Three East Coast surfers at Cold Water Classic

The O’Neill Cold Water Classic starts today in Tofino, BC, and there are three surfers from Canada’s East Coast in the water.

The three surfers who made the journey to Tofino are Halifax-area surfers Logan Landry, Lance Moore and Steve Foley.

Landry finished second in last week’s Shut Up and Surf Classic contest held at the Cow Bay Moose. Landry was also a member of the Canadian team that competed at the 2007 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Costa de Caparica, Portugal.

A total of 12 surfers from the East Coast were invited to participate in a wildcard contest for Canadians that was supposed to be held on Friday and Saturday in Tofino.

The winner of the wildcard would then participate in the main event of the Cold Water Classic, the first professional surf contest ever held in Canada.

However, it appears the wildcard contest was cancelled, perhaps due to lack of participants. Instead, all invited participates will now compete in the main event.

A total of 24 Canadian surfers are expected to participate in the contest, including Noah Cohen, who is the Canadian ambassador of the event, Peter Devries, and brothers Sepp and Raph Bruhwiler.

The lack of East Coast participation in the CWC is largely due to the high costs associated with making the long trip to Tofino, suggests Canadian Surfing Association president John Fluke.

The event was scheduled to being at 9 a.m. PT at Cox Bay, Tofino. ScotiaSurfer.com is keeping track of heats at the CWC website.