Porsche and the surfing lifestyle are a perfect match, as evidenced by the 928 Surfari, a remarkable project brought to life by a dedicated Polish surfing community. The story of the 928 Surfari begins many years ago with a father and son who built a community around their campsite and watersports business on the Hel Peninsula of Poland’s Baltic coast. Their hard work not only established this community but also provided an opportunity to pursue their love of cars.

Tadeusz Elwart, the manager of Chałupy 6 campsite and the founder of the Hel Riders festival, grew up surrounded by a passion for Porsche cars. This enthusiasm, combined with a life by the sea, naturally led to the idea of blending these worlds. With a dream Porsche already in the garage, Elwart and his team began envisioning something bigger: the 928 Surfari. This concept took shape during the growth of the Hel Riders festival.

What seemed like an impossible task to many was a motivating challenge for the Hel Riders team. Their goal was to create a Porsche that could handle off-road terrain while also being the ideal beach-crawler and surf-taxi, quickly getting surfers to the waves.

The Porsche 928, with its iconic V8 engine, served as the starting point. The engine’s power was well-known, but transforming the 928 into a beach buggy required significant modifications to the gearbox, differential, and suspension. Enter Tomasz Staniszewski, an ingenious engineer and rally driver who had just completed the Classic Dakar Rally in his self-built Porsche 924. Despite the project's demanding nature, Staniszewski found solutions to infuse the 928 with a surfing spirit.

Local talent contributed to the Surfari’s creation, with the styling crafted by the Lange brothers, long-time figures in the Chałupy 6 scene. After debuting at the Hel Riders festival, the 928 Surfari embarked on a road trip, joining a convoy to Sylt, Germany, for the Petro-Surf air-cooled Porsche festival, and then to the island of Rømø in Denmark. These locations provided the perfect settings to test the 928 and connect it with its natural environment, with the entire Hel Riders team watching it cruise along the beach.

Surfing Surfari