The founder
Jéjé Vidal
He started at ten years old on a scrap of wooden plank. Today he is a five-time national champion, a surf coach, and the founder of São Tomé Surf Travel.
The story
From a wooden plank to Portugal's surfing elite
Edmilson da Cruz Camblé (Jéjé) was born in São Tomé and Príncipe and started surfing as a child, at ten, on a scrap of wooden plank, long before he had access to a real board.
In 2013 he entered the first ever São Tomé and Príncipe National Surf Championship. The following year he won it, and won it again in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2022. Along the way he represented the country at the 2016 ISA Games and took the Omali Surf Pro, held at Santana.
He moved to Portugal in 2017 to take his surfing further. He competes for Sporting Clube de Portugal and was the first São Toméan to enter the world qualifying circuit, the WQS. In 2023 he was the first to reach the Liga MEO Surf.
A Grade 1 surf coach certified by Portugal's IPDJ and a qualified nautical tourism instructor, he has now coached around five thousand surfers of every age. He carries boards, equipment and know-how from Portugal back to the island's young surfers, and founded São Tomé Surf Travel to bring the world to them.
I like passing my passion for surfing on to people, teaching it in a relaxed but thorough way, what I call surf leve-leve.
- 5xnational champion of São Tomé and Príncipe
- WQSfirst São Toméan on the world qualifying circuit
- 5000surfers coached
- Grade 1coach certified by the IPDJ
What he does
What a lesson with Jéjé looks like
He teaches one to one and in groups, from first-timers to advanced surfers. Each session runs one to two hours, depending on the sea.
- Reads the ocean and picks the best peak before paddling out
- A full warm-up and stretching routine
- A surf session with coaching points throughout
- A debrief at the end: what worked and what to improve
- Takes boards and gear back to the island's kids
In pictures
Moments
Shall we design your trip?
Tell us your dates, how many you are and what you'd like to do. We'll reply with a tailor-made proposal, no strings attached.