Good luck. Photo: Youtube / Dylan Graves
It’s difficult for any surfer to imagine showing up in a totally new place far away from home, board under arm, and being greeted by excited locals promising to come cheer them through a session. That’s what Dylan Graves encountered when showed up at a spot in British Columbia called the Skookumchuck Narrows — a river wave that has precisely one local surfer, Nick Legge-Wilkinson.
Skookumchuck Narrows isn’t exactly located in a surf-rich region. It’s tucked away at the entrance of the Sechelt Inlet on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, nowhere near a single breaking ocean wave. All that water flowing around Vancouver Island, however, eventually creates one of the world’s fastest tidal rapids. Rapids can reach speeds of about 20 mph, transforming the point at peak flows into one of the most unique standing waves you’ll ever see. Kayakers have frequented Skookumchuck Narrows for a long time but Legge-Wilkinson is still the spot’s only surfer. For all these reasons and more, Graves has had Skookumchuck on his bucket list for years.
With Legge-Wilkinson serving as Graves’ personal guide, he gets a crash course in all the mechanics of the narrows. The unique layout of the point and the wave that’s generated looks impossible to navigate from a bird’s eye view. Fall or miss your target at just the right time and the speed of the rapids combined with the recirculating water can send you onto what’s called “The Tour.” The Tour, of course, is a polite way of describing a maddening ride downstream, a paddle upstream, and a solid 30 minute walk through the woods back to the point. Sure enough, Graves gets his first trip on The Tour when he chases a section called Tubesteak — a tiny barreling wave that forms behind the main wave. In true Skookumchuck Narrows fashion, it’s virtually impossible to surf but far too inviting to ignore.
“I just think it’s cool where different sports converge,” Graves says. “And it seems like surfing and kayaking have come together in a special way here. And there’s differences with the two sports but it also comes down to doing it for pure joy and fun of playing in the water. That’s the constant I see between all of us.”
