Interesting journey to Tofino surf

Surfing is great because you can clear your mind and focus on nothing else but the surf.

Visitors to Long Beach Lodge Resort’s Surf Club know him for his enthusiasm, good-cheer and expert knowledge of the surf, tides and beaches in and around Tofino, Long Beach and Pacific Rim National Park.

Locals and tourists know that surf tips and direct, concise answers on “what-is-going-on-on-what-beach” are only a question away. However, Chance McCullough’s arrival in Tofino - and employment as manager of the Resort’s Surf Club - was anything but direct. It's a journey best described as “circuitous.”

Tofino Surf ClubBorn-and-raised in New Brunswick, on the Bay of Fundy, Chance’s first love was hockey. He played junior hockey and then served in the Canadian Navy for five years, working as a cook on the HMCS St. John’s, a Halifax-class frigate, and then training and serving as a military police officer.

After leaving the navy, he planned on moving west with plans to work in the oil fields in Alberta until a friend mentioned Tofino.

“Where and what is Tofino?” Chance asked. His friend answered:  “It is a place on Vancouver Island. There is surfing, beautiful beaches, it is really chill and relaxing and it does not snow there.”

Chance, at first, didn’t believe such a place existed in Canada. But he decided to check it out anyway, with plans to loop back east to Alberta afterwards.

Seven years later he is still in Tofino.

Chance says the first time he surfed was in September 2009 and soon after his arrival in Tofino. He lived in a tent in Bella Pacifica Campground on McKenzie Beach and got his first Tofino job at Long Beach Lodge Resort working in the laundry.

“I was surfing when I was not working,” says Chance. “It is a great lifestyle.”

His surfing friends noticed how rapidly Chance’s surf skills were growing and suggested he get certified as an instructor, which he did in 2011. Soon after, he started teaching.

“Surfing and Tofino has become a lifestyle and passion of mine,” explains Chance. “When the daylight allows, I try to get a surf in everyday, either before or after work.”

Tofino Surf ClubChance says running the Surf Club is part surf acumen, part business smarts and part weatherman: “I am always checking on weather conditions, offshore winds, tides - sometimes a I feel like a meteorologist.”

Chance says he is constantly fielding questions on the best locations to surf and is often prodded to reveal some of the Tofino, Ucluelet and Long Beach secret hot spots known by only long-term locals. Asked to share a couple, Chance simply grins and shakes his head.

Competitive junior hockey in the Maritimes is worlds away from life as a Tofino surf instructor and club manager. Chance agrees, suggesting surfing, Tofino and the low-key pace of west Vancouver Island fit well with his personality and gives him a “healthy perspective” on life.

“When you’re out there [on the water], you focus on yourself, what is going on around you,” explains Chance. “If there is something on your mind, bothering you, surfing is great because you can clear your mind and focus on nothing else but the surf.”

Cold water surfing is a popular theme in many surf-focused magazines, websites and blogs. Asked about the allure and popularity of heading north or far south to catch waves, Chance says that along with the novelty of surfing in Canada, there is a mixture of other factors at play.

“Warm-water surfers do not necessarily want to go to cold water. The main thing that is appealing to them is, in Australia and Hawaii, there could be 200 surfers in a line up in the surf, but the further north you go, you go from 200 people, to 20 to 6,” explains Chance. “When I surf Cox Bay sometimes I am the only one in the water. That has a lot of appeal: it is not so crowded and over populated and there are a lot of empty waves.”

Chance says he is passionate about surfing, the sport and introducing the experience to new surfers of all ages. He has played an integral part in developing a new Surf Camp program at the Resort. Surf Club professional instructors work with new and experienced surfers during five-hour Surf Camps, each Saturday through to the end of June. Chance says the goal is to share knowledge about the sport, weather, waves, skills and safety and then get the campers on the water for hands-on instruction and evaluation.




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