OUR STORY
From the mountains to the sea...and everything in between
Candyride has immersed from the idea that everyone should have a chance to get to know surfing, the ancestor of all board sports! Surfing is so much more that a sport! It is a way of living, respecting mother nature, while actually doing something good for your body, mind and soul. It all begun in 2006, with the name Beach Culture and action in Greece and in Portugal. Till this day all the people that had been part of it in one way or another, had in common the same passion and love for board sports, mountains, oceans, seas ,ramps, and most of all surfing.They also had the knowledge and intention to pass it to others. They believed it was possible to do that in our country, even at the time when there were just a handful of surfers and everyone thought that surfing was to be done only in the ocean, in a far out land.
MISSION AND PHILOSOPHY
FEEL, BELIEVE, ENJOY
Make a better world through Surfing
We strongly believe that surfing is magical and that this magic is there for everyone to feel!
It is the power of the sea and the ocean, the energy of the waves, the different conditions each time you get in the water; it’s the chance you are given to explore places and meet new people, to discover yourself and exceed your own limits! It is for sure the feeling of freedom that you get through surfing, that will make you want more and more!
We are here to offer guidance to anyone who wants to step into the world of surfing! To share all that we have learned through the years and to discover a lot more together. It is a wonderful journey that makes no discriminations, for us everybody is welcome and everybody can! While SURF is so strongly connected to nature, it is our philosophy to protect it. Respect the environment and be grateful for all that has been offered to us from mother earth each day of our lives. This is not just a priority. It is the only way of being and what we should strive to pass on to the next generations.
FOUNDER
Maria Zacharopoulou started surfing in Greece back in 1999. She caught her fist wave in Vouliagmeni beach, in the south suburbs of Athens and it was love at first site.
Besides the fact that she studied musicology and piano for many years, her history with board sports begun in a very young age.
After surfing a lot in various spots all around Greece, in 2002 she travels to Portugal where she lives and breathes surf. Covering international events as a reporter, taking part in local and national competitions, watching, learning, training and surfing every day. In 2003 she gets her Surf Instructor diploma from the Portuguese Federation of Surfing and starts working at International Surf School in Sagres. Three years later along with her good friend and fellow surfer Evi Drakoulidou, she establishes her own surf camp for Greeks. The camp operates till 2008 and through the years, accommodates a great number of people that mostly come from Greece to combine their holidays with surfing in the ocean.
During the same time, the months she returns to Greece, she gives lessons in Attika. Even though the sport barely existed back then, however there were always people that wanted to learn how to surf!
In 2011 and based in Athens all year round, she works as a marketing manager in a well-established company of the board sports industry. Between other, she organizes events, works as a team manager and always give her best to contribute in any possible way to the on growing scene in Greece.
Her love for teaching surf never fades and till today her goal is to continue sharing with the world and the next generation all the joy that SURF has been giving her all these years.