Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 25

“I didn’t get hooked until about 13, but the difficulty of the

catch a single wave? “I think it has to do with the effort I put in

sport and being out in the ocean is what I really enjoyed from a

to go to these remote locations,” he says. “It’s more about the

young age,” Pete says. The fickle conditions only made him love

whole process of figuring out where a good wave is, and waiting

it more. “Surfing is one of those sports that’s hard to duplicate

for the conditions to get good. Cold climates tend to be a lot

because everything is always changing. Once you’ve had a great

more temperamental, so that makes them way harder to score.”

wave, you want to get that feeling over and over.” Regardless of

Sometimes that means travelling a long way and finding nothing

the conditions, through limb-numbing hell and some seriously

but flat water. “I’ve had plenty of skunkings in my life,” he admits.

high water, he’s been chasing that elusive wave ever since.

“I’ve spent thousands of dollars on trips and only got one day of

Anyone who’s visited Tofino knows that it’s beautiful, home

mediocre waves to show for it.” But when the odds break in your

to a steely sea shrouded in fog and

favour, it’s well worth the work and

wind. Walls of ancient trees line the

uncertainty. “When it’s just you and

long, flat beaches and mountains

the crew and the waves are firing,

break straight into the ocean.

that’s what every surfer dreams of.”

Sunny days are rare, warm ones

Pete has fulfilled his fair share

almost unheard of. But if you have

of dreams. Chief among them was

the heart to plunge into the frigid,

a stunning performance on a rare

fighting surf, you can ride every day

blue sky day at Tofino’s North

of the year. And that’s exactly what

Chesterman Beach in November

young Pete Devries did.

2009. It was the final heat of the

Arriving home following a
45-minute bus ride from his school
the next town over, he’d wrestle into his wetsuit and head out
into the dying light to catch the final few winter swells. That

O’Neill Cold Water Classic, a roving
international tournament that, as its
name suggests, generally skips sun-kissed coasts.
Technically speaking, Devries hadn’t even qualified. He

dedication has served him well. By age 15, he’d landed his first

was one of several “wild card” entries offered to