Debunking Canadian Surf Stereotypes | Waves are warm, crowded, + bear free?

 

Canada is a place you go to surf uncrowded, snow capped waves, while fighting off bears and wolves on the beach, right? Well that’s what the surf media would like to have you believe. Turns out that ain’t the case. We’ve surfed hoodless surrounded by 200 of our closest friends with nary a bear in sight more often then not.

Our famed Pete Devries has a good laugh over the Canadian surf stereotypes with photographer Marcus Paladino.

 

Sample:

M: So Pete, what are the biggest myths about surfing in Canada?

P: The biggest myth is that there is nobody ever here. That’s completely false these days. Go out to the beach break at any given time, there’s going to be like 200 people in the water.

M: Geez, times have changed since you were a kid, eh?

P: (Laughs) Yeah. The last five years have seen the biggest change. My amount of solo sessions are about 10 times less than what they used to be. It’s just that people are moving and staying here more often. They come to surf in the summer and get a job, then they realize that they’d rather surf than snowboard in the winter. So they hang around.

 

 

Click to STAB for Debunking Canadian Surf Stereotypes w/ Peter Devries + Marcus Paladino

 

 

 

“The hardships are what they are,” says British Columbia’s @petedevries. “It’s cold, you surf in a wetsuit but if you’re prepared you can stay warm. It’s like camping in the rain, if you’re prepped right it’s comfortable but if you’re not it’s an awful experience. It’s like the bear thing. You tell surf media you saw a bear once and all the sudden everyone’s like “There are bears everywhere!” You say you had to hike to surf and everyone’s like “You have to hike at least 45 minutes to go surf anywhere!” Head to Stabmag.com for the full interview with Pete and fellow Canadian lensman @marcuspaladino.

A post shared by Stab Magazine (@stab) on Feb 18, 2018 at 4:08pm PST

 

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