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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.