“We organised a kids’ rally and lay down in the road. The cops took us to jail.”
An interview with Cath Bruhwiler, surf pioneer and environmental steward from Tofino, British Columbia
“I was 14 at the time of the Clayoquot Sound protests. We organised a kids’ rally and lay down in the road. The cops took us to jail.”
Some interviews just stick in your head. I first spoke to Cath Bruhwiler about a decade ago when I was editing Cooler Magazine. A true pioneer of women’s surfing, and surfing in BC generally, her descriptions of growing up in Tofino, and living a wild and carefree ocean-based life with her brothers, made a big impression on me. It sounded like a magical time in a magical place.
I was lucky enough to visit Tofino myself in 2017 and it didn’t disappoint. From the giant old-growth trees and soaring eagles to the grey whales and kelp forests, the nature is front and centre wherever you look. But as with everywhere, these fragile ecosystems are under intense pressure from a changing climate, as Cath and I discuss. Hope you enjoy our chat.
Hey Cath, how’s the surf been lately?
We’ve had an epic fall of great surf, waist to overhead every day, and sunny windless conditions. Just how our falls should be. We’ve built a mini surf retreat here in the forest, a three-minute walk from the sandy surf beach of Cox Bay, and we’re running camps in the fall and spring for surfers, sup surfers, yogis, and everything in between. It’s been so much fun, and the guests have been loving it.
I remember you once telling me you grew up in a small hippy community of families who lived on the beach and were home-schooled. What was that like?
I think the lack of TV, school desks, and fluorescent lights and having the beach and forest as a playground definitely fostered a sense of adventure. That’s all we knew, and it’s still what I live for. We would camp on the headlands with our sleeping bags on the rocks, just for fun. Sometimes we’d head out on the boat and get dropped off for a week or longer at a time.
Those are my favourite memories for sure. I can recall beach fires, fishing sessions, boat rides and sunsets from back when I was 10 far better than anything. Moments in nature, with people I love, have been my most precious lived hours and I cherish those and try to keep them happening as often as I can.
Have you cared about the environment since then? Did you go to the Clayoquot Sound anti-logging protests in 1993 [the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history] for example?
I was 14 at the time of the protests. We organised a kids’ rally and lay down in the road. The cops took us to jail, and then court in the city of Victoria [on the other side of Vancouver Island], but we were all dismissed. I wouldn’t consider myself a radical environmentalist, but I do care deeply about preservation for future generations and always assist those who are taking action as best as I can, by way of helping with exposure or finances via my business.
How has Tofino changed as a surf destination since you were a kid?
Tofino is now on the world map as a surf destination. It’s been pretty cool to see the Canadian surf culture emerge and grow. Canadians didn’t even know what surfing was when I was a kid and now everyone does. It’s obviously crowded up the beaches and the lineups a lot more, but you can still get away from crowds if you really want to. I think this is true of most places. The cold keeps the crowd down and always will keep the crowds to a certain capacity I believe.
For many western Canadians, nature is our only culture. Enjoying and spending time doing activities in nature is what we know how to do and the cold isn’t that big of an issue for most of us. Also, the technology with the wetsuits is so good now compared to what it used to be. Even babies can start surfing now, yet you didn’t used to be able to get wetsuits that fitted a teenager, let alone a female body.
How do you think spending time in nature affects people?
When people are outside and at the beach, they’re better humans. Who doesn’t want to have better and happier humans on the planet? So, bring them down and let them enjoy the beach, the waves, the open sky… I always believe that helping people enjoy the beach and surfing will help foster a love for those things. It nurtures appreciation and the desire to want preserve and protect and that’s amazing.
Greed seems to be the poison. It’s the reason we are in this crisis with the environment. If surfers are greedy the lineup sucks too. But if they’re not, we can have more people surfing and it shouldn’t be a problem.
How is the environmental crisis affecting Tofino and Vancouver Island?
It’s reflected in the wildlife. We see it in the wolves, the bears, and the salmon who are at the core of our entire ecosystem here. Things are changing and the animals and water life are not thriving like they were. You hear stories from the elders and they talk about the decline of the salmon, just within my lifetime, and the impact of that on all it nourishes.
The heatwave of summer 2021 looked especially intense and gruelling in BC, how was your experience of that?
Everyone thought and talked about it all the time. It’s hard not to enjoy warmer weather here on the West Coast, but everyone else suffered. The forests were burning down and the rivers going dry. We didn’t have many berries for the bears, and they were getting into garbage and so many of them had to get put down. That was just within my neighbourhood.
What makes you excited and optimistic for the future?
What excites me is coming full circle and being really clear about what I enjoy. It’s tied to nature, creativity, and connection and what’s so exciting is that it’s so simple. I know more people are simplifying their lives and appreciating the value of nature. I see it around me every day and that gives me hope.
Cath Bruhwiler teaches surfing and sup at Tofino Paddle Surf and rents accommodation right by Cox Bay at Ranch Tofino.
Please fwd this newsletter to anyone who you think might be interested & if you want to commission me to write about any of these topics please get in touch.
Other news:
I’m just back from an inspiring few days at the Blue Earth Summit in Bristol, where I especially enjoyed the talks & workshops by Protect Our Winters, Surfers Not Street Children & The Blue Marine Foundation.
The event included the Adventure Uncovered Film Festival, which I definitely recommend checking out if it comes to a town near you (Brighton in December!). Highlight movies for me were: A Land for Everyone (a skate adventure in the Highlands), A Women’s Place (multi-generational women climbers in Snowdonia), Bristol Steppin Sistas (a grassroots walking group for women of colour) and Rebirth (an adaptive surfer in the Basque Country).
And thanks to Iain Martin for having me on the Ski Podcast this week to chat about snowboarding, splitboarding & why I started this newsletter.