Montreal bodyboarder braves winter for the thrill of the ride

It’s freezing cold this morning and while others are home where it’s warm, this Montrealer Carlos Hebert Plante sees this weather as a perfect time to catch some waves in the Saint Lawrence River.

“Basically, there’s not a day where I wouldn’t go out. Bodyboarding is my first love and what I started to do for it when I was growing up in California.”

Since the age of 6, Plante dreamt of making it in the big leagues. But what keeps him going after 40 years of bodyboarding nearly every day is his passion for the sport, even during snowstorms.

Carlos Hebert Plante He wears two suits and after that, he jumps on his boogie board in the frigid water of the St-Lawrence river close to downtown Montreal. There is a standing wave behind Habitat 67 building build for the universal exhibition en 1967. Montréal, Quebec: February 3rd, 2023 (Credit: Bernard Brault)

“I feel in my stomach. My heart’s like I just pounding, pounding, pounding. But my saying is, I just got to go in.”

Before hitting the waves, the first thing Plante does is ‘hunt’.

“There’s a big ice I can watch coming down that I prefer to stand on. So, when I’ll wait for it to come down and I’ll swim to it. Standing on the iceberg will get me to the wave.”

Once the hunt is done, he suits up in a scuba diving wetsuit while listening to Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ – a ritual he believes will ensure a safe boogie ride. Despite the lack of layers, the suit keeps him warm from freezing temperatures.

“Getting over there, you’re walking in snow to the knee height, so it warms up. I’m really sweating even before getting water. So, the water makes it perfect.”

Carlos Hebert Plante from Montreal practices his favorite sport twelve months a year. Today, it was minus 26C and the water temperature was around +3c. Montréal, Quebec: February 3rd, 2023 (Credit: Bernard Brault)

His mother, Anne Hebert says “He loves it. It’s not he ‘likes’ it. He loves it. He feels the river. When I listen to the videos, I’m calm. It calms me. When he does it with his GoPro, it’s like we are in the Saint Lawrence River with him.”

In describing his experience, Plante says “it’s you, alone with the water and your vision of the water, and you’re just sliding. You’re endlessly sliding. It’s a great feeling. I love it.”