Sooke is one of my favorite places on the South Island.  Even with urban sprawl doing it`s thing and creeping in, it still is holding onto most of it`s vastness and backwoods feeling.  It`s home to surf breaks and big hearted people (not the surfers, who are notorious assholes) like my friends Kurtis and Megan, who are two of the most gracious host. Be it a couple car loads of drunk skaters showing up to crash unannounced, or making sure to send you home with cake if you`ve just popped in for coffee.
  I recently discovered the Sheringham lighthouse for the first time on a Famjam. It`s a stunning and beautiful place with shear, jagged cliffs and plenty of wild life. On my first trip out there I ran into my friend Drew who works for Vans in Toronto.  It blew me away to run into him at such a remote spot on a tiny island so far away from the context in which we know each other.

Out this window I can see two roofs, the hospital in the distance and into the third

story kitchen of a big red house.  In that kitchen I watch a young couple make

coffee, do the dishes and hug. We`re on pretty similar schedules, us three, Im generally the first 

up and the first home from work but they`re never long after me.  I seldom where my glasses in 

my house so I have no idea what they actually look like and wouldn`t recognize them  if they 

walked passed me on the street. I have three windows that face them and am curious to know how 

much of my life they`ve seen. Be it a bald tattooed maniac stomping around yelling at himself

or someone sitting peacefully drinking tea and reading on a couch, I`m sure they think theres a couple

different people living here as well.

Doug. Doug Hardy is skateboard royalty. Can not be fucked with, triple OG status.
  As a young punk ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ41hqlV0Kk) I looked up to him and the crew that eventually became my people. For better and worse.

    Doug and I have spend hours in each others arms crying over the years. Be it his sorrows or mine, theres been a lot of tears shed, which equates to more than a thousand laughs with anyone else. If you cant cry with your friends, thy`re  not friends.

Its not that I dont surf, its just that I dont surf. I mean I own I wet suit and have gone in the ocean multiple times with a surfboard attached to my leg, but its more of a survival situation than an Im gonna harness the power of the ocean and use the gravitational pull of the moon or sun as my friggin play ground. 

Growing up skateboarding in Victoria I became very familiar with Downtown and its

surrounding municipalities and their various curb cuts, gaps and ledges. I didn't allow 

much time for myself to explore the regional parks.  This past New Year I discovered 

Glencoe Point in Gordon Head, its beautiful  expansive and looks Icelandic.

 Ryan Farley

Ryan and his lovely girl friend Sam