November 6th, 2008 by admin

Alex, Brooke, Dana, Joe, Preggers Tamara, Jeff, Christie and I hit up Long Beach.  When we arrived we were the only ones in the water.  Mostly white wash with a strong rip.  Shoulder heights were breaking a long ways out with the rip being so strong the choice was easy to have fun in the wash.

This was actually perfect because it was Jeff and Christie’s first time surfing.  I couldn’t believe how quickly they both were up riding, their a pair of mavericks.

It took a long time for me to realize that the odd nice wave that would come in every 10-15 min was not worth the wait so eventually I just started surfin the wash.

I think Al was catching every wave that went past.  She gets noticeably better with each outing.

November 6th, 2008 by admin

Raeghzer, Steve, Alex, Steve’s buddy from Edmonton (we’ll call him Ed) and I.  Got to the beach in fairly good time.  We were greeted with some beautiful 6-7 foot swells coming in sets of 2 and 3 in about 1:30 intervals.  Tide was about 3/4’s out.  We veered of to the right hand side.  About 2 minutes in Al decided to hit her board with her lips (not good).

With all her teeth in tact she was back out playin in no time.  This was my second venture out with my new 7′2 M-13 board and after nose diving the first half a dozen waves it was apparent that I have yet to find the sweet spot.

Break time, so we went up and waited for Brooke and Dana to arrive before going back to the beach.  When Kelly and I cleared the bush and got out past the tree line it took everything we had just to keep the wind from blowing the boards out of our hands.  Craziness, easily 100+ km/h winds.  The swells had now turned to pure chop and this was clearly the end of the road for Chesterman.

November 6th, 2008 by admin

100+ km/h winds made it possible to surf right in front of the hotel.  Mostly white wash,  waves didn’t have too much power because they had bounced off the islands.  Brooke, Dana, Alex and I had a  blast considering we were out surfing in the middle of a Typhoon.

Knowing that there was a hot tub waiting for us less than 200yds away made way for a pretty lengthy sesh.

October 18th, 2008 by admin

Adam and I left Nanaimo and got to JR point in real good time.  Tide was on it’s way in so we stayed in the truck and examined the waves while we were waiting for Lanny, who camped over at Renfrew but woke up to a glassy lake so he was on his way to meet us.

We checked out JR camp which also looked decent and then LilChina which looked to be shaping up but was breaking to shallow.

Lanny arrived so we did a recon on the beaches again before deciding JR point would be our best bet.  The waves had definitely begun to tame down, but Adam and I got suited up anyway hoping for the best.  After about another hour of sitting in the truck (sweating with our suits on)  the waves progressively got worse and worse.  There would be 1 set of 1 or 2, 4′ waves every 15-20 minutes coming from the Northwest.  Anger.

Oh yeah, we did see a whale though, that was pretty cool.

October 18th, 2008 by admin

Al and I hiked our way down to Lil China.  Gorgeous day, ferocious waves.  Waves were coming in from the West, 12-13 ft and breaking in about 2.5-3ft of water.  Tide was about 3/4 in.  I’ve never felt more powerful waves in my life nor have I felt a rip with so much pull going straight out.  Waves were coming at us from every angle, it was pretty intense.  I’d line one up and right before I would catch it I’d get slammed by a wave that came out of nowhere from the opposite direction.  Not a great day for surfing, but as always a beauty day to be at the beach.

One of the only place on earth where the rain forest reaches the beach.

September 20th, 2008 by admin

Steve, Bob, Adam and myself headed up to Ucluelet to camp for the night.  We got to bed pretty late no thanks to the relentless Wombat attacks.

Killer Wombat

Got at it bright and early because our campsite turned out to be a road, so we woke up to move our tents so a logger could get through.

Great day of surfing 4-5 footers in sets of 3-4 every couple of minutes.

Razor, Ali and Lanny met up with us for the second half and the waves maintained all day.

Very first time surfing on my brand new Al Merrick Designed Channel Islands 7′2, M-13.  I LOVE IT.
Caught the first wave I attempted and never looked back.  Thanks wifey

December 27th, 2006 by admin

Grand Marival - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.  Was planning to setup a trip about 1 1/2 - 2hrs out around the point to where I had been told there was some great surf.  Time just went by way too fast and it never ended up happening.  We boogie boarded all week long but the waves were not quite “surfable”.  The second to last day I woke up very early for some strange reason after a big night at the disco.

The waves were by far the biggest I had seen and appeared to be of ridin quality.  I went to the shack to grab a board and all they had was about a 5-8 board with no grip of any kind.  I’m only whining and complaining about the board like this because at this point I think I had only surfed once or twice in my life and both of those occasions I was riding a long board - big difference!

I got out there and got rolled around for about an hour.  I got sooooo close so many times.  I just didn’t have the strength and had a few too many cobwebs upstairs to rock it out.

would love to visit Nuevo again soon for a rematch now that I have improved a ton since then.

September 2nd, 2006 by admin

Alex and I arrived to the campsite in Ucluelet Friday afternoon.  Cidey and Dana were already setup by the time we got there.  We quickly set up camp and the four of us headed for Tofino.  We arrived at Long Beach, where there were 3 - 4 footers that looked pretty clean.  We had an awesome day of surfing this was my second or third time out and by the end of the day I was catching every wave I was attempting.  Had a ton of fun, awesome group to surf with.

We headed back to the campsite and the rest of the crew started to arrive.  Brooke showed up first and the Kelly, then Adam, Rich and Ryan.  Out came the beer bong and the party was officially on.

We all woke up in fairly good time and headed back out to Tofino for another day on the water.  We once again hit Long Beach and the conditions were virtually identical to the day before, the only slight difference was that I was having a little harder time catching waves than the previous day.  This was the first time that I felt the effects that a good hang over has on my surfing abilities.  It was great beeing out there with so many friends at the same time.  Nearly every surfable wave turned into a party wave.  brooke was out a fairly long ways away from the group so Dana decided to go out to her to see what she was doing out there.  A couple of minutes later we noticed that both of them were quite a ways out now, so I decided to paddle out and see what they were up to.

As I approached I could see that they were both struggling to paddle their way in.  They were trapped in a rip tide that was sucking them straight out.  We formed a train, Brooke grabbed my feet and Dana grabbed Brooke’s.  I paddled and Dana kicked and we were able to angle our waythrough and out of the rip.  This was my first encounter with a fierce rip tide and from that moment on I will always respect the sheer force that a good rip can have.

All in all it was one of the best camping trips of all time fun times and fun rides.

August 19th, 2006 by admin

Al surprised me for my birthday and rented surf gear and a room at a bed and breakfast on the edge of Sooke. It was the first time either of us had stayed at a B&B. Beautiful country, we hiked up a mountain in behind the cottage and got a great view of the water.

Now for the creepy part.

We were woke by the owner of the place knocking on the door saying “wakey wakey breakfast is ready”. Maybe it was just us but how is it peaceful or romantic to have to go into a strangers home sit with them and eat an awkward few pieces of toast? Guess we’re just not B&B folk. Anyway, lets get to the surfing.

We geared up and got in the water at Sombrio. There were some very small waves the one place where there was actually a decent break there were 20 guys sitting around it, no thanks. We had some fun in the small waves for a bit until a giant bull sea lion swam past us at a distance of about 15-20 feet. This thing probably weighed close to a ton which meant, let’s move to a new spot.

We moved down quite a ways. There was a decent break but the two guys surfing it told me there were lots of rocks around and it was not a great spot for a beginner. I sat outside the break studying and waiting to build up the confidence to try it out, when I hear an absolutely chilling shriek come from behind me call out my name.  I whipped my head back to see what the hell was going on and there was the bull sea lion right at my feet. I turned back put my head down and paddled as hard and as fast as I could. Once I ran out of steam I looked back and the big bull was gone. A second later he popped up a couple feet away from my face, I could have easily extended my arm out and I would have been able to touch his head. He let out a loud confrontational grunt and shot water at me. I turned to shore and bolted I didn’t look back until I was standing on dry land. That was the end of the surf trip.

July 18th, 2005 by admin

Kelly and I decided to take a surf trip up to Tofino. We left Nanaimo around 7:30 and eventually got there around 11:00. Kelly has caught quite a bit of swell in California and had been out surfing on Vancouver Island a few times so he knows what he’s doing. I was glad Kelly new his way around a surfboard because I on the other hand had no idea; this would be my first time surfing ever.

I received some tips on the popup, riptides, technique and surfer etiquette while suiting up and by the time we hit the sand at Long Beach I was fired up and ready to hit it.

It is a pretty strange sensation walking into the ocean with a full wetsuit and boots for the first time. No matter how many times I have tried to explain the experience since, I don’t believe that one person has ever fully believed me that your really do not get cold. As a matter of fact I can’t think of a single time that I have ever even been uncomfortable out there, but like I said you probably won’t believe me either when you read this so you will have to get out there and experience Canadian Pacific Ocean surfing for yourself.

Alright, back to the story here. We got out and started paddling around. I watched Kelly get prepared turn, paddle and catch a wave. Looks easy enough, I turned around my giant beginners rental board and started paddling to catch the next wave but it seems that I wasn’t quite in the right spot or wasn’t paddling fast enough because the wave just passed right underneath me. I regrouped got myself in position and started paddling for the next approaching wave. I could hear Kelly yelling “Go Go Go , Take It” so I paddled hard got some speed up and then felt the force of the wave thrust me forward, at this point I hopped up to my feet and was riding my first wave. The feeling and the rush is absolutely indescribable.

We surfed the rest of the afternoon and caught many more waves and each time you catch a wave you get the same stoke but in a different way every time. This is the origin of my addiction to surfing.

Each time you are out there big waves or small it really doesn’t matter.

You get the stoke of being in the right place at exactly the right time in tune with mother natures flow. What keeps you coming back is that she never repeats the same chorus.