It's September 2017. We are all very excited for the fall season to start on the Great Lakes, but no waves are yet in sight. Everyone is slightly disappointed and anxiously waiting for winds and waves to come. I decided that this would be the best time to interview Pat.
I am happy to share with you the portrait of Patrice Manuel through my series of photos #isurf.
1. Have you had more luck surfing in Mexico than in Nova Scotia?
In Mexico, I found out that I came during the "low season"! I quickly understood that the "low season" did not refer to a lack of waves, but more a lack of amateurs in the water. It was the season of "big waves"! Even the small waves were huge!
2. Was it intimidating? How did you go about it?
There were no amateurs in the water! You had to know where to go, to which specific point breaks and during which specific conditions. But at the time, I did not know that. So when I went to these beaches near the university, there were not really any surfers. That was something I could not grasp in my mind, because there were waves. So I rented boards, I took the bus (which took me three hours to get to the beach) and I would get slammed by waves that were huge. I have no idea how I survived. The waves were sometimes from 2 to 3 meters! They were like washing machines! The current was incredibly strong. I was scared, but I ventured further and further everyday. I took my time.
3. For how long did you continue to do this? Did you manage to meet local surfers?
I did this a couple of times, until I met someone at one of our parties. The guy, Flavio, said he was going to take me surfing and I was not surfing at the right spot. He said it was not possible to surf at the spot where I was.
Flavio took me under his wing and he started taking me everywhere. He even sold me one of his boards. It was awesome! We traveled together in his car, we did roadtrips all the time and everywhere there were waves!
4. Were you just focused on surfing or did you skateboard too?
In Mexico, I also skateboarded. I was there for 8 months. One day in July, after surfing every day for two or three months, I arrived at the beach and there were no waves. It was flat! So I went to the local surf bar, asked people where the waves were and they told me it was "flat season"! I was surprised:
- What? But there were waves yesterday?
- Yeah, but it's over.
- It's over for long?
- For a month.
- A month ? Are you crazy?
I had my first surf withdrawal! So, I did some skateboarding and eventually the surf came back ... I surfed until December.
5. And it was in that same month of December that you seriously injured your back?
In December, during my last session before leaving, I hurt my back. It must have been waves of two and a half meters at my local spot. I was alone, it was early in the morning around 6 o'clock. The waves were so perfect, so beautiful! The waves were tubing! But my tubing was not on point... So when I rode a wave, the lip clipped me and the wave "twisted" me! It did like a "taf" sound when I came into contact with the water. I felt like I had snapped my neck! I came out of the water, I was afraid I broke my neck! But I seemed ok... So I went home and that's when it started hurting. I could not really move my head and the next day I had to leave! It was really my last session.
6. Wow! And you managed to get on the plane the next day? So, did you keep surfing when you came back home?
Back in Nova Scotia, it was not my immediate priority to go surfing. I spent the first of January in bed, I could not really move. I had to take muscles relaxants; I had a lot of muscles spasms and pain. When I returned to university, I had a lot of trouble studying because of my injury and I started physio. I'm still struggling with that injury today. One of my mistakes with this injury was that I had to play on the recreational hockey team that year. I was a month into my recovery and I wasn't suppose to play ... .and then one day I decided to play and I got destroyed! I ended up with bruised ribs and further injured my neck!
7. So from bad to worse?
So physio, physio, physio! And then one day, I saw the guy from Nova Scotia who was supposed to take me surfing (André) and he said there were waves! So he took me surfing! I was not in good condition, but I surfed! He advised me to go to Halifax and it became my goal. Right after that I continued my recovery. I did not surf for months, maybe even a year. Eventually I went to Halifax after university.
When I arrived in Halifax, I did everything I could to surf. Right away, I bought myself a winter wetsuit (6mm). I also bought a big board, it was a 7'1. I went to surf whenever there was an indication of a wave! Often I looked at the websites and it showed 0.2 meters and I still went to surf! I spent so much energy... and gas to find waves! Later I learned more about when to go surfing and I started surfing better waves consistently! And that's how I started surfing in Canada.
8. After trying to surf on the ocean in California, Mexico, and Nova Scotia, you went to surf on the rivers?
In 2011, I moved to Ottawa for my first job; I had become a salesman. However, I did not know there was surfing in Ottawa. My boss was Australian and one day while driving to see customers he said:
- Ah! Did you see that? Are people going crazy? Have you seen people trying to surf under the bridge?
And he showed it to me and there were people in the water. I told him that I would go try it out and he told me that it did not interest him. It was not the ocean. So, I went and the first time I went, there were people surfing. I went every day for a month, because every day I was trying to see if someone would sell me his board; I had left my board in Nova Scotia, but I had my wetsuit with me.
The #isurf series follows people of the Great Lakes community and retells their stories through anecdotes, interviews and photographs. #isurf will be released every other month, the first part will be released on the Wednesday and the second on the Friday.