"It was a strange idea that I became obsessed with… Can you surf on the Great Lakes?" With his tanned complexion and mischievous steel-blue eyes, Adrian Forrow, 43, could easily be mistaken for a Californian, even though Santa Barbara is a 40-hour drive from Toronto, the capital of Ontario province. The sound of the waves reached the ears of this adventurous professional illustrator, not the kind to be put off by the cold. In 2015, he finally discovered that yes, it was indeed possible to surf the modest swells that occasionally rise along the coast of Canada's largest city (the Greater Toronto Area now counts more than seven million residents).

Because the practice remained largely under the radar, there was no webcam (like those you find at California surf spots) to let him check if the waves were good before heading out. But it was precisely this feeling of mystery that he loved when he drove to the clear waters swirling beneath the dramatic clay cliffs of Scarborough, in eastern Toronto. "Will I be the only one on my board? You never really know what you'll find. You really have to do your weather homework! So, the people who show up when it's minus 10 degrees, they've earned it. Even if, sometimes, you look around and think it's a bit absurd to wait for a little wave in the snow..." he said on the morning of May 18. The waves might not have been huge, but they could still be fierce.

One day, his passion even nearly cost him his life. "Icy water seeped into my wetsuit and was pulling me down. The waves kept hitting me over and over. I thought I wouldn't make it home." In Canada, more than anywhere else, surfing is not for the faint of heart.

'This period is getting on our nerves'

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