Click onto this link to view photographs from this article:
"
http://www.guelphmercury.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=mercury/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1175512700674&call_pageid=1050067726078&col=1050421501457"
Toronto publisher wades into surfing magazine market
CANADIAN PRESS
Malcolm Johnson, left, editor of SBC SURF, and Jeremy Koreski, senior photographer, take a break in Tofino, B.C., last week.
TOFINO, B.C. (Apr 2, 2007)
More than 40 years after Canadians rode their first waves in B.C. and Nova Scotia, a Toronto-based publisher is preparing to release the country's first national surfing magazine.
On April 11, SBC Media Inc. -- the publishers of 10 action-sports magazines -- will launch SBC Surf, a 172-page glossy biannual.
The magazine will compete in a market dominated by big-circulation U.S. publications like Surfer, Surfing and Transworld Surf.
"We're Canadian through and through," said SBC Media Group publisher Steve Jarrett.
"We're not trying to be an American surf magazine. It's written and photographed by Canadians for Canadians."
The first edition will follow Canadians as they hunt for barrels in B.C., and chase waves on the East Coast and in Morocco.
The magazine will also include event information, profiles, tips on technique and gear, and news reports on Great Lake surfing and river surfing in Alberta and Quebec.
"We tried to keep the content as balanced as possible," said Malcolm Johnson, editor and part-time Tofino resident.
"If we do it right, we can represent what surfing culture is all about."
"It gives more exposure to surfing in Canada," added Jeremy Koreski, senior photographer and longtime Tofino resident.
"It means some people will be pissed off and some people will think it's great."
Jarrett said now is the perfect time to launch the magazine.
He said surfing in Canada has grown over the past five years and snowboarders and skateboarders have crossed over to the sport -- just as a new generation of talented writers and photographers have come of age.
"I really think it's a coming of age of board sports," Jarrett said.
"I think there's a huge new generation of avid board-sports enthusiasts that would really love to try surfing."
Besides, he said: "We wouldn't have gone ahead without ad dollars and industry support."
