YETI Presents Bruhwiler Country

So, wave height, forward west coast, Vancouver Island north, seas building to 2 to 3, winds 20 to 30 knots, with a risk of thunderstorms. When I was young I always heard there was good waves that you couldn't get to by car, you had to boat. And I always wondered, and then once I got a boat I just felt pretty free, you know, having your own boat, you can go wherever you want and get away from town. Getting here is really hard because it's open ocean, and then you're here during like a storm, you could be here for like a week, stuck here. And we're about, you know, a 2-3 hour boat ride from the nearest hospital. So it's a place you don't really want to get hurt. You can get those really good waves once in a while, or you can get really hammered. Ralph's just a local legend. He's one of those guys that can basically do anything, you know. He'll surf a crazy wave, jump in his boat, catch his own dinner. My older brother, he was pretty much my idol growing up. He was just always totally into his surroundings and what was going on. His spirit of adventure, he knew the area really well. He knew the changing conditions and what the swell was doing, what the wind was doing, which waves worked on which tides. Without a doubt, Ralph was the first professional surfer to come out of Canada. When you think of Canadian surfing, you think of the Breweilers, and Ralph Breweiler. I think my parents moved out here just to have all this space and be with nature, and they're connected to it. And, you know, we got really connected to it just growing up here. We had like 15 years of the best life ever. We lived on the beach, we had homeschooling on the beach, on the rock, near the ocean. Worst wetsuits you could ever imagine. It didn't matter what time of year it was, we were like down in the water, we were skinny dipping. Living off the land, you run out of money, food's still there. Back then there was so much cod. Buy some potatoes, fish and chips for a week straight. We also had our dad. He came here from Switzerland when he was 18, 19 years old. I learned so much from him, how to hunt and how to fish. He moved to Tofino and that's what people did. They cut trees and they fished for a living. He's like definitely a mentor to all of us, anything we need, any questions we have. They were never bored. Whatever I did, I involved them. I always had a boat, so we always did some fishing. We built our own house. My dad started doing jobs for people that surfed a bit. And he'd say, hey, I'll cut you a tree if you have an old board kicking around, I'll just trade you for that. And that's actually how I got my first surfboard. When the waves are big, are you ever afraid for your sons when they're out there surfing? I never even thought about that. I always figured they know what they're doing. It's just like me when I go in the bush. I have to follow big trees and they always expect me to come home. I've traveled around the world, but I've always been drawn to coming back here. Look around you, right? It's kind of hard to imagine yourself sitting in an office in the city staring at your screensaver of this. Everything you learn in life, it leads to something very good that way. I think any job you have should always come to that point anyway, to the service of humanity. He lends a huge amount of credibility to what we do because of his experience in the surf. We're probably looking at about 100 nautical miles of coastline that we're responsible for. We're unique in the sense that we're one of the few stations on the coast that deal in surf conditions primarily. You always get thrown into different conditions. There's definitely days where I would have never gone out on my boat, but you have to go out there to get somebody. It's a very good continuation of using your gift as a surfer to help people. Everything he wants to do now, it's because of the kids. A happy family makes me happy. They love going camping, they love going hunting, they love surfing. They just love being outside, all of them. You just go in the water and you start, and you put effort into it. And you also have to have parents beside you that support you. I just have fun, the fact that I'm in the ocean. I think my dad's a really good surfer too. I look up to him a lot. The people that come after you benefit from the road you've paved. I'm really excited for even the future generations. RAAF has paved that road for all these generations to come. A couple more years, they're all going to be out in the back with me, taking my waves, but whatever. I'll be stoked.