For mułaa (pronounced mu-thla) Rising Tide Surf Team, the love of surfing runs in tandem with learning how to say surfing – and all the surf words – in Nuu-chah-nulth language.
Anyone can come along for the ride too; mułaa worked with Gisele Martin at the Tla-o-qui-aht Language Department and Samantha Touchie from Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government to create a surf map that showcases the traditional names of surf breaks from načiks (Tofino) to Ucluelet.
Graphic designer Riley Milroy of Crimson Studio Illustration did the artwork for the map, and it was printed on t-shirts, toques, posters, postcards and tote bags, which can be purchased at the Tourism Tofino Visitor Centre or Tsawaak RV Resort and Campground.
The non-profit’s co-founder Rachel Dickens-Greening says mułaa’s surf map and surf language card has empowered the Indigenous youth to take ownership back over the local surf breaks.
“Indigenous languages carry our traditions, values, and worldviews. Language is deeply tied to traditional knowledges on land, medicine, spirituality, and governance. When a language disappears, an entire way of understanding the world is lost,” said Dickens-Greening.
“When the youth ask for more language throughout the program, they are keeping this knowledge alive. Speaking the language, and seeing the non-Indigenous community engage with it, such as through the t-shirt and map sales, also fosters pride and self-confidence,” she continued.
Most recently, mułaa collaborated with Slowtide Towels to create a 100 per cent recycled quick dry towel featuring their surf map. Slowtide donated 50 towels to the Indigenous surf team and 20 more will be sold on the companies’ website, with all the profits going to mułaa.
Cass Hale, mułaa’s program co-ordinator since April 2024, says the towel project took flight about a year ago.
“To see it is awesome. The kids in summer camp last year picked out the colour. I think they are fantastic. I love it,” said Hale during a mid-spring session at their local surf break on Long Beach or yaaqsis (pronounced yaaq-sis) in front of the Tla-o-qui-aht village of Esowista.
Ucluelet resident, surf dad and co-founder of Slowtide Dario Phillips delivered the towels in-person and caught waves with the crew.
“It means a lot for me to be here,” he told the youth.
“For us as a company and for me living here, we just want to support our local area and do whatever we can to give back. I use these beaches all the time and that’s why we support Rising Tide,” said Phillips.
He said his two kids, ages six and nine, are learning to speak Nuu-chah-nulth in school.
“It’s awesome. I love it. Even in my group thread with most of my surf dads, we are calling it by the original reclaimed names. It’s really cool to see my kids look at an eagle and call it the Nuu-chah-nulth name,” said Phillips. “Things like that I didn’t learn throughout my childhood.”
Emelia Hale, 11, has been part of mułaa for two years. Her surf goal is to do a headstand on a wave, and she’s getting better at pronouncing Nuu-chah-nulth words.
“It’s really hard to learn Nuu-chah-nulth, but it can be done. Surfing is really fun because we get to do party waves. That’s the most fun,” said Emelia, who is Hale’s daughter and of Nuu-chah-nulth and Metis heritage.
The Nuu-chah-nulth alphabet has 45 letters. It is a phonetic alphabet, meaning each letter represents a different sound, and every sound is represented by only one letter, notes a page on Tla-o-qui-aht’s website.
“I’m getting better at learning (place names). I know what it breaks down to really just spending time with the alphabet,” said Hale.
There are 16 youth registered in the program this year, three support workers, six surf instructors that rotate throughout the season and Tla-o-qui-aht language revitalization support worker Tsimka Martin has also joined the team.
“That circle is really starting to feel complete in our program,” Hale beamed.
Mułaa was awarded grant funding from the federal Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities (SSDIC) initiative, which covers basic operations for the year. Dickens-Greening says they also rely on donations from community members and visitors to the region.
In the past, they have worked with a Hawaiian group to make traditional surfboards and since launching in 2019, they have added a winter ski trip to their programming.
“They would love to travel the world surfing to dip their feet in different oceans. Now that we have this steady group, they’ve been there a long time, they’re getting older together, we get to adventure a whole lot more with them,” said Hale, adding that they’re door is open to building new relationships with nations around Vancouver Island and the world.
“We are thinking of working with other nations to expand the surf map and there is talk of going to Haida Gwaii for a cultural exchange,” she shared.
At the beginning of each weekly surf session, the group has started to include a spontaneous Nuu-chah-nulth phrase for everyone to learn before going over the usual safety talk.
Who’s ready to ride the wave?
Surfing or siiksaanapšiił (pronounced seek-saw-nup-sheelth) refers to going in with the waves (siiksaana), and šiił refers to doing something over and over again.
