Maple Leaf Mailbag rock'N roadshow

Tofino. I'm happy with the start, but the crew is confused about what we're doing. I wanna discover who lives here in this remote place. The boys want to surf. Tom is sick with the flu, Marty dropped our wireless kit in Tofino Harbour, Blake is worried about his role. Despite all, pictures are good. Depart for Nanaimo, sleep, next up Whistler.

After a productive meeting the night before with the crew, we woke in the morning and headed down through the wind-battered, gnarly trees onto the sandy plain. The sun is low. It's summer in January. The swell presses the water off the ocean floor to form the titan's thundering onto the beach. The ocean is immoveable, and we struggle to tame our waves. The water is clean, and vitality is felt through my body. My cell juice is renewed. Before we leave town, we meet up with the locals at the marina. The stories are rich and as full of character as those telling them.

Breakfast by the wharf, and then off to the surf shop to rent some suits and boards. Before we head into town to meet some of the colourful locals, we need to get in the water. Surfing is as important to the fabric of this tiny coastal community as hockey is to Montreal, and to understand this place you need to at least give this sport a shot. The water is frigid, but the wetsuits are thick and warm, and the waves are pounding the beach. After Will at Long Beach Surf Shop kits us out, we take to the water. Conquer the ocean! The confidence lasts about two minutes. We muck around in the shore break, and Martin films our antics from the beach. Thankfully, surf shop Will and his roommate Nick show up to save us from ourselves and show us how to actually paddle onto the waves. They take us to a stretch of Chesterman's Beach where it's supposed to be a bit calmer. Yeah, right! The paddle out is easy enough but the barrels rolling in are huge. We paddle onto them all full of hopes and dreams, and get smashed into the water repeatedly. It's exhilarating, but is it surfing? Doubtful. More like extreme swimming with boards. It's not all fun and games and near-drowning experiences on this trip, though—there's work to be done! After surfing, we head to the wharf to talk to some of the local sailors and fishermen, find out what brought them here from all over the world, to live at the edge of the continent and eke out an existence from the various seasons. For all that transpires, you're going to have to check out our video once it's up. But for now, let me tell you one thing: Turtle and Snapper saved the Chief!

Oh what a day in Tofino: sunny, 10 degres, good waves... got the wipeout of the day...met some locals at the warf... dropped a microphone in the ocean (clumsy Marty, strike one...! But you know, at the end of the day, it's all good!