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Ambleside Park provides a fun shuttle-free opportunity for tide race wave rides upstream with near effortless return paddling with the tide. The waves are in a defined channel so you may paddle to either side to calmer water. The best time to paddle is with a west or northwest wind two hours either side of max ebb.

Getting There

• Entrance to Ambleside Park is by 13th and Marine in West Vancouver
  • From TransCanada Hwy 1 take the 15th street exit (exit 11). Turn left on Marine then right on 13th.
  • If you drive north over Lions Gate Bridge on Hwy 99, join Marine Drive, then stay on Marine when 99 turns north and continue west until left turn onto 13th.
  • …

When and Where Ambleside Works

• Safety - Paddling the Ambleside tide race is never the same twice. The wave area may vary from 100 meters to a few kilometers. The waves may be one-meter tall to over-head monsters. It is rarely smooth so you will gain experience with cross-chop and unpredictable wave patterns. This is a shipping channel so stay alert for pleasure craft and large freighters. About Tidal Race Safety (Ambleside is one of the most user friendly tide races that we are familiar with and it is well known and often paddled by locals. That being said, you should understand the basics of tidal races and how Ambleside grows and subsides and approach it with respect and awareness of your own relative experience and paddling skills).
• When the current is ebbing with NW wind and wave action, the waves stand up where they collide with the strongest current. Same as the Gorge. From shore you can see the tide rip. It's like a strip of rough water. Its always different, but usually 500 - 1000 yards offshore.
• The water in between shore and the tide rip is usually calm or rolling. Lots of easy water to play around in. Waves are rolling upstream against the current, like the Gorge. So you paddle out to the rip and bite off as much as you can chew. Surf upstream, float back downstream for another run. The waves often tend to smooth out in the “upstream” section toward the east and can be somewhat more catchable there.
• Closer to max ebb the current is stronger and will make waves more work to catch and stay on. Tidal rip wave surfing tends to be harder work than typical downwinding, so you may be toast after an hour. Take a break and check the park or seawall walk out, or get something to eat and do some more laps later if the waves are still there.
• More from Bob Putnam on timing: “…driven by two ingredients, an ebbing tidal current with opposing NW wind preferably overnight 10 knots plus. Current is predictable and flows at 3-5 knots every couple of weeks for a few days on the new and full moons. Wind, as you know, is hard to predict. But generally we get NW winds with sunny weather. Oscar’s vid was right before the Canadian Champs a few years back. The week before the gorge champs. This year (2025) July 7-12 the current will run at good levels early in the morning. The current runs later every day by about 40 minutes. Just need wind. If it blows easterly it’s flat with flowing current.”

Wind Apps and Sites

• AyeTides. For iPhone, iTouch and Ipad.
• TidesChart Ambleside
• Windy - Ambleside Wind Forecast w/ webcam
• Webcams neither of these 2 webcams really shows the tide rip well. But if you see surfskis or OCs doing laps…
  • Ambleside Hollyburn Sailing Club just west of Ambleside Park - includes wind and tide forecast
  • West Vancouver Beach & Sea Walk Webcam currently offline (9/2023) but we hope it will be back soon. West part of Ambleside race might be a little viewable in the distance

Lessons

• Road to Ambleside (May - September)
  • All of the paddling class web pages below have a connection with Deep Cove (we're not sure that they aren't all the same class although they may quote different dates for their classes?)
    • Cates Park Paddling Centre / Deep Cove Ambleside Surfing Classes
    • Jericho Beach
    • …

Videos

• Ambleside Videos
• Vancouver Videos Includes Downwinder Videos Ending at Ambleside