On Saturday morning at 6:00 am, my boyfriend Justin and I awoke to start our journey to Tofino. The purpose behind the trip was to apply for jobs for the summer, but we couldn’t go all the way to Tofino (5 hour drive) without getting a surf session in.Â
After dropping off our applications, we parked in our campsite for the night at SurfGrove, and got ready to surf on Cox Bay.
The waves that were in the “back”, meaning where the wave was being formed out, further in the ocean, were HUGE. They were powerful and high, meaning sometimes I would be swept up by the tide suddenly rising for a big wave crashing much further behind me. These moments were a little scary for me as when it happened I could no longer touch the bottom. Surfing in Tofino is a much different experience than surfing the South Island waves, and this was the first time I had surfed in Tofino since all of my practice at Jordan River. Although I really enjoyed the soft sand at the bottom compared to the rocks and seaweed, to my surprise I missed the waves at home. One major difference between Tofino’s waves and Jordan River’s, is that when there are bigger waves in Tofino, there’s not much opportunity for me to catch non-crashers, making it less of a challenge and less fun. At Jordan River, there’s more opportunities for me to catch non-crashers. Part of this is due to the fact that Tofino and Jordan River have different “breaks”. Jordan River has a reef break, meaning there are only wave breaks in certain spots. Tofino has a beach break meaning the break happens across the whole beach. I caught crashers the entire session aside from one very small non-crasher. Since the conditions weren’t great for me, (strong tide, only crashing waves, messy) and since I broke my leash, I only stayed out an hour before my boyfriend and I headed to a different beach for him to surf better waves at. Overall, I had a good time since I could tell my confidence since the last time I had surfed in Tofino improved, but the waves weren’t the best for me to practice on.
My goal for next week is to start trying to pop up without using my knee to help me up. This video, with the help and guidance of my boyfriend will be how I hope to achieve this goal.
Overall Confidence : 7/10
Conditions: 6 foot swell ? (tofino)
Busy: No (not for tofino)
Best Wave of Session: Crasher
Length of Best Wave: 10 seconds
Session Duration: 1 hour
jordanloewen
Hey!
I love that you included a video tutorial and set a goal for yourself to work on this specific skill. Sounds like it’ll be achievable especially if you’ll be working in Tofino for the summer!