Standup Paddle Trip in Coimbra

In August 2022, we organised our first stand up paddle activity in Coimbra. In two weekends, 49 Minders flowed with the river Mondego, enjoying the sun and natural beauty of the region, and having a great time with friends. How it started After the pandemic situation in the Aveiro office, we organised a team lunch, and that afternoon, we would work at a beach bar. On that day, talking with the group, the idea was born: we could organise more activities like surfing, ,stand up paddle etc. Lia Couto, Joana Alves, Ana Santos, Filipa Tavares, and I started this discussion, at the beginning thinking only of Aveiro's office. Then, Lia suggested it would be cool to open this for Porto and Coimbra offices , too. Ok, challenge accepted!

The challenge

First, we need a place to have an activity where we can enjoy time together and have some fun. I remember some years ago making the descent of the Mondego's river with SUP boards. And no one is better for this than Pedro Santos. I worked with Pedro Santos a couple of years ago, and he showed me the beauty of the Mondego river, and making that descent with SUP boards can be relaxing and fun. I contacted him first to set up for one weekend. But since August is a month when most people are on holiday, we decided to make it on two weekends and join the three offices together.

Time to organise

Now we have an idea for the activity, it's time to start organising it. We posted about it on our slack channels, and the people began registering. Some challenges started, but we are Minders and we love to get solutions for the challenges we face. One of them was transportation. Some of the participants used public transportation so we tried to have volunteers give rides from Coimbra to the beach, Praia Fluvial Palheiros e Zorro, where we met Pedro Santos and moved to where we started our journey.

The activity

For this activity, we defined a route of 11km, coming back to our destination, that was Praia Fluvial Palheiros e Zorro. On the first day, on the 27 of August, we were 17 participants , in a perfect day without any wind. We had a fantastic day with a lot of water, sun, and nature. On the 10th of September, t there were 32 participants on a perfect day, but a bit more challenging. On the second part of our journey, we got wind in our front, which made our ride a little bit more complicated. But we had a lot of fun, too. We have 3 participants from the previous activity: Gonçalo Santos, Diogo Reis and Pedro Lobo. They enjoyed the first ride so much they wanted to do it again. In general, everyone enjoyed and had a good time together.

Looking back

This activity was fantastic, he had much fun with our friends and family, and everyone enjoyed it. After two years of the pandemic, having some activities together sounds like a dream. And we have all three offices in Coimbra living this experience together. I want to thank everyone involved in this activity, Pedro Santos and Epicwave, and Mindera, for all the support. It's fantastic when in a company you have the freedom to dream, make it happen, and enjoy with your colleagues/friends activities like this. I can't wait for next year to do this again!