For a long time now, I have had this love of water and waves. I remember being in grade four and drawing surfers in Hawaii, even though I grew up in a Northern Ontario mining town, 4500 km from the nearest ocean. In high school and university I would search out magazine shops to see if I could find the latest editions of Surfing and Surfer. I had no idea where this love of surfing came from until a few years ago when my dad sent me an old picture from the mid to late 70's. I was standing on the shores of  Lake Huron with a small, white Styrofoam surfboard under my arm. When I asked my dad about the details he told me that he had bought the board for me from Canadian Tire. After the picture was taken my little brother and I went out and managed to catch a couple of  waves on our belly before I snapped the board in half. But that one wave was all that I needed for my love of surfing to take hold. It wasn't until a few decades later when I quit my teaching job and moved west to the mountains and oceans of British Columbia to pursue my path to becoming an outdoor guide in 1999, when I had my first chance to try surfing. That fall I made the pilgrimage to Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island where I took a lesson from the only surf school there at the time, Surf Sister. I caught my first wave, bought the 9' softtop surfboard right from Jenny's fleet and immediately headed back out to catch a few more waves. I would continue to pursue this passion for surfing up until 2008. Blame Laird Big wave surfer,