It has now been a week since the last of the Rip Curl Pro Nationals contest scaffolding, Red Bull’s awesome Athlete Zone, and all the event’s partners packed up their tents, and looking back with rose-coloured glasses, as humans typically do, it was a Crazy Epic competition that will be remembered for how it almost didn’t happen, and how Great it ended up being! It was a massive test not just for the surfers competing, but for the production and events team to deliver.
In the early hours of Friday morning, an unexpected weather bomb ripped through the contest site at Cox Bay leaving the event site destroyed and the surf conditions unsafe for competition. Organizers were forced to cancel the day and scramble to come up with a plan to squeeze 3 days of competition in the remaining 2 days or cancel the event. With the forecast model showing that the next day was going to produce even stronger winds, Surf Canada determined, with the cooperation of the District of Tofino, the only chance to save this event was to move the competition to North Chesterman which is a more sheltered bay just a km north, it would take a Herculean human effort with no guarantees that we would be able to run the next day. In order to make up for the lost day of competition, and not cancel any divisions, a double bank system was implemented for the first time utilizing the Live Heats management platform and it worked flawlessly. 2 sets of judges, 2 heats, every 15 minutes, for 11 hours in the driving wind, rain and eventually snow, to cap off the day, but we did it, and we did it with the cooperation of competitors, volunteers, staff and fans! We caught up and all surfers had their opportunity to compete. Then everything had to be dismantled, packed, and rebuilt back at Cox Bay all through the night for Finals Day…. and what a Day! Our efforts were greeted with mother nature saying that we were worthy, and our tireless efforts were rewarded with Blue Skies, light offshores, and a beautiful, positive vibe from all that were there, that can be best described as a shared community bond that can only be born from such an extreme experience of group cooperation and ultimately success. The highest of Hi5’s to everyone!
A very special thank you to the District of Tofino and especially Cindy & April who enabled everything that was needed in order to continue to make this event happen.
So much Love and Admiration to Surf Canada’s core events team Sophie, Kobe, Dave, and Dan whose 100% commitment cannot be overstated! This event truly would not have happened without their unwavering dedication to the cause.
And we want to make a special mention to those that really stepped up to help TJ Atwood and Mark Strang, you are absolute legendary humans, thank you boyz!
And of course the team at SportsCanadaTV that brought live surfing to the comfort of your own home, on SurfCanada’s YouTubeTV. Link: https://csasurfcanada.org/media/
There is so much that goes on behind the curtain, the year of planning, permits, funding, sponsors, coordinating suppliers, contractors, staff, volunteers, etc, etc, but at the end of the day, when we see the Pure Stoke on everyone’s faces, we know that all the effort, sleepless nights, frozen body parts, its all SOOOOO WORTH IT! We will see you all again next year, can’t Freaking Wait!
Huge Congrats to all competitors that came from all across Canada and around the World… and especially the finalists and the ten ’22 Rip Curl Pro National Champions
2021 Rip Curl Pro Nationals – FINAL RESULTS
presented by
Heineken 0.0 Canada
Surf Canada’s National Championship
North Chesterman & Cox Bay, Tofino
April 8-10, 2022
188 surfers competed for 10 National Titles, over 3 days, with the first day cancelled due to high winds and uncontestably dangerous conditions, 2nd day moving to North Chesterman in 2-4’ strong onshore, and finals day contested back at Cox Bay in really good 3-5’ and offshore conditions.
Congratulations to all the competing surfers and especially Canada’s National Champions for consistently pushing their performances to world class levels!
PRO Women
- Mathea Olin $1000 🍁🏆
- Sanoa Olin $600
- Jasmine Porter $500
- Ocea Green $400
PRO Men
- Noah Cohen $1000 🍁🏆
- Wheeler Hasburgh $600
- Reed Platenius $500
- Michael Darling $400
OPEN Women
- Kat Rosene 🍁🏆
- Ella Wallace
- Jasmine Turner
- Morgan McIntosh
OPEN Men
- Clay Chiovitti 🍁🏆
- Rusty Goyer
- Keenan Bush
- Bryan Padron
LONGBOARD Women
- Ruby Woodruff 🍁🏆
- Claire Parsons
- Mathea Dempfle-Olin
- Amy Sousa
LONGBOARD Men
- Jeffrey Spencer 🍁🏆
- David Schiaffino
- Asia Dryden
- TJ Atwood
U18 Girls
- Sanoa Dempfle-Oin 🍁🏆
- Jasmine Porter
- Ocea Green
- Aqua Bruhwiler
U18 Boys
- Reed Platenius 🍁🏆
- Wheeler Hasburgh
- Jonas Meskis
- Shea Bruhwiler
U16 Girls
- Chloe Platenius 🍁🏆
- Ocea Green
- Ella Wallace
- Juniper Balch
U16 Boys
- Shea Bruhwiler 🍁🏆
- Kanoa Hee-Jae Palmiano
- Clay Chiovitti
- Jackson Meskis
For full results go to: https://liveheats.com/events/7470
All photos @ryanell
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🍁 Surf Canada is proudly supported by our Premiere National Partners:
@RipCurl_Canada the official Apparel and Wetsuit Partner of Canada’s National Team and Title Sponsor of Nationals
@HeinekenCa Heineken 0.0 presenting partner and official Beer of Nationals #nowyoucan cheers with no alcohol
@RedBullCanada official Energy Drink of Surf Canada and Nationals
@YETI Official insulated Drinkware and Coolers
@IslandSavings official Financial Services provider
@MBMG.ca Mill Bay Marine Group, Founding partner
@EndlessSurfOfficial Surf Park Technology provider
@MarwickMarketingCa digital marketing partner
@hotelzed official Hospitality partner of Nationals
With participation from the Government of Canada « Avec la participation du Gouvernement du Canada. » 🇨🇦 @sportcanada
Thank you @viaSportBC as this event was funded in part, by a grant from viaSport BC and the Province of British Columbia
We want to gratefully acknowledge the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, and the support from DestinationBC, the municipalities and tourism boards of Ucluelet & Tofino