Two of Tofino’s gnarliest surf legends brilliantly carved additional accolades onto their already epic resumes at the Canadian Surf Championships at Cox Bay.

Sanoa Passion Dempfle-Olin, who became the first ever surfer to represent Canada at the Olympics in 2024, took top honours in the Open Women’s Division and cold-surfing icon Pete Devries took the Open Men’s Division crown for the 12th time as the Rip Curl event brought a stoked crowd of surfers and supporters to Tofino’s waves from May 8 – 10.

Dempfle-Olin earned her division’s crown with a score of 16.57 in the final heat, besting her sister Mathea Dempfle-Olin’s 15.10. Ocea Green placed third with 11.20 and Luana Ferrari earned fourth with 4.5.

Scores are compiled by adding up each of the surfers’ top two waves and the Dempfle-Olin sisters were neck and neck until Sanoa landed a sensational 8.57 shred on her final wave, which was the best single score of the heat and secured her gold medal.

Sanoa told the Westerly News after her win that the announcers on the beach were impossible to hear from the waves, so the surfers didn’t know the scores until they came in.

“I definitely fell on a couple of waves, so I wasn’t sure if I won and I saw my sister get some good ones. I was really happy to hear I won. Seeing the scores and seeing I was close with my sister made me really happy because this is our first time competing together since she became a mom. So, having her right there almost take the win from me made it extra fun…As the younger sister, I was super happy to take the win,” she said, adding she and Mathea love competing against each other.

“We’re so competitive. I’m a very competitive person. I love competing in everything. It really motivates me in anything I’m doing in life and my sister’s like that as well. I kind of got it from her. We grew up competing in everything. Out there, we didn’t know that we were going back and forth, but that’s kind of our favourite thing ever so it will be fun to watch the waves back.”

An injury had kept Sanoa out of last year’s championships, which Mathea took gold in, and she said she was grateful to be back to full-strength and enjoying the waves she grew up in.

“I’m super grateful for the support from the local community down here. It’s been incredible, I love representing my home. I love my community so much. Thanks to everyone,” she said. “Obviously, getting to surf with my sister, all my friends and the community that I’ve seen in the water since I was a baby, it’s always special to paddle out…Every now and then, you still get your solo sessions, which you don’t get in other places of the world and just being so immersed in nature, seeing so much wildlife, the old growth forests and the mountains, it’s pretty special.”

She added Tofino’s surf scene is thriving with legendary veterans and up and coming groms all improving while the sport’s rapidly growing popularity is bringing new eyes and increasing participation to the ocean.

“Right now, the Tofino surf scene is popping. There’s so many up and coming kids; the best young generation that we’ve had. There’s so many young boys and girls in that 8-9 range that are looking super good. We still have Pete (DeVries) who’s killing it and we have everyone from all over Canada coming and getting on soft tops for the first time,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people already knew about Tofino and now everybody’s finding out. If you want to get away and find a corner of the world with some beaches and get out for your first surf, everyone’s coming here for that.”

Pete Devries scored 17.67 in the Men’s Open Division’s final heat, besting second-place finisher Reed Platenius’ 15.03. Kalum Temple Bruhwiler came third with 14.10 and Tanner Sandvig placed fourth with 9.50.

The 41-year-old Devries is revered as Canada’s winningest and most decorated surfer and he was stoked to recapture his crown, bringing his gold medal count at the event to 12.

”It’s been a long time since I’ve won one and it’s been a personal goal of mine to win one of these in my 40’s, so there you go, beating all the young kids and I like it,” he laughed.

Despite his storied success in the sport, Devries told the Westerly he still gets nervous paddling out.

“This is the one time of year I put a jersey on and I definitely feel the nerves, especially to start the event,” he said. “But, it’s those good feelings. It brings back all those memories from past events that I’ve won, memories of losing close heats or making a mistake. It brings back all that and it’s great. It keeps you alive.”

He added his competitive ferocity isn’t what it used to be, but he still locks in when he competes.

“I definitely wouldn’t say I’m nearly as competitive now, but still, if I put the jersey on and I’m here, I want to win. That’s what I’m here to do. I’m not here to lose. The semi-final was a super tough heat today, so I was pretty fired up and wanted to really put on a show. Surfing can go any way. It’s so different from other sports with a level, even playing field. You just never know what can happen and I feel like that really helps you push yourself in those scenarios,” he said, adding the day’s conditions were classic “challenging low tide Cox Bay.”

“You can’t hear anything. You can’t hear the scores. You don’t know the situation. So, we’re kind of out there surfing blind whereas, in a normal contest scenario, you’d be able to hear what you need and hear where you are. We were just totally blind. We were just surfing.”

A longtime veteran of the event, Devries dished out high praise to this year’s organizers.

“There’s been a bit of a change in the guard in the Canadian Surfing Association and everybody here from the commentators, to the staff, to the judges, have done a great job this week, especially the judges; they have such a hard job. I’m really proud to have this event here in Tofino and stoked with how well it went,” he said, adding the level of participation and competition is inspiring.

“It’s great. There’s a lot more faces now; a lot more competitors coming from around the world. The level hasn’t been higher than this. It’s super high. There’s heats that could go either way from the quarters onwards, which is super exciting. It pushes all the local kids and all the local surfers here. It’s really good.”

Rising local stars Shea Bruhwiler and Ocea Green both defended their U-18 crowns with Green scoring a 16.20 in the U-18 Girls final heat. Teagan Sandvig took second place with 14.84, followed by Shiloh Page, 11.23, and Snow Parisi, 7.30.

Shea Bruwhiler won the U-18 Boys division for the second year in a row, scoring 15.16 in the division’s final heat and narrowly edging out Tanner Sandvig’s 15.06. Tommy Zahalka landed third with a score of 12.9 followed by Shea’s brother Dusty Bruhwiler, 9.97.

“I’m just super stoked to win it. I feel like I’ve been surfing alright all weekend. The conditions are really tricky right now, but there’s definitely some good waves and I’m just super stoked,” Bruhwiler told the Westerly, adding the conditions were tough throughout the competition. “It’s kind of all over the place with the glare of the sun and onshore winds and it’s hard to find good ones but, if you can find a good one, they’re actually really good.”

He added he didn’t know how well he was doing in the final and didn’t realize the competition between him and Sandvig was so tight.

“I knew I definitely had some good scores, but everyone out there ripped so hard that I didn’t really know. You can’t hear anything out there. When I came in and saw that I’d won by 0.1, I was so stoked,” he said. “The competition is definitely getting better. Everyone’s ripping so hard. Every year, everyone’s getting so much better and I feel like I’m getting better myself too. I was super stoked to share the final with my little brother too. That was super cool. He’s ripping and everyone in the final was ripping.”

He added he’s enjoying sharing the waves with a thriving local surf community.

“Tofino’s surf scene is so cool. It’s so sick to see all the younger kids and the older surfers too, like my dad, still ripping. I love surfing with everyone here,” he said.

Bruhwiler won the U-16 Boys crown two years ago and is now coming off back to back U-18 gold medals with an eye on making his mark in the Men’s division next year as the 17 year-old will be aged out of the junior divisions.

“I’m definitely going to miss the juniors, but hopefully I’ll take the men’s next year,” he smiled. “I competed in the men’s this year and made the semi-finals, so I’m going to just keep working on my surfing, keep getting better and hopefully next year I’ll do good in the open.”

READ MORE:

Vancouver Island Free Daily

Message History

Delivery option(s)