Newfoundland, Canada

I took my second trip to Newfoundland in the end of September. I first went there in 2003 where I was holed up in the south part of the island in a moldy hotel while in rained day after day. I almost pulled the plug and went home early, but photographer Rob Gilley was tracking a hurricane, and made us extend our ticket. On our last day, we ended up surfing a perfect right point break, as long as Rincon. We had it all to ourselves and the sun even came out.

On this trip we explored some never before surfed coastline along Newfoundland's northern peninsulas. Here you can get north swells, so the surf is more consistent than in the south where you depend on fickle hurricanes swells to bring you surf. I was with Rob Gilley again for this trip, along LA's Chris Del Moro and Alex Gray. We rode some newly discovered "slabs". One right we found gave you a short but sweet 3-second tube. It was fun, but you had to kick out right after your barrel or you would smash into a giant boulder. While we didn't find another long right point break on this trip, the scenery was beautiful and we had sun for most of the trip. A highlight was Saint Mary's Bird Refuge, where you can get very close to thousands of rare sea birds.