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My Journal: the infamous update time
By: kendrat

so screw january first, it seems like september's the time of new beginnings. and a new beginning it is for me; mike's finally convinced me that ontario will be a-ok, and so we're leaving my dingy little one-bedroom for his two-bedroom-one-and-a-half-baths condo. i know, i know, the usual migration for boarders is east to west, not west to east, but can't a girl follow her heart as well as the snow sometimes?

what on earth am i going to do in ontario, you may ask... well... um... yeah. here are my options:

a) collect cans from people's bins at 4AM on recycling day and return for refund

b) shovel snow for little old ladies

c) be a snowboard instructor

d) be an artist

e) stay at home mom

f) collect EI and sit on my duff

g) make home movies

and after a lot of thought, i came up with reasons why i couldn't do any of them...

a) because people in ontario are terrible at recycling

b) snow? what snow? it's all ice dammit, and i don't own an ice pick

c) see above, minus ice pick

d) i have no artistic talent whatsoever... whoops

e) not pregnant, too broke to be preggers

f) i quit, so therefore no EI cheques

g) no camcorder, no one would want to see a time lapse of how fast my hair grows anyways.

in all seriousness, though, i'll probably end up looking for work in my same field, care. i'm contemplating going back to school, too. the horrors of last go round of university has worn off some, so i feel like maybe i could handle more school, this time for a masters of psychology. masters degree = more job opportunities = more money in the long run. but, masters degree also = staying in ontario for at least two years. decisions, decisions. i have until december at least to decide if i want to make the enrollment deadline or not.

as for right now, i'm bloody sick of packing. we've used up every single empty box we own, and even a few we don't own (they showed up in front of our door this morning magically), and now we're on to garbage bags. what can i say, we're classy movers. tomorrow's the big move day, luckily my parents have lots of storage at their place (once i reclaim my room anyways), so we can store it all there for when we can finally move back. it's amazing how much stuff gets accumulated after a year and a half... and how much i'm not allowed to give away!

so, in other news, mike and i both quit our jobs at the end of august, with the intention of taking some time to actually enjoy ourselves before we leave. and it's worked out pretty well i might say! we went sailing for 5 days, which was awesome. visited a few of the gulf islands, and even though the weather didn't cooperate at first, it turned lovely and we had some great sailing weather (we actually got the sail up this year!).

we rested for a few nights, then went off to tofino (green point campground) for two nights and three days of the best weather tofino has likely ever seen. we really lucked out, it was gorgeous. lots of sun and sand, with another day we might have had time to rent surf gear, but we had to be home to pack and move. in the near future we have a three day trip to ontario planned, for mike's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, then another camping trip to strathcona park, and then it's the big drive to ontario. really looking forwards to the drive, should be great.

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNND... so here i was, making all these plans for the drive, working on the 27th being the day to leave, heading up to whistler for a night, blahdy blah blah... and then i find out that my sister's bought me a ticket for def leppard on the 27th in vancouver as a birthday gift! and mike's got us a hotel room 400m from GM place or something, and styx is opening for them, and yadda yadda yadda! definitely going to be an awesome birthday celebration, that's for sure! and so totally worth pushing back the departure by a day! i'm so impressed the two of them kept it quiet for so long (eryn bought the tickets months ago)!! super super stoked, i can't wait (THANKS GUYS!)!

so all in all, a super exciting month i'm having, it can only get better from here!

Published On: 9/13/2007

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Surfing News: Westport Clean Water Classic Results
By: surf.colonies.com

The 6th annual Clean Water Classic surfing contest has just wrapped up at Westport, Washington. This event was a benefit for the Pacific Northwest chapters of the Surfrider Foundation. The 2007 Clean Water Classic was presented by Global Surf Industries (GSI), the worldwide leading surfboard distribution company. The event drew more than 100 competitors and also drew many first time surfers to the beach as well. "It's great to see so many people surfing for the first time- it's just perfect!" said Mark Kelly, the President of Global Surf Industries.

Mark continued ""The surfing community of the Pacific Northwest should be very proud of itself. The quality of the surfing I saw on the weekend was sensational. The local guys can hold their head up high on the performance side of things. This was my first trip to the region, and having travelled extensively throughout the world I have to say that the "Aloha spirit" was alive and well in Westport. The surfing culture here is pure and the joy of surfing that I witnessed really fits with our company mantra - Life is better when you surf!" GSI brought several well known surfers to participate in the event, including Bonga Perkins (who is currently on the cover of Longboard magazine) and Steve Walden, a successful surfboard shaper/ manufacturer from Ventura, CA.

The event started with a GSI sponsored surfboard dealer heat on Friday, which drew three man teams from six surf shops. The three man teams surfed three boards (a shortboard, a fish, and a longboard). The shop winner was awarded a $2500 shop credit, which drew spirited competition to start off the surfing weekend. Steepwater Surf (Westport, WA) was the eventual winner of the GSI shop challenge.

On Saturday June 2nd, the first heats started at 8:00 AM at the jetty in Westhaven State Park, Washington. The event concluded at 3 PM on Sunday, June 3rd. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, 50 heats were run with most being 15 minute heats. Six competitors per heat was the norm on Saturday, with the semi finals and finals on Sunday drawing between two and four competitors per heat. The weather was calm and foggy at times, with nicely shaped waves in the two to six foot range.

On Saturday night, GSI and Quiksilver combined forces to provide an extraordinary surf theme party which attracted over 450 people. The party turnout packed the Westport Convention Center, and featured a Quiksilver raffle, the donation of boards by Mark Kelly from GSI, and several surf movies and movie previews. One of the movies previewed was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer which will be released by Fox on June 15, 2007. In this movie, the lead character rides a silver surfboard. The Clean Water Classic was selected by Fox to feature a very limited edition silver surfboard similar to the one used by the movie character. On Sunday, this board was given to the winner of the Master's Shortboard division (Matt Loughren). Matt is the well known owner of a local surf shop in Westport, and the crowd roared appreciatively as Matt stepped up to claim his one of a kind prize.

Other major sponsors who made the 2007 Clean Water Classic a great success include Rebel Boards, Awesome Surf Videos, Vitamin Water, One Ball Jay, Cleanline Surf, Sex Wax, XCel, Perfect Wave, Hammersurf, and Biofoam Boards.

2007 Clean Water Classic division winners included:

Pro/Am Shortboard Division (shortboards are less than seven foot four inches):
1st = Noah Cohen (Tofino, BC) . Noah also won the Best Wave and Shortboard Highest Scored Wave. Noah received $500 for his win.
2nd = Steve Martin (Westport, WA). Steve received $150 for his win.
3rd = Bastien Lanusse (Tofino, BC). Bastien received $100 for his win.

Master's Shortboard (40 + years of age):
1st = Matt Loughren (Westport, WA)
2nd = Andrew Drake (Seattle, WA)
3rd = Gary Smither (Coos Bay, OR)

Women's Shortboard:
1st = Leah Oke (Port Renfrew, BC). Leah won $150 for her win.
2nd = Rachel Ward (Seaside, OR)
3rd = Katt Dunn

Men's Longboard (longboards are more than nine feet long):
1st = J.P. Canis
2nd = Steve Martin (Westport, WA)
3rd = Andy Cordeiro

Master's Longboard:
1st = Perry Abedor (Dana Point, CA) Perry also won the Longboard Highest Scored Wave.
2nd = Andrew Drake (Seattle, WA)
3rd = Gary Smither (Coos Bay, OR)

Women's Longboard
1st = Rachel Ward (Seaside, OR)
2nd = Yvonne Mendel (Tofino, BC)
3rd = Hannah Nicholls (Depoe Bay, OR)

Junior's Division (between 12- 17 years old):
1st = CC Unger-Mayor (Tofino, BC)
2nd = Kye Peladeau (Tofino, BC)
3rd = Janek Peladeau (Tofino, BC)

Surf Kayak High Performance:
1st = Gary Korb (Port Angeles, WA)
2nd = Jameson Riser (Seattle, WA)
3rd = Kate Howell (Corvallis, OR)

Surf Kayak Novice/ Intermediate:
1st = Joe Dietrich
2nd = Jeff Daniels

Published On: 6/6/2007

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Surfing News: 2007 Rip Curl Stew - Tofino, BC - June 16th-17th
By: surf.colonies.com

RIP CURL CANADA PREPARES TO DISH OUT SOME “STEW”…

TOFINO, BC – Attention all west coast surfers! Rip Curl Canada is proud to present “The Rip Curl Stew” a two-day judged surf contest, open to all ages - June 16th & 17th 2007 - held at Cox Bay in the heart of Tofino, B.C.
For over 40 years, Rip Curl has played a leading role in the surf industry and continues to move forward in Canada by gaining the rights to hold the only surf contest this summer in Tofino, BC. Looking into the future they feel strongly that this event will bring the surf culture of Vancouver Island’s past, back to life with a realistic goal - to continue to develop homegrown athletes to compete at a world-class level. “The purpose of this event is to give back to the surf community while developing the home-grown talent,” states National Sales Manager, Drew Hawkshaw. “we are stoked to be able to hold this competition and give back to the surf industry.” says Hawkshaw. The contest will feature seven categories – including open categories for men, women & children, a long board category, as well as a masters over forty category - allowing surfers at all levels & ages to showcase their talent!
With the estimated number of competitors in attendance being close to one hundred, it is lining up to be an unforgettable weekend. Along with the opportunity for up & coming surfers to showcase their talent, some of the well known athletes invited to compete include Peter Devries, the Bruhwiler brothers, Reid Jackson, Mike Stupka, Bastien Lanusse, Noah Cohen, Christian Moutinho and Brian Greig.
These guys are sure to take this competition to a whole other unexpected & exciting level. “I am confident this will be Canada’s premiere surf event for years to come.” states Hawkshaw.
Along with free admission for spectators, there will be over $10, 000 dollars worth of great give-aways from Rip Curl & the event sponsors, to be handed out all weekend. For the competitors there will be prize packs filled with amazing goods & winners will each receive a Barracuda Surfboard, Spy Sunglasses, Rip Curl wetsuit, Reef Sandals, Arbor Skateboard & much more! (To entertain the kids there will also be games held on the beach all day long.)
Matching the event theme, stew will be readily available on the beach to feed the masses, with all proceeds going to a Tofino based non-profit organization.
Anyone interested in competing can sign up at one of the following locations:

Long Beach Surf Shop – Tofino, BC

Sitka Surf Shop – Victoria, BC
Pacific Boarder – Vancouver, BC
Second Wave – North Vancouver, BC
Sponsors include: Rock Star Energy Drink, Spy Eyewear, SBC Surf Magazine, Reef, Inner Rhythm, Storm, Live to Surf, Long Beach Surf Shop, Coastline, Alternative Groove, HTO, Sitka, Pacific Boarder, Second Wave, La Nina, North Hill, Red Nik, Red Truck Brewery, Arbor Long boards, Harrison Beach Jewelry, Barracuda Surfboards, Santa Cruz Surfboards, Channel Island Surfboards, Sticky Bumps & Creatures Accessories.

Published On: 5/31/2007

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Surfing News: ISA Judging and Officiating Course Being Offered By: surf.colonies.com
Tofino, location TBA $80.00 cash June 15, 6:30pm To pre-register contact Barbie Mayor Canadian Judging Manager sbmayor@seaviewcable.net ISA Certified Judging Instructor Improve your capacity to discriminate between surfers who perform closest to the judging criteria from those who don't Published On: 5/31/2007 Add/View Comments (0)

Giraffe Entourage: Surfing Tofino
By: Rodney

So I went surfing for the first time in Tofino this past weekend. Wow...what a trip with Clayton and Kristina. Started off with us leaving the office at 1pm to arrive in a massive car line up for the ferries to take us to Vancouver Island. As we approach the line, the stupid ferrie guy tells us we will probably get on the 9 O'Clock ferrie! it was 3:30! So I figured the guy made a mistake and meant we may get on the 5 O'Clock but if not then the 7:00. Nope. What he meant was the 9:00 which was leaving at 10:30PM!!! So yea...We got on the stupid ferrie at 10:30pm and got to tofino at around 3:30. 14 hours. grr.

So on Saturday we start calling around looking for a place where we can take some lessons and rent some gear. "No places will be renting or giving lessons this weekend because of the large swell". What the! The entire reason for going to tofino and ruffing that 14hour trip was to surf. So we try to make light of things and plan some other activities such as whale watching and kayaking. We went to go check out the waves to see how crazy they were because Clayton or I had not seen the beach in Tofino before. The waves weren't too bad and after taking some pictures (which turned out pretty crappy..check the galleries for some decent ones) we went to a local surf shop where tehy told us we could rent equipment for Sunday.

Luckily, we did rent gear on Sunday and it was amazing! It was pouring rain and cold but nice and toasty in the wetsuit. We had the full enchilada on. Hood, Gloves and boots. The quote of the day was "Where did all my bones go" compliments of Dane. So the waves were pretty decent and the water was refreshing but boy was I ever tired after surfing.

We came back monday and the trip was a Huge success. Special thanks to Xtina for planing the whole bumbaclot extravaganza and for driving.

Published On: 11/14/2006

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My Journal: Tofino!! In October!! By: JPepperdine
Published On: 10/23/2006 Add/View Comments (9)

My Blog: Summertime in the WBC
By: lucasfowler

Summer is always a wicked time in BC. Chillin' at the lake, swimming, hiking, camping, road trippin', concerts, surfing... ahhh, there's just SO much to do out here.

It's hard to beleive we're almost into August...Which is my birthday month. It's on August the 8th, and I accept all forms of personal cheques, cash, VISA/MC/AMEX as well.

I was in Kelowna last weekend for some hiking and beach action. What a cool town ! The steez of lots of the women is very similar to Whistler, but all the guys seem to be dirtbags ! What's up with that, ladies? I camped at Okanagan Prov Park and Bear Creek Prov Park, two parks I would definitely recommend.

This weekend it'll be TOFINO. It's been almost two months since I've surfed and I'm craving some wave action. Looks like a building SW Swell as well for the weekend, but all in all it'll be pretty fickle.

After that, I'm back to work 6 days weeks for three weeks in a row. Happy birthday to me!

Published On: 7/17/2006

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My Blog: K f*ck this blog shi*t.
By: ripishness

This is my 3rd try at an amazing blog of my amazing trip to Tofino. Call me and I will give you the details! I got ousted too many times to re-write my water emotions....! Wow is all I can say. I achieved goals and have moments frozen in my mind of sitting on waves! Thank you Tofino!

I described it perfectly and wish you got the real verson.....sorry to rip my friends off! Still Luv ya though!

Chat soon

Published On: 7/15/2006

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My Blog: Road Trip - Week 1
By: lucasfowler

Roadtrip ’06 – Week 1

The first few days of a vacation are always the happiest. Spirits run high, finances are good, and you have the entire vacation ahead of you. Soon enough, it'll be half over, and then almost over, and before you know it you're sitting back in your office with another year to go before you know what a solid road trip feels like.

The first week was unique as we spanned several different climatic zones and saw a whole slew of different sights. Still, the entire time, we were no more than a stones throw away from the pacific. There is a certain aura which the pacific emits. Sometimes it’s a little intimidating, sometimes a little inspiring, but always humbling and relaxing. It is, after all, the largest ocean in the world. We have it to thank for all of our winter storms and shredable coastal waves. Whenever I visit the coast, whether it's in Tofino, BC or Encinitas, CA or anywhere in between, I am reassured, as Jim Morrison said, that "The West Is the Best".

-----

Day 1 - Whistler, BC to Keystone, WA

-Missed the last ferry and had to camp near the Keystone terminal.

Day 2 - Keystone, WA to OR Coast

-Got a 534usd speeding ticket in Port Angeles.... damnit!!
-Checked out the Hoh Rainforest and the beaches of Olympic National Park... always a good time.

Day 3 - OR Coast to Trinidad, CA

-Went swimming upon entry to CA.... cold water!
-It just wouldn't be Humboldt County if the first person you met didn't offer you chronic. Score!
-The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Set up camp, had a fire, cooked some meals, and played a drinking game version of bowling/baseball.
-Went to visit Colin in Arcata and checked out the house music at the Humboldt Brewery.

Day 4 - Trinidad, CA to San Fran, CA

-Reveled in the grandeur of the redwoods. Did several scenic drives, and even a drive thru tree!
-Set up camp at Samuel P. Taylor State Park in the redwoods near SF.

Day 5 -San Fran, CA to San Jose, CA

-Met Lorna's dad and others for breakfast at Pier 21... wow... properly cooked food and clean utensils!
-Did a walking tour of Alcatraz..... so interesting!!!
-Rocked up to the SJ Fairmont with our dirty car and dirty selves... how embarrassing! Good to have a non-public shower!

Day 6 - San Jose, CA to Santa Cruz, CA

-Drove around SC and saw the sights... checked out some beaches.
-Checked out the Mystery Spot... pretty cool place!
-Set up camp at New Brighton State Beach.

Day 7 - Santa Cruz, CA to Ventura, CA

-We saw tons of scenery today. Hwy 1 is always awesome. Even the chili peppers agree with me (listen to "Road Trippin").

-Stopped to see the Elephant Seals.

-Went to a hot spring near Santa Barbara.

Day 8 – Ventura, CA to Los Angeles, CA

-Hit up the famous LA beaches for some sunbathing and bong hits. Malibu, Sunset, Venice.

-Stayed at the Motel 6 in the San Fernando Valley, surrounded by the world’s best porn mansions.

Published On: 5/24/2006

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My Journal: Last week.
By: kyle

Well last week was pretty insane... figured I make a little blog about it to remember later.

thursday started off as my birthday. I think it started at my house which moved off to garfs where I was introduced to Patron... Friday was the Billabong party which was pretty insane. Things got pretty out of control that night, Risto looked like he had a pretty good time. Saturday night was... I don't remember what saturday night was.. but I think I spent it at garfs. Then sunday was trav's birthday. I'm stoked that Sushi Village didn't kick us out after the 4th dumbo of sacki. Which was then followed by getting Trav's birthday crew (27 of us) into garfs as Wu-Tang took the stage for the sweetest performance I've seen in garfs. I just remember yelling dollar dollar bills yall! Monday was the Playboy party, I have some photos up in my photo gallery of that night. Thanks Mike. Tuesday I got to see Pete make it to the finals with is horror/funny awesome video. I figured it was between pete's movie and the movie Feet and Chile made. But some lame movie that was taken with photos won. I mean common. I made a video like that too, it's called death of a printer found on Ryan's profile in his movie section. Pete, you got robbed. Wednesday I think was the photographer showdown... buddy from Tofino blew my mind. So sick. ummm.. thursday, can't remember. Pretty sure I stayed home. Friday was... not sure, think I stayed home. Saturday was the big air, Trav came third, we partied. Didn't get to make to the Dj expereince, but I heard it was good times if you liked glow sticks... (weird).... sunday was the Snowboard.com party and I pulled some weak moves and only stayed for 45 minutes... I was a hurting unit and had to get home for some sleep. Monday was a hard day. Tuesday I'm slowly getting my brain back into working order and today... well today is still a little fuzzie but I think I'll be back on my feet soon.

Published On: 4/26/2006

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My Journal: 5/9/2004 By: Matt.S
ended my summer by going to cali for a week and then tofino and didi some surfing. there is a few new pics and soon i will be selling snowboard stuff, let me know what you want ill see what i got. Published On: 9/5/2004 Add/View Comments (0)

My Journal: 24/8/2004 By: kyle
New Pictures from Tofino Published On: 8/24/2004 Add/View Comments (0)

My Journal: 13/6/2003 By: JPepperdine
victoria with the skimboarding and the skateboarding and the golfing and the drinking with the sunset on the mountain... and tofino with the surfing and the drunkeness and the camping in the rain with the girls... tis good to get away once and a while. Published On: 6/13/2003 Add/View Comments (0)

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