MIKE STUPKA

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 30
Hometown: Tofino, B.C.
Sponsors: Storm Surf Shop

“I was born and grew up in Nanaimo. When I was a little kid, my family would come out to the West Coast for camping trips in the summer; when I was 13, I saw some surf magazines, and I decided that I really wanted to try surfing for myself. I loved it immediately and promptly turned it into an obsession. Once I graduated from high school I traveled and surfed as much as I could, and for the past decade or so I’ve been living back and forth between Victoria and Tofino.”

A Few Highlights…

Some of my best surfs have been at breaks on the South Island, and also in Costa Rica and New Zealand. Waves where you can come out of multiple barrels are the ones that stick out the most for me. Other highlights for me include when I first decided to go back to school, and those early years of being in college and university. It was really intellectually stimulating time for me. And starting Drop Magazine with Alex McWilliam has been exciting to say the least.”

Contest Results

“I won the Longboard Pro / Am at the Quiksilver / Roxy Surf Jam in 2000, and the Men’s Amateur Shortboard at the same event in 2003. I placed third in several of those contests in the late ‘90s, and had a fifth and seventh as well.”