The story of the 928 Surfari begins many years ago, with a connection between a father and son. Hard work helped to create a community around their campsite and watersports business on the Hel peninsula of Poland’s Baltic coast, but it also brought an opportunity to indulge in a passion for cars. After all, when your father introduces you to the world of Porsche, there’s nothing to do but embrace it.
This is how Tadeusz Elwart, the manager of Chałupy 6 campsite and originator of the Hel Riders festival, was steeped in Porsche vibes from an early age. Growing up with that passion mixed with a life next to the sea, these ideas become entangled. And if you’ve got your dream Porsche in the garage already, then you maybe start looking for even bigger ideas: and so it came to be that, during the dynamic growth of the Hel Riders festival, the idea of a 928 Surfari was first formed.
Unique, unusual and almost impossible to create
What would sound like an insurmountable challenge to many was positive encouragement to the Hel Riders team tasked with the creation of this unique ‘surf car’. The brief? To create a Porsche capable of tackling off-road terrain but that would also be the perfect beach-crawler and surf-taxi to despatch its occupants to the beach as soon as the big waves are spotted.
But how does one go about achieving this? Well, the 928 provided a great starting point – a classic Porsche V8 engine. Anyone who’s heard this engine will know just how special it is – and that power wouldn’t be an issue. But other challenges soon began to present themselves: how to adjust the gearbox, differential and suspension to turn a 928 into a beach buggy, for example. Enter Tomasz Staniszewski, a genius engineer and rally driver who had just finished the Classic Dakar Rally in his self-built Porsche 924. Staniszewski knew the project would be ultra-demanding, but he found the solutions to achieve its goal: to create a 928 with surfing in its soul.
The Surfari was built with local talents, so the styling is the work of Lange & Lange. These twin brothers have been part of the Chałupy 6 scene for decades, and it is they who are responsible for the look of the car, from the overall concept to small details such as the stripes, the roof rack, the surf backpack and even a vintage Porsche Design helmet.
But the story wouldn’t be complete without a surfboard. Jędrzej Jankowiak from Polvo Surfboard shaped a unique board for this 928 that has been developed specifically for Baltic waves. The board is wider and has an unusual curve to it which helps with the short, quick swells you get on the Hel peninsula. For every trip the car makes, the board should be strapped to the top to truly serve its duty – so wherever you are behind the wheel of the 928 Surfari, you’re always ready for the waves.
After its debut at the Hel Riders festival, it was time for a Surfari road trip, and the car gathered a convoy and made its way Sylt, in Germany, for the Petro-Surf air-cooled Porsche festival and then on to the island of Rømø in Denmark. They proved to be the perfect places to truly test the 928, while allowing it to connect with its natural environment – with the whole Hel Riders team watching the 928 Surfari cruising on the beach. Now, as the story continues, all that’s left is to wait for the next wave.
