Memorable Night for Great Lakes Surfers

Brian Batista Bettencourt - 3B Photography

  A night where friendships were strengthened and new relationships were built is what I got to experience this past Saturday at Loft 404. It was the opening event organized by Mackenzie Gruer and her crew for the new documentary they are working on for their next project. They have decided to focus on Surfers in The Great Lakes. I think there is no better time than now to start working on a project looking in detail into the art of surfing the Great Lakes and the individual lives of those who surf them. The surfer community is ever growing and last Saturday I was shocked at the turn out of the event.

Brian Batista Bettencourt - 3B Photography

Before anything else I must apologize to some of you as I was holding conversations with you about interesting topics for sure. However, I did not know who you were – at least not by name. More specifically, we have had conversations surfing, on facebook, messages and emails but I did not have the chance to meet you in person until this past Saturday. What a crazy feeling it was to talk to someone who you know and have talked to before online or wearing their wetsuits but you cannot recognize anymore when you’re normally dressed and standing in front of each other. I am sorry for this, but as crazy as it sounds that is the feeling some, if not all of us had at some point during that great night.

Brian Batista Bettencourt - 3B Photography

The amount of people standing around and chatting with each other at Loft 404 this past Saturday definitely impressed more than one surfer. I knew we were not only a few crazy ones surfing this side of Lake Ontario, but to actually have all surfers of Toronto and surrounding areas present (such as Lake Erie and Lake Huron) made me realize one thing about the sport and where it is currently standing at. We are not a group of crazy surfers trying to catch a wave while braving extreme weather conditions and exposing our own life’s at times. We are a Growing Community of Great Lakes Surfers.   What we have among us is a solid community of Surfers in Toronto. I am sure and I know of other surfer groups around the Great Lakes but with exception of Lake Michigan Surfer’s community, I dare to say Toronto and Lake Ontario has the largest and one of the strongest Surfer Communities among the Great Lakes.

Brian Batista Bettencourt - 3B Photography

As such, I believe we are to stick together and give each other a hand to learn more about surfing and continue developing our knowledge and understanding about surfing the Great Lakes. I know this is already happening within our community. My goal is not to initiate a wave of cooperation and openness. Today, all I want is to let you know about the already existent wave of sharing, friendship, contribution and participation within our Surfer Community here in Toronto and around the Great Lakes. I would like to invite you to join us all in this great and friendly community of surfers that we have. If you are already part of it I would like to congratulate you and express my sincere thanks for continuing pushing in this direction as hard as you can to make sure we can share this beautiful sport with as many people as we can!

The contact information for Mackenzie Gruer - the person responsible for this event and spearheading the project is mackenziegruer@hotmail.com or 416.662.5368.

Enjoy some of the images taken by Brian Batista Bettencourt and his company 3B Photography  the day of the event. Follow his work on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/3Bphoto?fref=ts