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.

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.