An adventure-travel television series called Facing Waves will feature the Powell River region in a full half-hour episode shot last summer on the Sunshine Coast. Now in its fifth season, the series takes viewers to top paddling destinations around the world.
“They paddled in Okeover Inlet and into Desolation Sound,” said Sunshine Coast Tourism marketing director Annie Schroeder. “They also visited the Copeland Islands, paddled by the Hulks, did a Tla’amin Nation canoe journey with some of the elders and had paddle boarding, as well as sea kayaking, experiences.”
According to Terracentric Coastal Adventures co-owner Christine Hollmann, one of the productions’ host companies, the filming was done last July.
The episode will be broadcast on Fox Sports, adventure lifestyle cable network Outside TV, and Nautical Channel, an international nautical sports and lifestyle cable channel.
“When they approached us about doing the show, obviously we knew right away that we were a perfect destination,” said Schroeder. “Not only because of the number of water experiences we have, but we’re a great destination because we’re so relatively unknown in the big scene of paddling.”
Unexplored, undiscovered waters are particularly sought after by the paddling community, according to Schroeder.
“With the amount of coastline we have, even in the peak of the summer you’re bound to find some coastline and you’re the only one there,” said Schroeder. “That’s such an incredible thing to find.”
The show also extends the marketing scope for paddling outside of the Pacific Northwest, said Hollman.
“It highlights all of the different types of paddling you can do,” she said. “It’s not just kayaking. It can continue to grow the industry as a whole; it’s positive attention and helps us profile that part of the eco-tourism sector.”
Schroeder said the reach of Facing Waves goes far beyond the television viewing audience and into social media.
“They have one of the most active paddle sports Facebook pages in the world,” she said. “They’re posting photos of the Sunshine Coast and tweeting about it, not only once the show airs, but this whole time we’ve been receiving great press on their social media.”
