A Generous Helping of Stew

Jun 8, 2010

Author: Malcolm Johnson

What did you miss if you weren't at the Rip Curl Stew, presented by Monster Energy? Well, here's a start.

You missed bubbles and hula hooping. You missed good waves and sunshine. You missed straw hats and sunglasses. You missed dudes piggybacking other dudes, and dudes playing acoustic guitars to woo groups of girls, and dudes cartwheeling into the water with their clothes on to win a surfboard from Sitka. You missed Frisbee and bocce ball. You missed the cutest microgroms ever dragging their boards along the sand. You missed big dogs and little dogs and in-between-sized dogs. You missed skateboarding in the sunshine and afternoon naps at the Monster Energy tent. You missed a judging tower festooned with driftwood. You missed legendary Tofino surf legends checking out the scene. You missed the Surfrider Foundation cleaning the beach. You missed announcers talking about Chad Kroeger's Lamborghini and CF-18 fighters doing fly-bys. You missed tributes to Damon York, who in this town was much loved and is now much missed. You missed Kevin Porteous winning the Mixed Groms and Ryan Oke repping the South Island by winning the Junior Boys. You missed Eoin Finn winning the Masters and Asia Dryden winning the Longboard on a lovely olive-coloured log that he biked down to the beach. You missed Leah Oke completing a fine Sunday for her family by winning the Women's Pro, and Peter Devries continuing his winning streak by taking a closely-fought Men's Pro final over Sepp Bruhwiler, Raph Bruhwiler and Ben Murphy. You missed champagne being sprayed around and Da Kine backpacks being tossed out into the crowd. You missed the crew from Rip Curl going all-out to put on another great event for the Tofino surf community. You missed fish tacos and how good the waves got afterwards as the wind died. You missed the topless girl dancing by herself down the beach after the crowds had wandered away, spinning around in the sunshine and keeping the Love alive.

There's more, but you get the idea. Summer is here in Tofino. It's time to embrace it. It's time to give in to the goodness. As the Borg say in Star Trek, "Resistance is futile." As they say in California, "Don't fight the fun."

Thanks to Rip Curl and all the supporting sponsors for their efforts. The Rip Curl Stew was presented by Monster Energy in conjunction with Da Kine, Spy Optics, Sitka, SBC Surf Magazine, Surfrider Foundation, Long Beach Lodge, Arbor, Lighthouse Brewery, Free and Easy, Barefoot Wine, and Dose.ca. We'll be running more content from the Stew in the Summer issue of SBC Surf. —ed.

Main photo: Ben Murphy by Kyler Vos.

RESULTS

Men's Pro:

Peter Devries
Sepp Bruhwiler
Raph Bruhwiler
Ben Murphy

Women's Pro:

Leah Oke
Tamarah Stephens
Catherine Temple
Nina Waltl

Junior Boys:

Ryan Oke
Janek Peladeau
Frazer Mayor
Jacob Albury

Masters:

Eoin Finn
Mike Redpath
Andrew Drake
Trennon Paynter

Longboard:

Asia Dryden
Robbie Ferguson
Anthony Redpath
Andrew Drake

Mixed Groms:

Kevin Porteous
Kalum Temple
Sam Clarkson
Mitchell Saunderson