About us
Learn more about tiki, our journey and our family!
The school was founded in 2020 by coach Rafael Nóbrega. It was created to transmit the pleasure and happiness that surfing has to give to the world. Our principles are: fun, companionship and safety.
We were for 3 years situated on Rainha beach, our name was Shaka Surf Academy. After 3 years we realized that we needed a change for the better…
Hence was born Tiki Surf Academy Lisbon & Caparica, located in Fonte da Telha next to Cabana Beach Bar.
Why tiki?
Surfing was born in Hawaii, so the Hawaiian culture is very present. In this sense, in Hawaiian culture Tiki or Tiki God is considered a Polynesian God or a physical representation of an ancestral Polynesian figure. A relationship of Tiki with man was made through the “revelations of Tiki”, considered acts of “bravery”, “wisdom” or “strength”. One can interpret the “Tiki revelations” as also being different “Tiki personalities” considering strength, bravery and wisdom.
Strength, bravery and wisdom is what we consider surfing offers to each person who experiences it, becoming a happier person.
OUR KAHUNAS
Rafael Nóbrega
Founder and Coach
Ever since he was a child he wanted to be a surfer. With his goal defined, he achieved what he wanted and from the first wave he never wanted to live without that feeling.
During his junior career he won several regional titles and reached the top 10 nationally at under 18 level during the years in which he participated in this category. Since he started his senior career he has maintained a regular presence in regional championships until today.
During the 7 years that he has been surfing he began to realize that he has a great passion for passing on what he has already learned and so he decided to create the Tiki Surf Academy in order to share his passion for this wave sport that is surfing.
Francisco
Treinador
His first contact with surfing was around the age of 6, at random during a joke between his uncle and his father.
His father began to develop a liking for the sport and he bought a surfboard shortly afterwards. At the end of each surfing session, he would show him how to make 2 or 3 waves and as he developed so quickly, he decided to buy him his first surfboard.
From then on he never stopped, and almost all his family became converts to the practice of the sport. It was while teaching his younger cousins that he realised his taste for passing on the basics of surfing to others, which led him to take a coaching course.
gabriela
Treinadora
He started surfing at the age of 12 when his doctor suggested this sport due to his health problem (asthma). She remembers her first lesson as if it were today and from that moment on she felt the buzz that surfing is. Seven years have passed and she still has the same passion for the sea but what really moves her is the love for this sport, which led her to take the surf coaching course.
It has been two years as a coach where she says it has been an incredible learning experience, it is rewarding to teach and pass on the baton of something as great as surfing and to see this reflected in smiles, hugs and companionship that is unique and ends up being the most important thing that we take from this life.
vitor
Treinador
Due to his great passion for physical and radical activities, he began training in the sport at the age of 14, and surfing ended up becoming his favourite physical activity.
Therefore, when it was time to choose a professional path, he decided that he would dedicate himself to teaching. He graduated and took a Master’s degree in Sports Coaching in the field of surfing, and obtained his Grade II surf coaching license.
He has now 8 years of experience as a surf coach and 4 years as a surf therapy technician.
He has a degree II in Karate-do and 9 years of experience as an instructor, being therefore another source of experience in teaching a sport.
Follow the orange and blue flags to the surfer on the wave!