The Black Star Surf Shop is new! We opened our doors for the first time in the beginning of December of 2006 and have not closed since, except to catch an occasional wink or two.
The Black Star team
The Black Star Surf Shop is co-owned by Busua local, Frankee Bordes and Californian, Peter Nardini and his wife Katrina. Frankee likes to dance to Hiplife and Reggae music. Pete and Katrina prefer to chill out to Afro-beat, Brazilian music or Sade. Frankee is new to surfing, but is learning fast and now runs the shop. It helps that he only has to walk 20yds to be surfing in the warm water!
Frankee is almost always in Busua as he takes care of the day-to-day operations involved in running the surf shop. When in Busua, Peter helps at the shop, gives lessons and works on community projects, mostly involving the local hospital; when in San Francisco he works as a self-employed carpenter.
We have one full-time employee, Charles, who in addition to being a surf instructor, also does acrobatics and fire breathing. We also have several locals that have learned to surf and are trained to give surf lessons upon demand.
Black Star “Philosophy”
Black Star Surf Shop was founded, in part, to help local Ghanaians take ownership of their ocean and beaches by giving them free access to surfboards so they can learn to surf and become more intimately attached to their natural environment, encouraging local environmentalism. We have started our own cleanup efforts, focusing on the beach area around the surf shop. We plan to get local kids involved in this process so that they can learn about the connection between healthy lives and a healthy environment. We are interested in teaching Ghanaians to surf so that when Ghana becomes a surfing destination the locals can take advantage of opportunities for tourism that include surfing. We also hope by promoting surfing for Ghanaians, that someday there will be a “Black Star” surfer that shines on the international surfing scene. Wouldn't that be cool!
The making of a surf shop
The whole Black Star Surf Shop crew (all five of us!), worked hard to renovate our recently purchased house on Busua Beach to turn it into part living quarters and part Black Star Surf Shop. We received much needed help from a carpenter, mason, and electrician from Busua. Thanks guys!
Here are some photos of fixin’ up the place.
