August 23rd, 2009 by admin

It was the morning after my birthday and we all woke up way too early. (”Das Boot” made an appearance at my birthday party the night before, nuf said.)

Alex, Adam and I were in our truck and Kim, Shane and Steve jumped in the Bennet’s Jeep and we all headed for Chesterman Beach.  We arrived to meet up with Rich and Breanne who just walked back up from the shore and informed us it was flat. We caught a glimpse of Long Beach on the way by and it looked descent enough to give a second look.  When we arrived there was a pretty good swell and it wasn’t too terribly crowded so we suited up and hopped in.  There was an extremely dense fog but the surf conditions were pretty sweet.

Rich, Adam and Breanne peeled off to the right of the big boulder and the rest of us headed to the left.  To close to the big rock on either side and you will find yourself in a pretty strong side rip.  The conditions were perfect everyone was having a great time except for me. :(  The combination of nursing an injured front foot and in all honesty a bit of a hangover equalled a fairly lackluster day in the water.  The waves got bigger and better as the day went on but so did my fatigue as well as the pain in the ball of my foot.  There was no where else I would rather be than in the water, don’t get me wrong but it is a shame I was there under those conditions.  That’s ok, I fully made up for it my next day out once my foot started to feel better.

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

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 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.