Keeping it swell

Surfing Equality and Empowerment in Dakar

“When I am surfing, I am so happy. Surfing when you have a good board, you have good waves, you are like smiling all day.”

Cherif Fall, a prominent face of the explosive Senegalese surf scene and co-founder of Anda Surf Club, talks about the sea’s capacity to teach, free and transform.

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Located on the Westernmost coast of Africa, Senegal’s coastline has become the heart of a. thriving surfing movement in recent years. Senegalese surfing became deeply popularised in the 1960s, particularly in the area of Dakar - home of the legendary and formidable Ngor Right. Since, surfing in Senegal has become an expression of local spirit, with the likes of Cherif Fall and Ibra Samb (Anda Surf Club) and Khadjou Sambe (Black Girls Surf) at the forefront. Dakar, the capital of Senegal, sits on a peninsula that juts into the Atlantic, and boasts itself as the canvas upon which a new narrative of African surf, youth, and creativity is being painted.

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Cherif and Ibra, founders of Anda Surf Club set out to achieve a clear mission: to open the doors for Western Africa’s upcoming professional surfers. The club works to give young African surfers access to proper equipment, structured training, and support to compete internationally. The club distributes boards to kids, organise surf days with hundreds of young people, and seeks to create a culture where the lineup belongs to everyone. Thus, surfing becomes a form of education in itself, teaching youngsters discipline and perseverence via the demands of the swell. Cherif and Ibra partner with local schools, helping kids not only with surfing but with clear educational paths.

Similarly, Black Girls Surf, founded in 2014 by Rhonda Harper, intertwines high-performance surfing with social justice. By training athletes such as Khadjou Sambe - the first female professional surfer from Dakar - the organisation puts black female surfers on the global stage. The organisation helps to raise funds for boards, wetsuits, travel, and contest fees, overcomig the financial barriers that often prevents talented Black girls from progressing.

Further, the Surf Kids Shredding Senegal Programme shows how surfing can be a bridge from childhood passion to education, employment and future local leadership around the oceans. The Surf Kids Shredding Senegal Programme explicitly uses surfing to promote autonomy, environmental respect, gender equality and healthy lifestyles. The programme shows that combining water skills with education and mentoring, surfing can yield access to a realistic route working in surf camps, tourism and ocean-based work.

Babacar Thiaw - surfer and entrepreneur - illustrates the swell’s capacity to nurture the soul. Thiaw has been in the water since childhood and now runs the Black‑owned Copa Cabana Surf Village in Dakar, turning his passion for surfing into a restaurant, surf school, and community hub. He founded Surfrider Senegal, launched beach‑cleaning programmes, and worked to make his business one of Dakar’s first zero‑waste restaurants, linking surfing with environmental protection and local pride.

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So, Toiscór seeks to turn waves into opportunities. Through working with our partners Anda Surf Club, and inspired by the fantastic Black Girls Surf, Surf Kids Shredding Senegal and a plethora of inspirational figures we want to give the Senegalese resources that will flourish into employability. We aim to provide the local senegalese community with surfboards, wetsuits and necessary equipment. By giving Senegalese youth access to resources, we hope to deliver an opportunity to improve water skills, in turn leading to enhanced job opportunities.

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At Toiscóir, our journey is only beginning, and we hope to score a network built upon kindess, development and the future.

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Cormac D'Aughton , Toiscór team.