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When you view the Pacific Ocean from the sandy shore between Ucluelet and Tofino, you see whales breach and dolphins jump. It's a vista untainted by humanity, except for the rider-less surfboards washing up on the beach. Tethered to each board is a body tumbling gracelessly in the water. These are tourists taking surfing lessons. But why scrutinize their awkward struggles? Turn your gaze back to the horizon, do a Half Lotus pose, throw in a yoga chant and the surfing slapstick quickly fades.

I was on B.C.'s Chesterman Beach recently, to try surfing in a community long known for its hippie undercurrent. But things are changing here at the western terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway. On a sea of new money, luxury homes and resorts have sprouted like bull kelp, homogenizing what was once a more soulful vibe. The hemp hoodie I brought was the only one in sight.

Each year, about 12,000 visitors take lessons from the eight surfing schools that operate here year round; later this fall they will be joined by pro surfers for the 2009 O'Neill Cold Water Classic, billed as the first-ever international pro surfing competition in Canada. While we novices are drawn to summer's slow-peeling waves and sandy bottom, which make for gentler conditions, the pros are coming here for the huge, shapely swells that lash the coast in late fall and winter. A 5.5 mm neoprene suit insulates you from the water – the temperature hovers around 12 C this month, and will drop to near 5 C in the winter.

As someone who usually stands on water only when it's frozen under my cross-country skis in Alberta, I wanted to tackle it in liquid form on the west coast. Tofino's West Side Surf School offers standard classes seven days a week that cost less than some locals might pay for a half-ounce of B.C. bud. I gave my height, weight and a credit-card number, then showed up at the surf shack where my correctly sized wetsuit, booties and a surfboard were waiting.

If gauged by our instructors, Canada's surfing industry is, like our ski resorts, run by athletic young Australians. Our “mates” were Chris and Shannon, both from Newcastle. Our class of 12 ranged in age from mid-teens to late 40s. On the 2.5-kilometre-long Chesterman Beach, Shannon gave us a half hour of dry-land instruction about the potential danger of the ocean's tides and swells, surfboard design and a four-step technique for standing on your board and riding a wave. It was a bad omen that rehearsing on dry land had us all sweating with exertion. When Shannon and Chris felt we were ready, they led us to water. For the next 90 minutes we waded out waist deep to catch waves two to four feet high.

Did I mention that surfing is popular here? Soon the water was so thick with surfers that it looked like the taxi bullpen at Vancouver International Airport. We often had to move aside so that those in front could ride their wave of choice without mowing down the others in line.

It was humbling stuff, a tiring workout even for the fit. As we learned, you walk into the waves while floating your board against your hip. Just before your wave of choice starts breaking in front of you, you turn your board toward shore and quickly lie face down on it, your feet flush with its back end. Then you paddle hard with your arms until the wave propels you forward. This part is exhilarating, but there's no time to enjoy it, because right away you must push your body up and bring one foot forward so that it's under your hips. If all goes well, you push down on your front leg and stand up.

There's a way to stand on a moving, wobbly board, but no one in our class found it. I “hit the surf” in Tofino, but it was mostly with my face. Tall or small, fit or fat, we all discovered many ways of falling into the water. During our time out there, we whooped when we made incremental progress. Some even achieved a crouching stance, briefly.

While the wetsuit helped me float, there was a spiritual buoyancy in interacting with the waves, in paying attention to the ocean's powerful rhythms and recognizing its indifference as to whether I was on it or in it. Every wave was as different as each of my falls, and there was a primal pleasure in trying to sync my body and board to the salty sea out of which my ancestors crawled so long ago. Swallowing mouthfuls of water, surfacing with kelp draped over my head, being knocked back by a high wave – all this was an addictive delight. At one point I could even see a whale frolicking just outside the bay. If only I was as graceful…

Special to The Globe and Mail

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Pack your bags

GETTING THERE
Orca Air (www.flyorcaair.com) has scheduled flights year-round from Vancouver. Tofino Air (www.tofinoair.ca) has charters from Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo.
BC Ferries (www.bcferries.com) has scheduled service to Nanaimo, where visitors can rent a car or connect with Tofino Bus (www.tofinobus.com).

WHERE TO STAY
Black Rock Oceanfront Resort 596 Marine Dr., Ucluelet; 1-877-762-5011; www.blackrockresort.com. A high-end architecturally designed resort close to Ucluelet's Wild Pacific Trail. Fall rates from $175.

SURF LESSONS
Westside Surf School www.westsidesurfschool.com. Standard introductory lesson, with wetsuit, booties, gloves, hoodie and surfboard provided, $75 per person. Discounts available for multi-day packages.
Inner Rhythm Surf Ucluelet; 1-877-393-SURF; www.innerrhythm.net. Group lessons $79 per person. Private lessons available.

MORE INFORMATION
Tourism Tofino: www.tourismtofino.com

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Fitness/preparation tips

Luke Michalak, a Tofino-based qualified Muay Thai Boxing instructor and level 2 elite surf coach (www.portstephenslearntosurf.com) offers the following tips:

- “We start training with light warm-up, either a 30-minute jog, skipping rope or treadmill. My favourite is free- standing squats; this is the best overall body workout.”
- “Here are some of the exercises we are doing. Most of these exercises are five sets of twelve reps each. We also add in some simple yoga stretches into the program.”
- Free standing squats
- Jumping explosive squats
- Free-standing calf raises
- Push-ups on a decline
- Push-ups flat
- Push-ups on an incline.
- Chin ups: overarm, underarm, wide, narrow
- Dips
- Leg raises on chin bar
- Sit-ups flat.
- Sit-ups on an incline
- Swimming in surf in 6 mm wetsuits
- Running sprints for cardio
B.C.