Date of Birth: April 30, 1983

Best Known For: Choosing surfing over hockey

Local Spot: Chesterman Beach

My Crew: Ollie Atkey, Noah Cohen, Skinner, Allister Fernie, JJ

Board of Choice: 5'11'' x 18'' x 2'' roundtail from AKA Surfboards

Dream Wave: The Canadian Box when it's firing with an air section at the end

Canada’s Pete Devries escapes the summer flat spells as he travels south to the wintertime playground of Chile. Video: Jeremy Koreski

While most set their sights on the tropical destinations of Bali and Central America this time of year, Pete Devries decided to stay in his wetsuit and booties to test out the wintertime playground of Chile. Goal of the trip: to nail down some clips for his final Innersection video submission. Pete fills us in on his Chilean adventures and how he plans to improve [his seemingly perfect] section for the final round of the contest. – Phil Bannan

HURLEY.COM: HOW WAS YOUR TRIP TO CHILE?
PETE DEVRIES: It was good. We just got back a few days ago. There were two days at the start, which were really fun, with some nice hollow waves. Then it kind of got stormy for a bit. It’s wintertime down there right now, so we had to wait it out. After that we got some really rippable days at the end of the trip, which were a blast. It was really nice being able to surf in warm water. We were able to shed down to our 3/2s and boots, which is basically like wearing trunks for us (laughs).

REALLY? WARM WATER WHILE HAVING TO WEAR FULL SUITS AND BOOTS…I GUESS IT MUST BE A CANADIAN THING. WHERE IN CHILE DID YOU GUYS GO?
We were down in the Central/ Southern area of Chile, exploring and trying to find some spots. I like going on trips where you can do your own thing and try to discover spots on your own, without having a set plan or list of places to go. Sure, it’s nice having someone there to show you around sometimes, but I feel it’s more rewarding to show up, ask around and find a cool spot all by your self.

SOUNDS LIKE AN ADVENTURE. WHO ELSE WENT ON THE TRIP?
It was all guys from here [Canada]. My buddy Jeremy Koreski, who shoots photos and video, came. We mainly focused on getting video for Innersection. Noah Collins and Shannon Brown were also there. They mostly shoot photos. So it was a great crew of friends and a super fun trip.

WERE YOU GUYS ABLE TO GET SOME KEEPERS FOR THE FINAL ROUND OF INNERSECTION?
We got a few good clips for sure. You always want to keep getting even better stuff, but there are definitely a few keepers from the trip that we’ll be using for the final section. We also got a couple good photos, so it was definitely a successful trip.

ANY NEW PLANS FOR YOUR FINAL SUBMISSION? OR IS THAT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION?
Well, there are some lifestyle ideas that we’re working on, but those are top secret. Besides that, we’re trying to show as much from Canada as possible, since most people don’t get to see what goes on up here. We’re hoping to get enough clips to replace everything from the first section. It will make it that much stronger if it’s all new footage. I really want to get some more [secret Canadian] slab footage, but that place is pretty fickle. We’ll have to be on it. We’re going to keep plugging away and hopefully get some waves op here soon.

HOW LONG DO YOU HAVE TO WORK ON YOUR SECTION?
We just found out the final edit needs to be in by October 1st. I was hoping we would have until November to get clips, since the season up here doesn’t really start until the beginning of October. So that’s too bad. But at the same time it sucks for the Hawaiian guys too. They won’t be able to get those pipe waves for their sections, so I guess it kind of evens out.

THAT’S A BUMMER. HAVE YOU SEEN ANY OF THE ENTRIES FROM THIS LAST ROUND OF INNERSECTION?
Yeah, I was able to watch them and vote once I got back home. My favorite was Josh Kerr’s section. It was a good, solid all around section with crazy airs and big barrels…I mean Kerr-azy. John John was the surprise of the round for me. His section was also really good.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON INNERSECTION AND THE WHOLE PROCESS?
It's a great thing for guys like me. Even for guys who don't make it, they get their names out there. It's fun to see other people surf too. People seem to be really confused about the judging and why sections make the top 10 and top 5, but they are starting to do a good job of explaining it. It will be interesting to see how it all comes together and to see how successful the final product is.

WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP ONCE THE WHOLE INNERSECTION DEAL COMES TO AN END?
Once it’s over, I want to get back into shooting photos around home. It’s such a fun place to surf and a great place for photos. It will be nice to not have to worry about getting any more footage for a while. Other than that, I’ll try and jump onboard any trips that pop up and will be surfing again in the O’Neill Cold Water Classic up here in Vancouver. I have some great memories from last year’s event and really enjoy when all those other guys come up here.

WELL GOOD LUCK DEFENDING YOUR TITLE AT THE COLD WATER CLASSIC AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT YOU GUYS COME UP WITH FOR YOUR FINAL INNERSECTION SUBMISSION.
Thanks! Have a good one.

The King of Canada is the first surfer to "make the cut" in Round Two of Taylor Steele's video experiment

Vancouver Island's Peter Devries, Hurley rider and 2009 Coldwater Classic Winner, just won the second round of Taylor Steele's Innersection. His beautifully filmed part, set to the evergreen backdrop of Vancouver island, won the praises of soon-to-be 10-time world champ Kelly Slater and thousands of other online viewers. It was no surprise, really: Pete was a runaway winner in this round.

What does this mean? It means that Hurley's own Devries will be featured in Taylor Steele's next film. He now has the rest of the year to work on his "part" and keep improving his clips til the end. "We actually had a bad season this year," said Pete. "So I know there's so much more I can do. And now we have plenty of time to get it done. I'm so excited and honored to be a part of this thing."

Canada's finest just keeps getting better. Congratulations, Pete!

To see the Innersection interview with Pete, go here.

Don't forget: Brett Simpson and Conner Coffin are still in the running for the Top 5. Stay tuned to www.innersection.tv to see what happens.

A little insight into the making of a masterpiece. Part One: Peter Devries

How hard was the process in making this piece? Rumor has it you guys locked yourself in a log cabin for a week.
PETER DEVRIES: The last week before the comp was hard.  Trying to get clips when the waves were terrible.  I had 0 backside clips with five days left so we had to try and get something.  Other than that there were a few days that let us put it all together.  We didn't have the best winter for some of the better waves up here so that was tough.  Lots of big swell and lots of bad wind.  The wind would always come in the middle of the night when it was dark.  But no, we didn't lock ourselves in a cabin for a week.

Your part makes Canada look like it has some of the best waves on the planet. But if the average surfer traveled there, chances are they'd get a lot more rain than roping right tubes. Give us an idea of how difficult it is to find those golden windows.
We had one good day this year in terms of hollow waves.  Luckily there were a few good clips from that day, and the other barrels came from days where I would just get one good wave.  The last wave was from a boat/camp trip up the coast.  Noah Cohen, Raph, Ryan, Jeremy and I went up overnight and the slogan of the trip was 3 surfers, 2 hours, 1 wave.  I was the lucky one who got the wave.   That was after a 3-hour boat ride and two hours of waiting for the tide to get right.

Canada isn't exactly the high-performance capital. Where are you getting your influence and inspiration?
I've basically grown up watching Taylor Steele movies for inspiration and to see where the performance level of surfing is set.  There are only a few guys ripping up here so in order to see different styles and approaches you have to look at videos.  It's great to have the opportunity to enter a contest like this because I really do owe a lot to his movies.  I'm the type of person who is easily self motivated to surf and I love it also.  It doesn't matter how cold it is.  That's just a part of life up here.

Is it weird for you to surf without booties?
I love my booties!  It's hard to take them off at first but after a few days it's all good.  You get used to whatever you surf in so for me a 3/2 and boots would be ideal.  Unfortunately I have to wear a 5mm and boots most of the year and gloves for 5 or 6 months.  That is what really sucks!  I hate gloves.  There is one alley-oop from Nova Scotia in the clip where I was wearing 7mm mits.  It was my first surf out there in 1.8 degree water/ 34 F or something like that.  For anyone who is surfing in the cold never wear 7mm mits!  Trust me, you can't paddle.

If you made the Top 5, would you scrap this and start all over again?
If I got in we would ideally replace every single clip in the section.  Bigger airs, bigger deeper barrels, more backside and more combos.  It would be something that we would spend a lot of time working on.  It would have to be all cold water though.  No boardies.  We might have to get rid of the song too...looking at some of the early comments. Ha. I hope it grows on people like it did on me.  I guess when you do an edit and hear something 1000 times you get into it.

Who helped make this possible?
Jeremy Koreski and Adam Chilton were huge in all of this.  I've been filming with Adam for a while and we've been racking up a few good clips.

Jeremy jumped onboard a little while back when he got his 7D and 5D.  He's done a couple movies in the past, Numb and Shrink, but he has primarily been a still photographer over the last few years.  He took that approach to this project and to all the video he shoots in general.  For him it is not necessarily about getting the surfing straight on from the beach.  It's all about showing more in the clip along with getting all the action.  He's very talented and shoots everything with a unique eye.  The intro and lifestyle stuff are all his and we have plenty of ideas for the future.  We are really excited to get out there and try some different things.  It's nice for him to change his medium too so he's pretty fired up right now. Kuan-Jian foo helped out with the edit.  Mainly with the sound and titles.  Dean Azim and Shayne Stadnick helped out during the final week with the double angle on a few of those backside clips too.

I can't forget my family for being so supportive.  My fiancee Lisa Hasse, son, Asher and my dog Naia.

Go here to vote for Pete now.

Four Hurley riders gunning for the Top 5 on Innersection.tv

Taylor Steele's new video concept, Innersection, currently has its second round of submissions posted and Hurley guys are all over it. Here's how Innersection works: over the course of the year, dozens of top surfers — both known and unknown — post their two-minute "parts" to Innersection.tv. Those parts are then praised, bashed and voted on, to be considered for the "Final Cut." At the end of the two-week voting period, a Top Five will go on to be a part of Taylor's next big film. It's a great idea that's already capturing the imaginations of forward-thinking surfers and filmmakers the world over.

Four of those surfers are Hurley family members, and they've been deep in the woodshed the past couple of months making the best video possible. All that hard work is now live on the site, and they need your help. Here's the lineup and links for each video. Also, stay tuned for interviews from each guy on the making of their part.

1. Pete Devries: an all-coldwater shredfest in and around the rugged Vancouver Island. Pete's video stands out big time and is the current leader. Go here to watch and vote.

2. Brett Simpson: Brett and Hurley's Tom Aiello spent two months in Oz putting his part together and the results are amazing. Slick-edited with World Tour-caliber surfing, Brett needs your vote to push it into the Top 5. Go here to vote.

3. Evan Geiselman: EG goes for it both in and out of the water, with a classic skit and some huge, signature air reverses. Evan also shows that he's not afraid to pull in. Go here to vote.

4. Conner Coffin: At only 16 years of age, Coffin is one of the younger Innersection candidates. But his rail surfing is well beyond his years, as his is choice in music. Coffin has the best song of the entire bunch. Go here and let the world know he belongs in the Top 5.

This is rally time. Forward this to your friends. Lean on your social networks. Tell your Internet-savvy grandma. The more votes, the better and you can vote for all of 'em. In our eyes, they all deserve 10 stars.

The latest installment from Canada's best surfer ever. Keep in mind: these are his B clips. He's saving the gems for Innersection. Video: Adam Chilton

Peter Devries finds a window in Canada. Video: Adam Chilton Music: The Wilderness Crew

Pete Devries stays warm on Vancouver Island. Video: Adam Chilton Music: The Wilderness Crew