Frozen in Saskatchewan, Back In Calgary.

After skipping over Manitoba (I had surfed and filmed on the Sturgeon Falls with ARSA last summer, the Manitoba River Surfing Association must have disbanded since then) we ended up at the only Saskatchewan Wave I know about: The Powerhouse.

The wave, or waves, form at the base of a hydro-electric plant. Kathryn Ber and I tried to surf this wave in July, but it was completely washed out... to the point of being flat.

This time, as the wind blew in at around 100kph and a temperature of Freezing, the wave was almost formed, but not enough to paddle onto. If we had a rope, we could have towed onto it, I think; however, we didn't and again I've been beaten by what could be a beautiful wave. I will surf this bastard, I just have to figure out the flows.



So that's the end of the journey. We're back in Calgary. We didn't surf in every province, but we have to footage to prove that it IS POSSIBLE TO SURF EVERY PROVINCE IN CANADA.

We're heading into post production now, so stay tuned to the site for video cilps!!!

Paul Boyd
Stuff Productions
Director
Surfing Across Canada

Weather setting in. Journey coming to an end.

After our quick return to Montreal to interview surfer Jean Louis, and whipping past our spot at Lake Ontario and some potentials at Lake Superior (both to no avail, but Superior was close, I think we missed surf able waves by no more than a few hours and in one spot I could see long breaking waves, but we were up a 100ft cliff) we have landed back in the Prairies with a forecast of Snow. Yip pee!!
I've already filmed and surfed in Manitoba and no one from the Manitoba River Surfing Association is returning my e-mails, so we're now in Saskatchewan. Tomorrow we'll be heading to a Wave that forms below the Diefenbaker Dam near Outlook, SK.

I've tried to surf this once before, and there was no wave there because of "high levels", so my fingers are crossed for this attempt.

On a note unrelated to production, we have discovered 5 ticks on our dog Junior. This is the most recent in a long line of embarrassing and disgusting moments in the life of Junior on this trip. His escapades include, but are not limited to:

-pissing on Kathryn's aunts dog... twice, and obviously on purpose.

-pissing on Kathryn's aunts floor

-shitting on Kathryn's aunts floor

-rolling in dead fish (twice)

-rolling in shit (on several occasions. one was a poopie diaper)

-rolling on a dead bird carcass

-attacking at least one puppy

-attacking several full grown dogs

-pissing on the ottoman of one of my interview subjects. (Sorry Ben and Kate!!!)



As you all can see, Junior is a charmer just like his owners!!!


Paul Boyd

The above photo was taken by me after my short surf session in New Melbourne, Newfoundland

Surfing on the Great Lakes

After quickly shooting in Quebec (one of my rides on the waves at Habitat '67, Left) by attaching an Eumig Nautica, Waterproof super 8 camera to the nose of my board and riding the rapids, we headed to Prince Edward County, Ontario. We were on our way to surf with Ben Chalmers, pro wakeboarder and Lake Ontario Surfer and owner of West Lake Wakeboard School.
I first found Ben by watching some videos of his lake and river surfing in Ontario on Youtube. He's a great surfer who has traveled the world and, more importantly for our purposes, he knows the surf spots on Lake Ontario and the weather needed to surf there.
We've been pretty lucky on our trip with regards to the weather for surf, and today (even though Ben says that the surf gets "much better", we surfed some 5-6 foot wind swells on Lake Ontario. I could barely believe I was looking at a Lake. Seriously.
We'll be stoping back by the lakes at the end of the week when we're hoping to get some predicted big lake swells. Lake Surfing Rules. (Below)

Great photos by Kathryn Ber!

Tomorrow we're back in Montreal to interview Jean-Louise St. Arneault, the Quebec surfer who first showed me what was possible on river waves while surfing in Manitoba last summer with the ARSA crew. JL just returned from surfing all over Europe and in Munich, Germany, the supposed birthplace of River Surfing.

Paul Boyd
Director

In Quebec and defeated by The Reversing Falls

After a successful surf day in PEI (above), I chickened out in New Brunswick.

With no surf communities in Newfoundland, PEI and New Brunswick, I have been the surf source of our surf footage as Kathryn has filmed.
The Tidal River Waves in New Brunswick proved too much for my common sense; although I'm sure I could have surfed them, the water is full of whirl pools and boils and Jet Boat tours that could have proved hazardous (or fatal) to a lone surfer like myself. I'm sure Kathryn and the hundreds of tours wouldn't have appreciated me drowning in front of them.
The Reversing Falls are a bizarre phenomena. At low tide, the River flows in its natural direction, into the ocean. There are holes and rapids that I never would have thrown myself into. Then, hours later at high tide, the flow CHANGES DIRECTION. The water level rises 28feet, the ocean flows into the river and the rapids disappear, replaced by new ones in new places. Many of the reverse flow rapids, I think, would be surfable. Check the pics below of the exact same spot at Low and High Tides, respectively.


I'm convinced you can surf in NB, but it wasn't a good idea at the time for me. We also tried to get ocean swell on Grand Manan, NB, but the ocean wasn't co-operating. Oh well, we've been lucky up to now, especially getting surf footage on the red sand beach breaks in PEI. NB does have a surf spot, just no one to surf it yet...





After checking out Quebec City, we're now in Montreal. Because of changing water levels, a different wave is working from the last time we were here. In fact, this wave has just returned after disappearing for a few weeks. No one is 100% on why it disappeared, but for the hour we watched it yesterday, it got bigger and bigger. It's so strange how waves come and go in rivers, just like they do in the ocean.

We'll be surfing Montreal Style today!

Paul Boyd

Finally back from "The Rock"

Hi Everyone,

After finishing our time in Nova Scotia with a sucessful surf class for Kathryn with a group of Quebecois Army Combat Divers at Happy Dudes at Martinique Beach, we headed north for the icy waters of Newfoundland!

Nfld. was one of the places I was worried about getting fottage of. We had no prior knowledge of a surf community in Newfie, and didn't know if there were any surf spots at all. Keith from happy dudes mentioned something about Trinity Bay, and that was all we had to go on.

The gods of surf were smiling on us, as we entered the town of New Melbourne, glassy 4 foot waves broke for around 100 FT on some sharp-ass rocks. Kathryn set up our HDV camera, the Sony Hvr-Z1u, as I suited up and paddled into the cold atlantic for a solo session, scared shitless that I would end up on the jagged shoreline.
Success!!! I got a few nice little rides, filmed by Kat, and emerged unscathed.
Before leaving "The Rock" on our Ferrie back to NS, I wanted to set up our camera crane for a beauty shot of the westcoast of NFLD when the surf gods smiled AGAIN!!! Once again solo, kat shot from our 12foot camera crane as I surfed a small beach break at the JT Cheeseman Provincial park beach. Tiny waves on a deserted beach with HUGE POTENTIAL!!!!

This film is all about discovery and that's what we're doing! To my knowledge, there is NO surf community in Newfoundland.


I write from Carlottetown, PEI. We'll be catching some of the beach breaks on PEI tomorrow I hope, then to the Reversing Falls of Saint Johns, New Brunswick.


Paul Boyd
Stuff Productions

In The Atlantic

It's a beautiful 17 degree (C) day with sunshine, strong winds & water temperature hovering between 15 & 17 degrees.

We arrived at Martinique Beach as the sun rose for a first attempt at the surprisingly warm Atlantic Ocean. We then went off to Lawrencetown Beach where the waves at frist glance were small, but proved ominous as I tried to paddle into the surf. I caught one wave for a short ride, but on my second attempt, I noticed how close I was getting to the rocky shore line. I bailed and my fins made me pay the price. Pictured is the aftermath.


Discouraged and in a bit of pain, we made our way to Happy Dudes surf shop and interviewed Keith, the owner and operator. We took some footage of Lawrencetown location and chatted about the scene in Nova Scotia, and the country. I'm looking forward to seeing him perform in the water tomorrow for the Surf School.

80km/hour winds have been expected tonight, so we'll be locked up in our mobile surf film production studio watching movies.


More to come soon!

Paul Boyd, Kathryn Ber & Junior!

We arrive in Halifax...

We have finally arrived at the East Coast!!!!

I shot some footage of Lawrencetown Beach as some massive winds pushed in the waves. Once this wind dies down we'll get some wicked surf.

We're camping at Happy Dudes surf school and will be all over the coastal area filming. Kathryn Ber is enrolling in the surf school that Happy Dudes offers so we can get some footage of the local instructors in action.


We'll be hitting the rainy water tomorrow. NO MATTER WHAT!!!

Paul Boyd
Stuff Productions

Surfing across... the US?

Hi everyone,

after 3 tiring days on the road, we're in Franklin, MS. just outside of Boston. Blogger hasn't been working for us, so we'll give it another try tomorrow when we head up to NB.

Pics and more coming soon!

Paul Boyd

PS- Had a Bloody Mary at "Cheers" today!!!

The Night before the journey begins...

Welcome to my "Surfing Across Canada" blog!

In the next 5 weeks I intend to film surfing and surf spots in every province east of Alberta!
I'll be updating daily with pics and short videos of our filming for the Canadian surf film, Surfing Across Canada.


We leave tomorrow morning. Wish us luck and stay tuned...

Paul Boyd
Filmmaker and Surfer