Towards the end of the 1980s, when I was midway through life, I decided to alter direction completely by exchanging a humdrum business life as a property manager in London for an outdoor life in Portugal. My idea was to create centres for Adventure Holidays, which were then a new concept of tourism, whereby young people could pursue a range of organised cultural and sporting activities on both land and water. I chose the Albufeira de Castelo de Bode as being an ideal central location for the first of such centres and commenced by negotiating with the Soares family to buy the Estalagem at Ilha de Lombo. Unfortunately, these foundered when it became evident that neither the building nor the land possessed the essential licenses.

So, I went ahead in the north by buying a ruined lagar with a hectare of land at Trizio in the municipality of Sertã and a newly constructed dam with a small lake situated about twelve km. to the east on the Ribeiro da Isna. The ruin was soon converted to become the first inland water sports centre in Portugal, but my plans for the building of a river beach resort at this “Espelho da Agua” were shelved due to the bankruptcy of the civil contractor and allegations of associated corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

CNZ opened in the Spring of 1991, and immediately I embarked on a training programme for the young staff which included Joaquim Mendes, Valdemar Santos and the brothers Paulo and Vitor Carvalho of Tomar, all of whom were to work with me for the next twelve years. Professional instruction by the manufacturers was given in the correct use of Topper sail-boats, Wayfarer dinghies and Nelo canoes. For powered watersports, Mastercraft and Tigé tow-boats were employed and champions such as Neil Staples, the Heaney brothers and Richard Mainwaring came from abroad to give courses in water-ski, wakeboard and barefoot.

For reasons of safety, insurance and privacy, the Clube functioned privately for members and offered services such as moorings on the marina for their boats and the use of three pistas for ski and ramps, all of which had been licensed by the Ministry of Ambiente. On land were the facilities of a guarded playground for children, a skate ramp and a multipurpose court for tennis and fun-ball plus sanded areas to provide a beach. Inside the clubhouse was a comfortable bar-restaurant which extended under a verandah and delicious meals and snacks were cooked to order by the indefatigable D. Fatima.

The Clube´s instructors gave free lessons in sail and canoeing to children from local schools and CNZ soon became a setting for public events such as the national championships for water-ski, wakeboard, jet-ski and triathlon and was used as a favoured location for brands such as O´Brien to hold their annual conferences and demonstrations for dealers. Naturally, the participation of CNZ members in such events was encouraged, and especially so for the sport of wakeboard, which surged in popularity during the 1990s, so that a national Association was formed with its HQ at CNZ and me as its first aged but still active president!

The professional qualifications of staff were enhanced by their regular attendance at both exhibitions and training schools located in the USA and Europe and enabled them to participate (with some of the members) in international competitions. This culminated in 1999 when two athletes were selected to represent Portugal at the World Wakeboard Championships held in Rio De Janeiro, with creditable results achieved by Chico Lopes (11º) and Vitor Carvalho (23º).

CNZ was created to serve my personal whim and its income was always ploughed back to enhance the facilities offered to its members. While it never produced a monetary gain, it did achieve a great profit of personal satisfaction!

The enterprise continued until 2002 when my retirement was enforced following surgery and the centre was sold to a new owner who had already invested in the building of a small housing estate at Rio Fundeiro. Understandably, changes were made and the property became a restaurant of good repute which was open to the public who could bring their families (and boats) to enjoy the peaceful location of the river beach.

The Club continued but with a limited range of services under the management of Vitor while his brother Paulo took over the distribution of watersports equipment by founding a new company called Skiworld which became very successful. Chico went on to be eleven times the national wakeboard champion. This enabled him to turn professional and start the Endless Wakeboard school at Rio Fundeiro, where this year´s blazing summer has not deterred a queue of eager students.

All of this subsequent success of friends and my own intense enjoyment justified my original decision to seek asylum in Portugal and re-invent myself for the remaining years. And what became of me? This essay and many others written for The Portugal News are the happy answer.