Before thousands of screaming Canucks, Devries powered through the challenging, onshore conditions. He jumped out to a good lead ahead of fellow finalist Jay "Bottle" Thompson, then found the dagger: a big, fins-free blast out the back, a solid roundhouse and a spray-chucking layback to seal the deal. The 9.0 earned him $20,000 and -- more importantly -- the honor of being the first Canadian in history to win a pro surfing event. "Yeah, it's still all a little surreal," said Devries after joining the town for a celebration in the streets. "I mean, I guess the whole beach was screaming every time I took off. Probably good I couldn't hear it because of the wind, because I really felt no nerves out there. I felt like I was freesurfing."
Devries surfed from the trials all the way through to the final, his legend growing with each advancement. By the time the final day came around, literally the entire town was down on the beach cheering for Pete. Even Canada's biggest television network, CBC, was on hand to document the biggest national treasure since Strange Brew. "You couldn't even get a cup of coffee today — the whole town was shut down so they could watch the contest," said Devries. "It was really special for this place. Everyone was buzzing."
Canada's first pro surfing contest was definitely a success. According to Devries, the waves were "average or below average" for this time of year, but there was no shortage of surf (or wind or rain), and the visiting pros enjoyed the change of scenery. "People don't realize how big this is for Canadian surfing," said Devries. "There's a whole new generation of kids now who've seen this and will be inspired by it."
What Pete should say is, inspired by him. Congratulations to Pete and to the people of Tofino for officially putting Canadian surfing on the map.
