Bruce McTaggart will represent Bowen as he rides Howe Sound’s swells during the third annual Canadian Surfski Championships this weekend.
The 21-kilometre downwind race leads over 110 competitors in narrow lightweight kayaks along a spectacular and also challenging, due to variable currents, course on Howe Sound from Porteau Cove to downtown Squamish.
McTaggart has the perfect training ground for surf skiing right in his backyard. The south coast of Bowen Island has some of the best and most accessible surf skiing in the Howe Sound region, said McTaggart in a previous Undercurrent interview.
Collingwood Channel, located between Bowen and Keats, has a history of some of the strongest winds and biggest swell this side of Vancouver Island, he added.
The veteran kayaker will battle the waves alongside some of the world’s best surf skiers in Saturday’s event, which is part of the World Surfski Series.
McTaggart is going into the race coming off a first-place win in the gruelling Round Bowen Challenge on June 25. Paddling a double surf ski with partner Ian Lowe, the duo circumnavigated the island in just over two and a half hours.
