Primorsko Surf State

A Georgi D. Sarafov trip to:

Akasha Surf School June 5, 2021

Primorsko Surf State

Pearl Beach Resort, Bulgaria.

Four years ago, the surf capital of Bulgaria was in Sinemorets. Unfortunately, windsurfing activities were stifled by local shady businessmen and construction projects. The created atmosphere is no longer there. The aspirations of the surfers remained intact. They managed to transfer their idea elsewhere and upgrade it.

"Iliana and Yoan surf, this is their lifelong passion"; with these words begins one of several documentaries about them. In addition to never stopping, they have

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even increased the surfing and teaching of wind, kite, sup and the rest of the surfing varieties of this water sport. The surf school is now a two-level structure in the northern part of Pearl Beach and should not be demolished at the end of each beach season. The base, built of wood and recycled material, has multifunctionality that few places have: a 180-degree veranda with a solid wooden bar countertop for members and students; with tea, coffee and organic hot chocolate. Behind it, an office space for instructors and bookshelves accessible to anyone. The main area has all the surfboards, sails and kayaks mounted on hanging ropes. Above this part there is a huge roof made of reed sticks, that provides a cool shade from the sun. From the right wall you can put kayaks and neoprene suits, and when you go around the back to the shower with a stone sink and dressing room, made in Hawaiian style, there is a beautiful staircase with geranium pots, and the upper part that could have been just a flat roof is now a co-working space with electricity and internet, covered by a huge reed square umbrella-roof built into the supporting column in the center of the structure. Whenever there is electricity and water close to the beach, the comfort and time spent is better and longer.

Even on the day I arrived, 5:40 in Bourgas by night train from Sofia and 7:30 by the route to Primorsko, I was at the beach when Ioan and Iliana entered the main road with their sky blue metallic surf van and took me with them to the last few hundred meters, after the dunes. The coworking spot was booked for a bachelorette party, combined with windsurfing lessons. Good times!

Yoan and Iliana both are able to generate a driving force and positive change to preserve and enrich the environment in which they live. Authentic, good people, they energize and inspire. If you are not in one of the seaside cities, look for Akasha Surf School l on any digital platform to see what they are working on.

Ideas and new projects do not stop over there. For the most complete

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experience, go and visit them. You will not want to leave. Surfing is a state of mind, no matter what seaside town you are in.

“Like most others, I was a seeker, a mover, a malcontent, and at times a stupid hell-raiser.

I was never idle long enough to do much thinking, but I felt somehow that some of us were making real progress, that we had taken an honest road, and that the best of us would inevitably make it over the top.

At the same time, I shared a dark suspicion that the life we were leading was a lost cause, that we were all actors, kidding ourselves along on a senseless odyssey.

It was the tension between these two poles - a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other - that kept me going.” ― Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary

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