Pete nabs some of the white light.

I’ll be honest. I’ve been trying pretty hard not to jump on the Peter Devries bandwagon since stepping foot in Canada to report on the Cold Water Classic last week. It seems like you can’t go 12 steps in the town of Tofino without hearing the local boy’s name uttered like he was Christ himself, clad in neoprene and minus the bushy beard. Although you can’t deny that he does bear some resemblance.

“Have you seen Peter Devries surf?”

“Oh yeah, he’s amazing, eh? I think he’s gonna win out here.”

“That would really be nice, eh. Local boy beats the best in the world.”

It would be nice, indeed, but the angle itself just seemed too easy, too good to be true. I’ve heard that the lad can surf, but could he truly compete against the likes of the hungriest ’QS surfers around at one of the last 6-stars of the season?

The answer is an unequivocal, all caps, bolded “YES.” Pete just might win this event.

I’m jumping on board. Time and again, heat after heat, punt after punt…Pete’s made me a believer, a convert, I’m now a devoted disciple to the Devries faith.

In his opener at the Cold Water Classic Canada, Devries threw down the highest heat score of the day. In his next round, he dominated his heat, surfing as good as anyone. The following matchup, he smoked Dusty Payne. And then today, in his round of 16 heat, he tore the arms (figuratively of course) off of Frenchman Joan Duru. Now he’s on to the quarters.

To cement the fact that Devries has achieved a significant level of status in this town, when Pete surfs, the town comes out to watch. In droves. In his round of 16 heat, I estimated 500 Canadian souls braving the frigid rain and wind to see if Pete could continue his run. Now, 500 may not seem like an enormous crowd compared to U.S. Open, but figure in the fact that there are 2,000 people who live in Tofino. And his heat today was on a Friday.

“Time for Pete to get mobbed again,” said fellow Canadian surfer, close friend, and event ambassador, Noah Cohen, after Devries won his heat today. And mobbed he was.

After the throngs of fans and media threw a hundred questions at the hometown hero, I make it 101.

“Do you hate the attention?” I sheepishly ask, realizing the irony in my question.

He smiles gently and says, “I definitely wouldn’t want to be Kelly Slater.”

But in Tofino, he might as well be.