National surfing competition brings even more travellers to packed Tofino accommodations
Suites at a popular Vancouver Island resort are experiencing a record-setting year, and the guests keep on coming, including over this weekend for a national surfing championship.
"It has never been busier," said Charles McDiarmid, managing director of the Wickinnish Inn in Tofino.
"Our busiest year before this year in terms of summer and fall expectations was 2019, and we have met and even exceeded those numbers," he said.
The resort is keeping 15 of their 75 rooms offline due to the pandemic, and McDiarmid says those rooms that are open are being filled with return guests.
"Traditionally this time of year we would be welcoming a large number of international visitors – Europeans, Americans of course. That is not the case this year and pretty much 90 per cent of our visitor base is from British Columbia," McDiarmid said.
Right now, many of the area's hotels are lodging participants in the 2021 Rip Curl Pro-Nationals, a three-day surf contest featuring Junior, Open and Professional surfers.
"We’re back!" said Surf Canada executive director Dom Domic on Friday.
"We weren’t able to deliver last year but thankfully under the COVID protols, outdoor sports are allowed."
A surfer is pictured in Tofino, B.C.: (CTV News)
Domic says 90 per cent of the participants are based in the Tofino and Ucluelet region, but the rest are coming from the Lower Mainland and other parts of Canada.
"Travelling to competitions is approved," he said. "We had our COVID protocols approved, every level of government has signed off on it and we’re happy to be able to deliver in 2021. It’s something that we worked on since last year."
The event has returned to Cox Bay, and Domic says the event has come together because of tremendous community support.
"We have 160 spots available and I think there’s three remaining," he said. "There’s a real appetite, a real thirst for competition and events in general."
Domic says while setup for the event and weather have both been smooth, it hasn’t been problem free.
"Tofino is at capacity so that’s definitely been a major challenge," he said.
"Getting accommodations for staffing – we have our medical staff coming up from Vancouver and Victoria," said Domic. "But most of the surfers are from here, that’s fine, it’s just been our staffing."
Male and female surfers will be entered in Pro Shortboard, Open Shortboard, Junior U18 and Junior U16 Longboard categories competing for bragging rights as well as an $8,000 total prize purse.
Head coach Shannon Brown is overseeing many of his Surf Canada team members.
"We have athletes who are on the open team that currently competed in El Salvador, at the Olympic trials, and then we have a shortlist of alternatives as well," Brown said.
He acknowledges local entrants might have a very slight advantage over those competing from out of town.
"They all live in warmer waters so when they come put on a nice thicker wet suit and then put on booties and potentially gloves and a hood it really changes the feel that you get on your surfboard when you’re up and riding," Brown said.
Members of the public are invited to watch the competition at Cox Bay or via a live webcast here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.