Kalum comes from a surfing family; his uncles and his mother were some of the first surfers in Tofino. He also inherited from his family knowledge on sustainability, how to leave a lesser impact on his land and how to provide for himself using what nature has to offer. To feed yourself and to be able to build a shelter are some of the skills he was taught pretty early on.
Kalum lives in Tofino, on the West Coast of Canada. His most recent house is a wooden cabin built by his grandfather, half a century ago. It was once a treehouse standing almost 20 feet above the ground that his family and he had to put down for safety issues. He now uses the outhouse as surfboard storage.
At only 21 years old, he is already an experienced mariner and knows his way around a boat. Kalum's dad is a fisherman and lived his whole life on boats and floating houses. He taught Kalum a lot of what he knows now. With his zodiac, he can explore and venture to the archipelago of islands around Vancouver Island with ease and push back the limits of cold-water surfing. These skills also allow him to find new waves and surf remote ones.
The shoreline of Tofino and its surroundings offer many breaks, giving the opportunity to surf almost anywhere and every day. But sometimes, when all stars align, Kalum and his friends will leave the beach to the other locals and go to more remote waves where only they know the location. As outsiders, Ben and I were lucky enough to get to one of those waves.
The tube that they wanted to reach is located a couple of hours away from town. You can only access this place with experienced mariners by your side. For this kind of mission, you need a lot of preparation, gear and rest.
Before getting in the water, surfers will set up their campsites, so they have a cozy and dry place to go after a couple of hours in the cold. There is no place like this one to feel connected to Mother Nature.
After almost two weeks with Kalum, we sat down for the last time around a fire, to talk about life, about our plans.
He told us that he wanted to continue to pursue his surfing career and put every ounce of energy toward being the best version of himself. As a cold-water surfer from Canada, Kalum knows that he is an underdog in the surfing world, but he also knows that being different is what makes him this good at what he does.