NOAH COHEN
Born 1989
IG – @cohenscorner
“To me, surfing is an outlet. It’s exercise. It’s meditation. It’s all those things to me. It’s so entangled with my happiness now that I can’t imagine life without it. When I go a week or even a few days without it, the way I feel—my skin, my body—I just don’t feel like myself without it.”
As a surfer, Noah Cohen describes himself as a “late bloomer”, at least by born-and-bred Tofino standards—meaning he didn’t catch a wave until he was 10 or 11 years old. From there, there was no looking back. “I would literally finish school, bike to the beach and surf until it was pitch black, every day.”
The fact that surfing is an option every day is one of the things that sets Tofino apart as a surf destination and a training ground for professional surfers, says Noah. And he has a good basis for comparison; his career has taken him to iconic and not-so-iconic surf spots on every continent other than Antarctica. “Famous surf locations like the North Shore of Hawaii go flat for half the year. Like, lake flat,” he says. “In Tofino, I’d say you can surf 360 days of the year if you want to.”
And if he has his way, he does—twice a day, if he can manage it.
“It’s that opportunity to be outdoors and connect with nature. With team sports, you’re indoors. You’re waiting on a coach and counting on a team,” Noah says. “With surfing, it’s just you and the board and the ocean and that’s it. Especially in Tofino—the wildlife and pristine nature that’s here. People come from all over the world to experience the nature here, and I’ve been fortunate enough to spend my whole life in it.”