Tofino SUP Surf Race!!

I’m sunburnt, tired, sore and in a 2 hour ferry lineup…yes I just spent a July weekend in Tofino.  There are certainly worse ways to spend a weekend. Thanks to the whole gang from Surf-Sup/Compass Adventures for putting on a super fun weekend of surf racing.

I drove into Tofino late on Friday night and was kindly greeted with a cold beverage and roaring beach bonfire thanks to Kristian from Starboard.  After a few more beverages we decided on an early morning surf session before demos and clinics started on Saturday.  I was skeptical at the time, but impressed the next morning when I was woken up for a 7am surf session.

After checking out Long Beach and Chesterman we ended up at Cox Bay which looked the best based on the swell direction.  Cox Bay is not typically a place I would recommend for Stand Up Surfing but with the small swell and a very early morning we were able to find some nice waves to ourselves.   It’s super important for us as Stand Up Paddlers to be respectful out on the water.  I want SUP to be accepted in places like Tofino and the only way that will happen is if we respect other surfers and follow the etiquette. I could and probably will write a whole entry just on SUP surfing so I will leave it at that for now and get back to my weekend of racing.

Saturday was a day for Demos from Starboard SUP and Clinics put on by Stu from Compass Adventures. The usual summer fog was hanging around so Saturday was a little bit quiet on Mackenzie Beach but it was a nice day to relax and try out some boards.

Mackenzie Beach is located North of North Chesterman Beach and is one of the best spots in Tofino for SUP.  You can always find sheltered flat water in the Southern Corner of the bay and in the Northern corner depending on the swell direction you can usually find some small, uncrowded SUP friendly waves.  In the winter Mackenzie Beach can get some good sized swell which brings in the surfers but in the summer it is mostly quite calm.  Tofino Paddlesurf, which is owned and operated by Catherine Bruhwiler,  has set up shop on Mackenzie Beach in conjunction with the Tin Wis Best Western Resort. Catherine runs lessons, tours and rentals and is definitely the person to talk to if you want some info on SUP in Tofino so go check out her shop! She has some awesome Starboard SUPs and some cool accessories and clothing in her new shop.

Festivities on Saturday night included a video and presentation from Norm Hann and his Stand Up For Great Bear initiative.  Look out for his new video STANDFILM.  Following the video was some live music to finish off the evening.

Sunday was the big race day and I was looking forward to this one as the 3^rd stop on the BC SUP Cup Series.  We awoke to some awesome sunshine and a little bit of wind which was perfect for race day. Perfect weather to provide a fun atmosphere on the beach and some challenging conditions on the water.

The day featured a Kids Race, Women’s race and then a Men’s race.  The group of kids/groms/youth, whatever you want to call them, were awesome.  Some really strong paddlers and I’m sure they are going to be leading the way in the mens races in a few years if they keep it up.  The women paddled next and were also very impressive. Even in the past year it has been great to see some more female paddlers coming out and making these races very competitive.

All of the races were on a counter-clockwise course in and out through the surf zone at Mackenzie Beach.  The course was set up very well to allow for different angles into the wind and waves.  There were definitely some challenging sections and the run certainly didn’t allow you to rest in between laps. 12’6 Men had to do 4 laps of the course.

I got off to a slower start than I would have liked and the first lap was grueling as I tried to make up some ground on Norm and Stu who were up front.  After a couple of hard laps I started to feel stronger but it wasn’t enough to catch Norm and Stu who kept pulling away after each lap.  I finished in 3^rd behind two very strong paddlers and I had a lot of fun out on the race course so I couldn’t complain.

 

Course racing with a beach run component is so much fun and is great for spectators.  It feels great to get cheered on by other paddlers and spectators as you make the run in between each lap.  Definitely makes me want to get down to the Battle of the Paddle this year and challenge myself against a tougher course and some world class paddlers…as long as I have a cheering section to push me through each lap.

All in all it was a very well organized race and a super fun course with a great BBQ and prizes afterwards.  Great job to the race organizers for putting together a great event.  I’d say there were close to 50 total racers which is an awesome turnout for a destination race.

A few of us discussed the idea of having the big races on Saturday rather than Sunday to allow for some post-race festivities without everyone rushing to get home or catch a ferry.  That way you can get the big important race out of the way and party it up on Saturday night! Sunday could be set aside for demos, clinics, surfing and fun.

Thanks to Surf-SUP, Compass Adventures, Tofino Paddlesurf, Starboard SUP, Werner Paddles and most importantly thanks to Deep Cove Canoe and Kayak Centre for giving me the weekend off to race!

Weekend with the Pros

This past weekend I got the opportunity to share my neck of the woods with a couple of Starboard Team Pros, Nikki Gregg and Dan Gavere.  After much planning and a weekend of racing in Vernon at the Kal Classic I was stoked to get some surfing done.

The plan was to spend two days up at Skookumchuck Rapids surfing the standing wave that forms there on a large flooding tide. For those who aren't familiar with the wave, it is a smooth glassy wave that forms over a rock shelf during the flooding tide.  The wave is clean, glassy and green up until about 10 knots of current. When it gets above 10 knots the wave foams out and is not as easy to ride.  Above 10 knots the whirlpools, boils and waves also get considerably harder to deal with if you fall off the main wave.  For the brave few, the wave also greens out again at around 14-15 knots but the mess behind the wave gets pretty scary....maybe next trip.

We made the trip up to Egmont the night before our surf day and camped at the put in at the Backeddy Resort and Marina. From here it's about a 30 minute paddle into the wave...or a 45 minute walk.....or a 2 hour trek through the woods on a mountain bike with 4 boards on a homemade trailer(see video).
Sketchy gear shuttle into Skook

I paddled into the wave on a Starboard Coast Runner towing my 9'0" Starboard Converse which worked out very well.  We had a tough headwind but we made it there much faster than Dan on his bike. When I arrived on my board the wave was just starting to form.  It's amazing how fast the current builds, one minute you would think you were in Deep Cove on a glassy morning and the next minute you start to see eddy lines forming and boils and whirlpools beginning to form downstream.

The glassy wave is best surfed on a Sea Kayak or SUP so we shared the wave with a few sea kayak friends from Deep Cove.  I started the session waiting for the wave to get bigger so I decided to try surfing the Coast Runner.  14' of board was a little bit challenging to move around but once I got it on the wave it held pretty well.

As the wave built to the max current speed of 9.2 knots we had a nice steep wave that held some shorter boards in very nicely.  We even got a little bit of sunshine to dry us out.  My board of choice on the wave is my 9'0" x 30" Starboard Converse.  I feel like it has just the right amount of stability and maneuverability.  Other boards that worked really well were the Starboard Whopper 10'x34", the Starboard Element 9'8"x30" and when the wave was steep we had some fun on the 8"5x29 Starboard Pro.

After an awesome day of surfing we spent the evening at the Backeddy Resort and Marina...(and Pub). I went to bed ready for another day of surfing and an even steeper wave.  I awoke to torrential rain that wouldn't let up. After a quick breakfast we packed up and got on the water.  The rain still hadn't stopped and I was glad to have my Kokatat Drysuit instead of a wetsuit.  I literally lived in my drysuit for 2 days and managed to stay warm and comfortable in some pretty ugly west coast weather.

We surfed our way through the rain and had some awesome surfs.  The wave foamed out pretty quick but there was still a small pocket of green wave that we could stay in.  Dan was working the little pocket really well, carving in and out of the foam.

The sun finally decided to show itself after about 11 straight hours of pouring rain and we had a nice paddle back from the wave....The only downside being that now we had 3 people and 6 boards to paddle out.  Chris towed one board behind the 11' Starboard Slick he was on.  I managed to stack my 9'0 onto the 10' Whopper and paddle them out together.  Dan put together his Search and Destroy Rig which consisted of a 14' Coast Runner, drybags, camera bags, rolling luggage and an 8'5 Starboard Pro duct taped to the nose.

As if two days of surfing wasn't enough, we decided to get back to Vancouver and run the Capilano River the next day.  The Cap was running at a lower level which made it a little bit rocky but there was enough water to have a lot of fun through some of the rapid sections. The Starboard Astro Whopper was the right tool for the job here, very stable and could handle getting bounced off the odd rock. There aren't too many Stand Up Paddlers running rivers yet but I can see some potential for the sport to grow.  It was very challenging but a lot of fun and I was very glad to have Dan in front of me so I could follow/copy everything he did.  I'm stoked to get out there some more and hit up some more rivers.

Overall, it was an awesome weekend hanging out with some top paddlers in the industry. Thanks a lot to Dan Gavere and Nikki Gregg for coming up to see what BC has to offer for Stand Up Paddlers.  Also a huge thanks to Chris Emerick for shooting photos all weekend, hanging out and paddling.  And a big thanks to Starboard SUP, Werner Paddles, Kokatat Watersports Gear and Deep Cove Outdoors....without them I would be cold, wet and swimming.