So right now Canada’s biggest surf contest is on, with a $10,000 purse for the pros. It’s the third annual September Storm Surf Classic at Nova Scotia’s Lawrencetown Beach. And there’s sure lots of storm surf, what with the tail end of post-tropical storm Hanna whipping up the waves.

I’m betting that Nova Scotia’s Atlantic shore isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of surfing, but you’d be surprised. Even in the depths of winter, I’ve stood on the wind-blown headland overlooking Lawrencetown Beach (about 25 km or 16 mi east of Halifax) to watch the surfers (definitely in wetsuits!!) skimming along the breakers. This rugged coast attracts surfers from all over—to Lawrencetown, Martinique Beach Provincial Park and many other favourite spots. In fact, last year Nova Scotia made Transworld Surf magazine’s list of 10 Surf Trips for Under $2,000. The mag describes the province in terms you may need to be a surfer to understand: “Nova Scotia hosts heaps of cobblestone point breaks, not to mention countless mysto reefs and beachbreaks. Bucolic and rugged, it’s no surf city. And that’s a huge part of its charm.”

Your surf supplies are covered, too, near Lawrencetown Beach. It’s the home base of Canada’s most extensive surf shop, Kannon Beach Wind and Surf, plus made-in-Nova-Scotia Pirate Boards and Happy Dudes, whose “dudes” park their mobile board-rental truck right beside the coast road, Highway 207. There’s also instruction with teachers from all walks, including the four hard-body chicks who founded One Life Surf School —and let me tell you, they are fit. I went to a yoga class at the One Life Surf & Spa, and wow, it made me think that maybe I should try out a board.

www.scotiasurfer.com
www.surfns.com/index.html
http://novascotia.com