June 23 2022.

You can feel the good vibes from the start. Mac Messenschmidt, 43 years, caught some morning waves at Praia do Areal, in Portugal’s west region, before meeting up with us. Life is to be lived and this german entrepreneur brought his mantra into business, providing a unique surf and skate experience to his guests. From Berlin to Lourinhã: The story behind Drop-In Surf and Skate Camp

Could you describe the concept behind Drop in surf and skate camp?

Altogether we have three houses, but we don’t allow more than 20 people to stay at the same time. They all take part of the experience as a single group and we treat our guests like family.

You take people to surf and skate and people can roll at Drop-In as well?

Yes. Most people want to surf, but skate has turned into a good part of our experience. We have a bowl and a mini ramp and that's not usual around here. Thanks to my son, skate is rising at my place. He’s nine years old (we also have a daughter who’s 11) and he is almost better than me [he laughs]. When it’s flat, we take our guests to skateparks in Lisbon, specially the one in Campolide [aka Bairro da Liberdade skatepark]. Recently we did a skate camp and it was a success, people loved it. Although someone broke a foot, but that comes with the job…  

How and when did you start this adventure?

It was after my previous business went down. A bit before my thirties we created a clothing brand, called Fourasses (for Surf, Snow, Skate and Sex). Things exploded and, before we knew it, we also had a skate shop in Berlin. At some point we needed an investor to keep up our growth. That's when things started going wrong, and in 2006 the business was a disaster. I had to sell everything and pay back debts.

That was quite a shock, I believe. And then you went to Portugal.

Yeah, before our kids were born, fortunately. My wife and I always wanted to buy a house in Portugal, even when we were living in Berlin. We went there in 2007 and 2008. We looked at many surf spots, from North to South, but this region was always one of our favourites. So we decided to settle down in Lourinha and it didn't take long before we had our first house and that was the beginning of Drop-In.

Where do your guests mainly come from?

Old school man... When I closed FourAsses I had a lot of friends in the skate world in Berlin. Before I knew it the place was full of Germans who came to visit me.They create the buzz and that’s why I usually work only with german speaking guests. I don’t need to put Drop-In on Booking or other platforms. Since day one guests have been spreading the word. And they return. 15 years have passed and people who go back to Germany say ‘Vacations? Go to Mac’. People who come here are also educated, cool, and local economy likes them.

Did any former guest turn into a good rider or surfer after receiving the Drop in ‘baptism’?

Many of my employees are actually former guests who want to come and work here for a while, the same with several surf and skate teachers who work here. I’m not really a boss. We are one big family here.

Describe living in Lourinhã?

This village is definitely different than Berlin. I was used to living in a crazy city with a lot of parties and in the beginning we did have to adapt a bit to the rhythm of Lourinhã. This village offers you a different way of living. When I go to a local market, I must save half an hour extra because I know I will bump into people that want to talk a bit. It was weird at first, but now I like it. We have this slogan in our house: ‘There are good times and then there are good times’. We always must take the best of everything. Even if it’s shit.