Peter Devries wins Cold Water Classic
Local Canadian wildcard Peter Devries claims both victory and a fairytale ending at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic in Tofino, Vancouver Island.
“I cannot believe this. It feels incredible. It’s crazy,” said Peter. “Just to have all these guys here and to come out on top it’s been such an incredible experience this week.”
Local Tofino surfer, Peter Devries started the week as one of the Canadian wildcards in this 6 Star ASP WQS competition.
He ended not only a hometown hero, but also now somewhat of a national hero. Thousands of people lined the beach to support Peter and the rest of the surfers for the final day of this competition (the first ever professional surf contest in Canada).
Finalist Jay Thompson could hear the cheers from the car park as he was getting ready for his semi final heat. “It’s been such a good week,” said Jay. “It’s so wild and raw out here. It’s been great to be part of it and to have the support from all the locals. I hope to come back next year for sure."
“To hear all the guys on the beach when I am surfing a wave or getting a score feels great,” said Peter. “I felt no pressure. I just wanted to surf well. That’s my main thing when I paddle out to go surfing every day and I guess that’s what happened!”
After being carried up the beach to the award ceremony by hoards of friends and supporters, Peter Devries now walks away with $20,000 USD and the trophy of a hand-carved paddle.
His route to the final was not easy. Peter was up against the on-form Glenn Hall in his quarterfinal heat and then his semi-final saw him in the water with former World Tour surfer and another favourite for this competition, Cory Lopez.
The whole of Tofino lined the beach on Halloween producing the biggest crowd ever seen at an O’Neill Cold Water Classic event.
“I went into our shop this morning and realized that everyone just wanted to be on the beach watching the competition,” said local resident Kati Martini from Remote Passages Whale Watching company. “So I put a sign up on the door which said ‘Gone to watch the surf comp. Back at 12’ and closed up.”
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Peter Devries wins Cold Water Classic (text) by Ed Andrews is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK License.
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