.

In August there will be another festival which is purely for music: O Sol da Caparica is 4 days long and it features more than 30 local bands and DJs. Let us know if you are interested we can help you with booking tickets.

Summer is coming, the vibrant beach and city scene will have a lot more to offer. We will keep you posted…

April 8 2017

Introducing The Magnet Projects

Eva Coster Culture, Lisbon, Portugal, Surfing Costa da Caparica, guesthouse, Lisbon, Portugal, sightseeing, surf guiding, surf teaching, surfing

Want to enjoy the sunniest capital city of Europe and combine it with surfing? From April 2017 we offer surf and city trips in the area of Lisbon, Portugal. Enjoy our first teaser about The Magnet Projects.

Our team and our mission

Eva, Zoltán and Joao decided to start a new adventure together from the spring of 2017. They want to create a place where people can combine nature and culture and return home with positive experiences and a big smile on their faces. They found the perfect combination in Costa da Caparica, the closest beach town to the Portuguese capital.

The guesthouse is located about 10 minutes walk from the ocean and only 15 kilometers away from the city center of Lisbon. This gives you the possibility for the perfect nature & culture combination, all in the same holiday. About types of accomodation and prices you will find more information on our website.

Questions? E-mail us at: info@themagnetprojects.com

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April 2 2017

The journey has begun

Eva Coster Costa da Caparica, Lisbon, Portugal, Surfing city trips, Costa da Caparica, culture, guesthouse, Lisbon, nature, Portugal, surfhouse, surfing

Central-America and the search in Europe

After moving together in 2014, we were travelling around the world to get to know places, waves and people. Through our journey in Central-America we stayed in various surf hostels which inspired us to start our own business at the ocean. We’ve seen beautiful places but our hearts are pulling back to the old continent. Our blog from Central-America still brings back great memories: https://eva-and-zoli-blog.tumblr.com/. After returning to Europe we worked two summers in France and winters in Austria. Now we are ready to make the move and start our own guesthouse somewhere at the Atlantic Coast of Europe. And where? In Portugal, Lisbon area. Here we found all the things that matter to us. We would like to combine surfing and culture so we can offer a great diversity to our guests. For now we are renting a surfhouse in Costa da Caparica. Our major plan is to find our dream property for which we will encourage you to support us. Follow us on the search and let our Magnet pull you closer.

The journey to Portugal

Here we are again.. We are packing our van for moving to a new country. After living in seasons for years, changing between snowboarding and surfing and not being settled, we are ready to make the Move. Now from Zoli’s hometown Kecskemét, through Budapest, Austria, Germany, our old campsite home, Vieux Boucau in France, continuing through the beautiful Spain, we’ll end our 3000km journey in the sunny Lisbon area. We are getting into the car with the hope that we will find a place where we can get settled and share our passion for nature and culture with our guests.

Many questions marks, sometimes scary thoughts and lots of adventures await us but we know one thing: if we don’t try we will never reach our dreams – to find our HOME at the ocean.