The idea emerged about a month ago. I had been out of skim-commission for a few months now due to a reoccurring shoulder injury, and have been craving to get back to Port Renfrew. Up until last week my physiotherapist was giving me the thumbs down to skimming. A few days prior to heading out on our trip I finally got the ok to hit the swell again. Instead of skimming on our trip, I decided to dedicate myself to snapping photographs, as in the past our trips have been poorly documented. I was just stoked to get out of the city for the few days.

Day1.

Our trip commenced on Saturday December 12^th. For the past four and a half years I have being studying geography and political science at the University of Victoria. December 12^th marked the last exam of my undergrad. My exam commenced at 9am on December 12^th. I sat and wrote for two hours and a half hours about post-enlightenment political thought, focusing my exam efforts on themes related to morality, capitalism and arguments presented by s Spinoza, Locke, Machiavelli and Hobbes.  A bro-trip to Renfrew was a sweet way to close this chapter of my life, as five minutes after finishing my exam we were on the road.

We arrived in Port Renfrew at a little after 2 O’clock.  It was one degree outside. Byron and Chris beat us to the beach and already had a fire blazing, helping to keep riders warm between wave sets. After sessioning until dark, we roasted a few hotdogs on the campfire and watched the sun set. Hotdogs did not provide sufficient means for dinner, so off to the Coastal Kitchen Café.

Big Fish Lodge is a super rad lodge in Port Renfrew. Chris, one of the Lodge’s owners, showed up first-class hospitality. I really cannot say enough about the lodge, except that to truly understand, one must stay there. A few weeks ago the Lodge hosted Song and Surf event, linking surfing with some top-end local music acts. Big-ups to Chris and all the owners of Big Fish, watch for future collaborations between SkimBC and the Big Fish Lodge crew.

Day 2.

The next morning we rolled out of bed and headed to the Coastal Kitchen Café for another meal. After our breakfast pit stop we headed to the beach to check the swell. According to Magic Seaweed the swell was supposed to pick up later in the afternoon. When we arrived, it was flat. Brandon and Jesse decided to head back to Victoria, as both of them had to work the next day. Myself, Scott and Byron decided to go on a mountain mission, cruising around glacio-deposited flats and local logging roads.

After a couple hours up the mountain playing in Byron’s Jeep we head to the beach to check out the swell conditions. The swell definitely picked up, but rocks on the beach were a major hazard.   Clean chest high liner was forming at the river mouth, but due to giant rocks littering the beach the session at the river mouth was cut short. We have vowed to always pack a rake and a shovel when missioning to Renfrew in the future. Regardless of the mediocre conditions, Scott and Byron still threw down.

We set up camp on the beach just as the sun was setting. Dinner considered of Kraft dinner, fireball whiskey, beer and a dozen hotdogs: the dinner of champions. We made a raging fire to keep us warm, as by the time we headed to bed the ground was completely frozen. Scott and myself crammed into his little two-man tent attempting to keep warm, as temperatures dipped below freezing.

We woke in the middle of the night to a rustling and clanging of pots and pans. Half awake, groggy and cold I instantly regretted not moving the dirty dinner pots from the campsite. I figured that a bear was making a late night snack of our dirty KD dishes. After half-hour of noise, Scott and me were both wide-awake. Scott began yelling and banging on our tent fly. Emerging out of the tent, Scott shining his headlamp and me grasping my pocketknife, we looked upon a snow-covered scene that was our campsite. There was no bear, or even animal tracks. The weight of the wet west coast snow had caused the tarp to slump, as shifts to the snow resulted in the clanking of our pots and pans and the rustling sound. False alarm. Time for more sleep.

Day 3.

We woke again a few hours later to three inches of snow covering the ground and out rent. After packing up camp, we headed to the Coastal Kitchen Café for another meal, as the morning tides were too high to skim. Sadly, the café owner’s truck had broken down and they were out of food, no Coastal Café breakfast for us. We headed to the general store for a quick breakfast burrito then back to check the tide.  The tide had fallen enough to skim, and the swell was picking up. Scott knee was giving him a lot trouble, so he opted to take photos while Byron charged the shore break alone. The waves were large to say the least. Conditions were less than ideal, as rocks littered the beach, the wind was blowing and snow covered the ground.

After riding for a few hours it was time to head back to reality: Victoria. Scott hopped on floatplane courtesy of Harbour Air back to Vancouver. Byron dropped me at home, and the trip was over.

I would like to give a big shout out to Coastal Kitchen Café for the amazing food, Chris and the guys at Big Fish Lodge for the good times, and Harbour Air for getting Scott to the island in record breaking time.

Till next time friends….

Brett

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]]> http://skimbc.com/winter-wonder-renfrew/feed/ 0 http://skimbc.com/off-the-beach-into-the-woods/ http://skimbc.com/off-the-beach-into-the-woods/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:25:30 +0000 Scott Copeland http://skimbc.com/2009/?p=424 The following has nothing to do with skimboarding, and everything to do with skimboarding at the same time.

The sunshine coast isn’t the skim destination I can sometimes make it out to be. In fact, there are a couple of really cold months of every year when my interests falter and I seek refuge in the forest. So it inevitably seems, I only hike in the winters. All the warmer months I spend on a beach somewhere trying to find some slice of sanity in an otherwise hostile world.

I’ve been traveling in the wild just about my entire life. From what I’ve gathered talking to people throughout North America, every Canadian has a wildlife story or two to tell. My first at 8 years of age; was being charged by an Elk.  I learned quickly never to approach the ones that seemed tame. Grazing in the public parks of Jasper National Park. Looking more like part of a petting zoo not the town pests they can become.

In my teens I started tackling the bigger peaks of the Rockies. Often hearing stories of full size mountain lions that roamed the areas I loved to visit. It wasn’t until moving to the Sunshine Coast I actually got to see one. Well two actually. Up close and physical.

Last February, the weekend of my birthday. My lady and I went for a trek up Mount Richardson. Directly located above the Sechelt Inlet, Mount Richardson is a lush green coastal environment which can hold host to nearly any variety of species. Our plan was to spend two nights on the mountain. The first up at the top, and then spend the next day hiking back to our 4X4 below us at the top of a small cutblock. Saturday night was nice; we drank some wine and had a fire, while probably being watched at this point, merely seemingly oblivious chunks of meat. The next morning we woke up to a typical winter storm. High winds sent us down an otherwise sketchy descent through one of the mountains drainages. It was at the end of the sketchy part we decided to sit down and rest. We were a three-hour hike from the truck.

I remember eating a jube-jube and then looking up to see two cougars less than 15 feet away from us. I’ll stop right there and tell you. This is the range at which a cat goes from “stalk” to a burst of power known as “kill”. We were following game trails so I’m guessing these two young cats (about 90 lbs a piece) were curious to see if we could be eaten, or perhaps even being playful!

I told Monique to get her backpack on and head downhill, but not to run. I flipped my adjustable ski pole around and used the handle as a club. Instantly I felt the feeling this is yet another “epic”. . Just great.  See when you’re someone who goes into the wild you have to be of the knowledge that you may never come back. My thoughts waver to a woman, a hiker who went missing in these parts only a year ago, she was never found.

“Do I look it in the eye?” I thought. “It’s just a cat, fuck yah! Get mad!” I turned my fear into some kind of rage I have never really felt before. I started beating the ground in front of the cats and yelling at them, more like a war cry, which is hilarious to think back on that image of myself.

One tried to jump on Mo’s pack as she fled and I managed to get between it and her and deliver a couple of blows with my pole. I tried to kick it. The damn thing dodged me like it was slow motion, which was when it seemed like play for them. However, with a full size pack on, we felt slow and out skilled for this. Just after the dodged kick it backed off and I could see the other one trying to flank around and get in front of her. They wanted Monique. “You!! Stop!” I yelled, and pointed at it like Babe Ruth calling his next homerun. At this point I was getting crazy in the head and I would have happily killed me some cougar given the chance.

I’ll skip forward to the end and tell you that this went on for over and hour and a half. By the time we reached the truck we were pretty worn out and roughed up. Not to mention soaked to the bone. With our heads on a swivel we made it out unscathed and forever changed just a little bit. I feel the experience has given us both a strong sense of rising to the challenge and coming out on top. After that experience I couldn’t wait to get back to the relative safety of the beach!

Oddly enough or maybe as a sign from some a higher what not, my camera broke on the trip and took a bunch of strangely distorted pictures. Here are the photos taken before the encounter.

Peace,

Scott Copeland

http://www.mindskis.blogspot.com/

Rory Miller showing that life under a solid tarp is a good life indeed. He got this fire going in under ten minutes. You just need to carefully choose a log off the beach that is:  light, clear, and cedar. Even in pissing rain you can split  open a cedar log with your axe and find dry wood inside, there are few other types of wood that burn as well on a West Coast beach. Once your cedar firing is going, Go find some chunks of tree bark. You will most likely find Fur chunks on our local beaches. Like briskets these will create a perfect cooking fire.

Scooter looking for his next toy. The amount of plastic on this beach was horrifying. Every-time we throw it in the land fill it will end up in our oceans.  Plastic breaks down to small particles which unfortunately look like food to some fish. I won’t get too off topic here but there will for-sure be another submission on this one. Let’s be stewards of every beach we visit! Back to the trash in a more positive light. We were able to scrounge enough rope to make a crab trap which Monique paddled out on her longboard to drop. For bait we used a rotting salmon we found at one corner of the beach. We also used a big bleach bottle as our buoy, the whole set up was claimed by that nights storm, but hey, at least we tried..Well the two most memorable things about Grant Bay for me were the Natural beauty aside from the trash! And of course exploring a never before skim spot and being part of the first crew to put it on the radar.

Rory was able to Rock a heater top only. We had a tarp built as a dugout sauna with a fire going at it just about all week. When you got cold you could be warm again in no time!

With a little planning and some know how, you can enjoy skim trips in the worst of conditions. Below is a helpful list of items you will need for your ”stay warm, stay happy” system:

1. an axe & hand file.

2.  a sharp & strong knife.

3. large tarp with 50′ of 5mm cord. With a large tarp you can put your tent under one side, and have your kitchen on the other. Some argue that your kitchen should be away from you tent. I say, if your clean and you use a food hang (or in this case bury) you will be fine. In forested areas however; this is a different story.

4. rubber boots or waders. I use waders, they always come in handy when bush whacking for new spots.

5. a 40l dry bag and another 30′ of cord This will act as a food hang along the tree-line at a site of your choosing. Or you can bury the bag in the sand. Just remember to mark the location!

6. a shovel

7. deck of cards and a bottle of hardbar. You’ll need something to keep spirits high during the rough times.

8. another tarp for a wetsuit drying room or steam room. If you use the Todd Munroe method and dig a 3′ hole in the sand and put your tarp above that you’ll have a spacious teepee like structure. You can use a long center pole or multiple poles that meet in the center to form a roof structure.

9. bear spray. You WILL confront wildlife at some point so better to be prepared.

10. a foam “but-pad”. I just put one in my pants and everywhere I sit is warm and dry.

11. first aid kit and cel phone

12. If your rich or sponsored you would probably bring two wetsuits to alternate through, of course the old warm water down the front can always activate a cold suit. remember if your warm and hydrated before you suit up you’ll be warmer in your sesh.

Well that’s just a few of the items on my gear list. With a little planning and a good stock of necessary’s like food and water. You can wait out any weather for the right conditions to go shred! Thanks for reading. Be sure to stay tuned for my next submission, “Cougar Attack”.

Scott “scoco” Copeland

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