Ben Thomas secures a license for watersports centre on a beach close to Corralejo with little support from friends and foe as the location was considered a long way from civilization and that no customers or tourists would travel so far.
About Us
Flag beach was established in 1988 by a young Ben Thomas as a windsurf centre on a deserted and quiet beach Beach on the outskirts of the small fishing village of Corralejo. It has since developed with the is all and it's tourism to establish itself as a world renowned centre, offering. Rental service and courses in windsurf, kite surf, surf, body board and SUP. with a wealth of experience in these sports and the local conditions we are able to provide a unique experience to our clients. We have something to offer all ages, levels and conditions.
February 1988
A deal is struck with ALPHA to supply windsurf boards and the local Neil Pryde dealer for rigs.
May 1988
Finally our 4m x 5m container "hut" is erected, painted and prepared. Flag Beach opens its doors for business for the first time with 9 boards and 15 sails.
June 1989
An extension is added to store rigs and a rescue boat as well as our increasing stock: now at 22 boards and 39 sails.
Summer 1990
tiga/Pryde out and Fanatic/ART in. We now have 34 boards and 70 sails.
October 1990
The further extension is built to store more boards and rigs and to give the boys more room to work.
May 1991
The centre is demolished and all Corralejo area beaches "cleared" of all bars, kiosks, etc. Flag Beach continues to operate from a van on the road, providing a service to our clients.
August 1991
After a long and arduous 3 month wait, we are granted permission to build a new centre further back from the seas edge. Work starts immediately on the 19m x 6m hut. After working late into the night, our new centre opens 5 days later.
March 1993
Plans are submitted for a second 12m x 6m hut... and... we are still waiting...
July 1998
Flag Beach Windsurf Centre celebrates 10 years with a beach party for 1200 people that goes on late into the night.
August 1998
Kitesurfing starts to surface in the sports world and Flag Beach begins offering rentals.
August 1999
Kitesurfing is now an established sport with Flag Beach being one of the best places to learn.
2003
Flag Beach celebrates its 15th anniversary with a massive beach party, barbecue, open air concert and DJs on the beach, all night, for some 2000 people.
2004
We create a new mobile surf school under the commercial name of "Island Boarders".
2008
We now employ over 20 staff. Island Boarders has expanded to 3 classic red Land Rovers and Flag Beach celebrates its 20th anniversary.
June 2009
Shock! Horror! we are given 2 hours notice to empty our hut and it is raised to the ground by the local authority. We continue offering our services from our makeshift "central" close to the waters edge; sofa and sun shades included. It is a long, hard and sunny summer and a wet winter but our clients proved to be immensely grateful and supportive.
July 2010
We are informed we can have a new hut.... This time 10 m x 5 m and after 4 gruelling days the hut is up, painted and stocked. We are back in business with an office and Internet connection.
April 2012
We now offer offer kitesurf, windsurf, surf, bodyboard and SUP courses and rentals for all levels. We are still a Fanatic Boarders centre and have North kites and sails. We also have a fleet of 3 semi rigid 6 m inflatables for use on our kite courses, a fleet of Renault vans and Land Rovers for transporting our clients and in addition we have a town location that we use as a sales point with classroom for theory courses, garden for barbecues and it is just off Rocky Point, so a great location for grabbing a surf board or SUP and walking down the beach.