kooks on surf = gong show

my wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Tofino this year. not known as a surf mecca by any stretch of the immagination, locals from BC like to chill out on the beach and try their hand at surfing small waves in ball shrinking cold water.

we stayed at the Long Beach Lodge (shown here) taking advantage of their off season "surf package"

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61538.jpg

the night we arrived we took a walk on the beach to look at the sunset. these waves look perfect for kooks like us

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61535.jpg

as the sunsets, powder11 imagines himself riding one of the waves in punanis TR the following day

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61539.jpg

arriving at Chestermans beach for our lesson, Nico's stoked to surf some waves

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61536.jpg

the anticipation is driving her mad

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61537.jpg

the pacific surf school was kind enough to line up some floating sidewalks for our lesson

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61540.jpg

before we hit the water our instructor Bruce, fresh off the boat from oz, blesses us all with the ability to ride waves

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61541.jpg

being an east coast boy from new england, I spent my summers getting towed behind a boat, so I was pretty happy to actually get up a few times

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61543.jpg

Kristina and some random ride the party wave

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61544.jpg

in country for only a few months and being a fellow immigrant, Bruce and I had a nice chat waiting for waves. I asked him what brought him to Canada. Bruce replied dryly with a look in his eye like he was about to start paddling back down under "a gurl who claimed there was surfing here... I didnt realize Canadians measure their waves different."

despite swallowing many gallons of the pacific ocean, we had a sweet 1st time surfing and look forward to heading back soon for another jong session.

Nice! No- one ever claimed Long Beach surf was epic

Your TR reminds me very much of when I tried (read: attempted) surfing this April; complete with the floating sidewalks and ocean-guzzling. :)

Heh, tell him to wait until Sept/Oct. Tofino may not be epic, but the waves do get bigger as winter starts to roll in.
My first surf experience was at Tofino w/ an Aussie in late June, he was disappointed until we headed back in late September.

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Originally Posted by PlayHarder

Heh, tell him to wait until Sept/Oct. Tofino may not be epic, but the waves do get bigger as winter starts to roll in.
My first surf experience was at Tofino w/ an Aussie in late June, he was disappointed until we headed back in late September.

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yeah, I heard that too. watched some video of mid winter surfing in the storm shop and it looked much bigger. there seemed to be a handful of surfers who were ripping, but most were kooks like me. I think it would be like a skier from any west coast resort moving back east somewhere. yes there is skiing and people there rip, but the terrain will never compare.

Tofino goes off, just not as much as other famous surf spots. But hands down, Canadians are cool as hell, very nice people. The first time I surfed there a few of them came over to us and started telling us about other places to surf. At first I thought this was a subtle message to get the hell out of there. After a few minutes we realized they were totally sincere and actually telling us good places to surf. All of their info was spot on. I'll never forget that experience. This was well before the surf "boom" in the Northwest so it's hard to say if that behavior would still exist today. Probably not. I went back to Tofino in 2000 and it was quite built up, lots of newer homes and loads of surfers. Canada is filled with world class surf spots when it's good. September and early October generally bring the size and favorable winds from the east.