"It's not like we're swimming in shit. Well, it happens once or twice in the spring, but that's it. But people don't realize how polluted ocean water is. You want to be a surfer, you're going to jump in some nasty water."

(CP) - It's the first sunny day of spring and the surf's up in downtown Montreal.

Downtown, you say, in 's second-biggest city, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest ocean?

Yes, downtown, where the detritus of urban life bobs with the current of the St. Lawrence River, forcing surfers to dash out of danger as they slash "The Wave."

It's not exactly the pristine blue water of Maui, but a small-but-avid group of surfers use a massive standing wave in the St. Lawrence to pioneer a new way to "hang 10."

"We were up until 5 a.m. cleaning."

Two New Jersey housemates got a bit of a surprise late in the night last Friday when they discovered a burglar, naked except for socks and sneakers, surfing pornography on their computer.

As lingering surfers caught their last waves in Kahalu'u Bay, on shore at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort's Kamaaina Terrace restaurant, two Hawaiian artists met for the first time.

"We're looking for a suspect still"

State beach lifeguards were kept busy over the warm and sunny weekend, rescuing a surfer, two swimmers and a kayaker.