Canada, eh? For a surf trip!?
Yes, you read that correctly! It’s
time to leave the bro-board in
Whistler and get yourself on the
next flight to Vancouver Island.
“The experience is one-
of-a-kind,” says Vancouver
Island native and resident surf
photographer Marcus Paladino.
“Walking through old growth
forest to get to the beach; having
bald eagles fly above you in the
lineup; meeting some of the
friendliest people you’ll ever
encounter; and of course the
adrenaline of surfing until you
can’t feel your limbs anymore.”
When you do make your way
to Vancouver Island, the small
west coast town of Tofino should
be your first port of call. The
region, which was originally a
hideaway for draft dodgers in the
’60s, has become known as the‘surfing capital of Canada’, thanks
in no small part to the large
number of Californian natives
who ventured north and now call
Tofino home.
“The first known person to
surf here was Jim ‘The Paddler’
Sadler, and that was anywhere
between 1960 and 1970,” says
Marcus.
“As wetsuit technology got
more advanced, people started toflock to the cold-water beaches
of Canada and got into surfing.
It’s been really popular in the last
decade, even though most people
in the country don’t know we
exist.”
There are a number of well-
known surf spots in Tofino alone,
but if you buddy up with some of
the friendly locals, you might get
treated to some of the more secret
waves on other parts of the island.Vancouver Island
Canada
Technological advancements to wetsuits have opened up a whole
plethora of previously off-the-map surfing destinations.
PHOTO: PALADINO