The Tofino Summer in Review
“That was a sweet summer!” in Tofino can refer to how good the waves were, or how much fun you had with your friends, or some combination of the two.
This summer served up both in healthy portions. An extremely active Southern Pacific ocean produces continuous long interval south swells. These are the swells that light up Long Beach for those picturesque sunset sessions when the wind dies off just enough.
The local wind swells from the Northwest Pacific were also fairly consistent, making for ideal teaching conditions at the Maltby road access of Cox Bay on most days.
Tip: Wondering what the difference between a long interval swell and a wind swell is? Typically we call wind swells any swell with an interval of less than 10 seconds. This indicates that it has been generated from a wind storm closer to the coast. Long interval swells (a.k.a. groundswells) however, come from a storm source much farther away, where the wind has groomed the waves into more powerful and spread-out lines.
As far as that absurd heatwave that we experienced, we were all thankful to have had the ocean to play in during that time. You would have seen many people surfing in just their bathing suits, cooling off in the 11 degree celsius ocean water.
The crew at Pacific was full of some lively new characters like Jack, a surf instructor who quickly became known for having the best pair of pants we’ve ever seen. He absolutely rocked them, too.
We were lucky to have some epic staff that have been with us for multiple seasons:
“Where’s my wetsuit?” - Blake Klotz, Lead Instructor
And a whole roster of new ones that now feel like family. Here's just a few of the faces that made this summer one the best we can remember.
I learnt to surf in Tofino as a wee grommet visiting with my family in 2004, it was in 2014 that I was introduced to the other side of the Tofino Summer as an instructor at Pacific Surf Company.
For the last 7 years I have lived in Tofino, working at Pacific Surf Company in various roles. This year I’m going east. I packed my car, loaded surfboards on the roof and drove across the country to Halifax, Nova Scotia in search of surf.
Though I’ll be on the other side of the country, I am happy to still be here, on the Pacific Surf Company blog, bringing you tasty surf videos, stories and tutorials every month. For now, let’s bring on the falls swells!