Madeira Surfboard Rental

ACTIVITIES

16 Oct

Self-service pickup
Licensed since 2021
Paid online by card

A surfer riding deep inside the barrel of a wave at Paúl do Mar on Madeira’s west coast — Paúl do Mar on a west swell. Lessons are held on gentler beaches at Machico, Seixal or São Vicente instead.

Orlando Pereira keeps his boards in a coded container in Paúl do Mar, so you book on your phone and collect the board yourself whenever the swell arrives. Softboards for a first week, shortboards and grovelers for the reef days, and lessons if you would rather not read the sea alone.

The essentials

PriceFrom €30 for 24 hours, €40 for performance boards
BookingOnline, on the day, up to 30 minutes ahead
Duration24-hour blocks, one to seven days
WhereCaminho do Paúl do Mar, on the west coast
Phone+351 963 269 028

Directions Call Rent a board

Our tip

Pay for the board once you are standing at the container, not before you set off. The access code is emailed on payment and only works for about half an hour, and the boards go out stripped, so pick up a bar of wax on the way.

About Madeira Surfboard Rental

Orlando Pereira grew up in Jardim do Mar, the next headland along from Paúl do Mar, and has been surfing since he was fourteen, when he and his friends shaped their first boards out of wood. He won the Madeira regional championship, helped found Surf Clube Jardim do Mar so local children had somewhere to train, and later qualified as a surf coach through Universidade Lusófona de Lisboa, certified by the Portuguese Institute of Sport. In late October 2020 he rode a wave at Jardim do Mar that the oceanographer Douglas Nemes measured at around 11 metres from a photograph taken as the ride began.

The fleet runs from an 8’0 softboard down to a 5’10 groveler, mostly GONG, Chilli and Flowt shapes, with wetsuits, boots and helmets rented alongside them. Every board goes out with a leash and fins, and you photograph the deck and the bottom on a form before you paddle out, which is what protects your deposit. Pereira also publishes a forecast page that pairs the day’s swell with the board to take and the spot to take it to, and he runs lessons at Machico, Porto da Cruz, Seixal or São Vicente rather than on the reefs at home. If you are basing yourself out here, our guide to staying in Paúl do Mar covers the village itself.

Good to know