belly, 1625780286
Thanks Stu - great read!!
I was a body boarder in Vic. Had some great times on the lid. But when I turned 30 I found myself being pulled back to the stick.
So true about having a focal wave. I made the lid work on all sorts of Vic waves, from my hometown in SW Vic to one or two waves both east and west of Melbourne where I worked, but the real ongoing enjoyment came from visiting my folks in Port Stephens who still live in walking distance to the well known local lidder wave.
As an occasional visitor it took me a while to be accepted into the line up, got there in the end though. It was kind of weird TBH because in Vic I was used to being the sole lidder and I guess I refined a softly softly approach to line up acceptance and never had any real issues.
Blowin, 1625780590
Special mention:
“…..and the paper surfboard, which, as you might expect, had slightly less commercial success”
Ultra droll. Love it.
Jasper Ashmoore, 1625781075
An invention that changed my life and thousands of others too. I’ve met incredible people, made friends seen cool places and ridden through countless barrels. Thanks Tom
Blowin, 1625781173
Big shout out to Tom Morey for designing the board upon which I rode the most memorable wave of my life….the first one.
Thanks for all the fish.
billie, 1625781700
I'm a bodyboarder. Rode a stick exclusively for 15 years, then snapped two boards in an hour at a local reef, so, grabbed my kids booger that I found on the side of the road and hit the waves again. Been back on the booger for 3 years now (I think) and I feel it is bringing out a childlike joy in me I had forgotten. I still ride a stick, but I'm so short of time these days that I don't want to deal with a crowded lineup. I can paddle into a bunch of closeouts and practice spinners under the lip, or ride a shocky and come home refreshed; a better husband, father and boss.
I think that average surfers think that standing up on a board is THE measure of skill, but gee, scooping under the lip on an 8 foot keg after a really deep, late drop is pretty damn challenging. Not as easy as it looks.
Robo, 1625782405
I have a side on photo of Mike Stewart in a 10ft G-Land barrel on my office wall, i took it when i was leaving on the boat lol, probably best surf photo i have ever taken.
Sprout, 1625782920
Great article. Bodyboarding is far more extreme and demanding on the body than anything you can do on a surfboard. Those at the forefront charge harder than anyone they're mental. I don't think surfing will ever come close to matching what they can do at places like Fronton etc.
I feel like my boog mates are dragging me back to it more and more in the last few years purely with the amount of barrels they come out of. It's way harder than they make it look too!
Mike Stewart would have to be one of best, if not the best, reader of waves ever. His 2nd reef Pipe waves are incredible to watch. Also the best film Tim ever made was a bodyboarding film RAW.
Jono, 1625784688
Stacey did a boog redux, think it might be fibreglass, but sprayed like a Morey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aSBjIAY86E
gingeryeti, 1625784693
Show us the pic! I love all of those things. Mike Stewarts, 10 foots, barrels and G-lands.
shoredump, 1625785883
Great read, thanks Stu. I still ride my lid on a handful of days a year at one particular remote mini slab near me. So much fun and this wave is just better on your gut
Trentslatterphoto, 1625790864
i love bodyboarding
its fun
jasper99, 1625793290
It's funny to see the almost acceptance of the sport these days. When i first started (late 80's)I feared for my safety from angry surfers but fortunately we had a wave close by that was pretty much our own and it remains that way predominately today.
It's popularity through the early 90's was mental but has been losing participants for a long time now with like you say in the article "SUPs,foils and softboard beginners" taking up the slack. The shit I used to put up with for riding one was pretty full on at times but now those who hated bodyboarding have a whole plethora of new wacky watersports to hang shit on so it's great to see that tradition will live on.....
peabo, 1625795446
Still plenty of stand ups with an irrational hatred of bodyboarding out there. Koby Abberton being one of the most prominent. Absolute cunt.
stunet, 1625796200
Go look at Drag's (@dragboardco) latest story on IG for a laugh.
memlasurf, 1625796349
Yes that chap has a track record of general not a nice blokeisms.
walkar, 1625801236
Discovering Bodyboarding changed my life completely for the better, in many ways, back in early high school. 25 years on and I haven't looked back for a second.
Good selection of semi-secret slabs around my locale keep me stoked.
Most surfers are ok nowadays with bodyboarders if you can hold your own a bit and maintain a presence in the line up. Particularly at the slabs.
Most older boogers tend to go pretty hard, surf more selectively, the ones that've been around for years.
Significantly less grommets bodyboarding nowadays though.
Silly Billy, 1625812496
Interesting history lesson, thank you. Former stand up now body-boarding after shoulder dislocation and reduced rotator-cuff movement. 55 y.o. and still loving it. To add - no one owns the waves, practice surf etiquette and have fun.
mike.logan, 1625814548
Before BB were Coolites. I had one around 1963 in Qld - Ampol Servos sold them. I was 11 and we use to stand up on them - no fins. Stayed on it too long one ride and snapped it. Then onto the long boards - a Hayden and down to 7' boards. To 8' boards and SUP. I have had a specially made 5'2" fiberglass belly/body board for about 7-8 years now. It's name is ALWAYS OVERHEAD". So I have done the full circle. Now 1.86m and 105 kg.
Over60yrs, 1625819982
First one I bought was from David Jones in the city for the wife - I ended up getting back into surfing on it. Now surf all the time on one at age 65 years. Just love being in the ocean, waves and keeping fit.
jasper99, 1625820620
Yeah I've heard plenty about him amongst others. Always going to be a few like that. I ride a surfboard 95% of the time now but still grab the lid when it's needed. Good to have the option..........
Bob Sacamano, 1625828506
Grew up south coast NSW and that place was made for a boogie board. Cut my teeth deep in tubes on the ledges down there. When I moved to Qld the fun and mellow waves just couldn’t warrant a boog so I been surfing a stick ever since. Haven’t been barreled deep like the boog for a long time though.
It’s nice to hear people’s relationships with the boog and the water here, the foil and SUP have definitely changed the pecking order in the lineup. Heck, even the humble goat boat has moved up a wrung or two.
Mike Stewart is a great human and charger of the ocean.
JackStance, 1625834922
noice.
2 mentions:
The time Gerry Lopez claimed Jack ‘The Ripper’ Lindholm to surf Pipe the best,
and,
Paul Roach's colossal, and severely under acknowledged, contribution to modern stand up surfing.
Bnkref, 1625868181
Yes, please post that pic!
I’m guessing it was down at Speedies?
batman, 1625874803
Thanks to Tom Morey's invention I've enjoyed 4 decades of this incredible sport, both as a participant (even fortunate enough to be sponsored by Morey Boogie under Kransco in the late 80's) and a judge to international level. I've formed many lasting friendships via the sport, witnessed some incredible bodyboarding in insane waves, have boog'd some amazing waves myself and have relished that feeling of close connection with the ocean (and, of course, getting barrelled more than the majority of surfers in the line-up). But you are right Stu, we were very annoying to a lot of stand-ups. I'm going to take credit for some of that annoyance, having started up one of the early bodyboarding clubs at Merewether in 1986. We certainly weren't looked on very favourably by then Merewether Surfboard Club President Martin McMillan and most of the other members at the time. But we held our ground, like bodyboarders everywhere, and have now earnt our place in the global line-up. Happy 50th fellow boogers!
conrico, 1625876551
Can’t just explain mike Stewart at 10ft gland to us and not show the photo!
Robo, 1625876757
not sure how to, also it's a faded print on backing board, may have the neg still.
Robo, 1625877180
For those that asked, maybe not 10ft lol. Good size though.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/1az21bY.jpeg[/img]
gingeryeti, 1625878192
Just take a photo of the photo with your phone
Robo, 1625878239
Yep I did posted below.
Robo, 1625878536
For this that missed the post above, G-Land around 93/94 I think.
thermalben, 1625880840
Classic.. good memories!
Gotta say.. this immediately made me think this little exchange is an excellent example of surfer's memories, as Stu wrote about in 2019.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/01/11/eternal-sunshine-and-endless-swell
I can imagine how your story may have been retold many times over the last 25 years, but it was only once you pulled out the photo and scanned it that you realised it was much smaller than you recollected.
Done it myself on many occasions too!
Robo, 1625881560
Haha, here is another one I found, from the headland at Racetracks Ulu. Easy 10ft ;)
Back in the dirt road motorbike in and bamboo ladder days, I use to pay to get my board down too lol.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Tj3o2X0.jpeg[/img]
bbbird, 1625882059
Before bb were in OZ, we started surfin & sliding on a blowup surfmat.
You could roll it up and put it in ya backpack.
Difficult to maintain position & control lying on your belly.
The boogie was an improvement in control with a harder rail edge.
Here is a skilled mat rider "rafting" in '67
https://eos.surf/video/entry/george-greenough-rafting/
Robo, 1625884320
Awesome, some great old footage there.
wax-on-danielson, 1625884751
I remember reading an interview with Camel on this site as to how he was able to surf tombstones getting some of the craziest, deepest, psycho pits a stand has ever got anywhere. Low and behold his response was that he wired the spot on a lid first.
The main negative with bodyboarding is the reason the surf is so crowded these days is that most of the guys out probably got into surfing as kids riding bodyboards in the 90s.
keeif, 1626055948
I love riding the boog. Funny the only surfers who still seem to hate the sport are the ones that seem to struggle standing up themselves. I've had 35 years of riding the boog with my brother and I probably 2 of the first boogers on the Mornington Peninsula and we're still going strong...Just a little fatter and a touch slower when paddling but we still get barrelled as good as anyone
keeif, 1626056156
Yeh my first trip to Ulu's there was one warrung on the beach and yes the rickety old ladder to get down. I also by chance was there the 2 weeks after both bombings in Kuta and almost had the island to myself. Surf pumped the whole time with no one to be seen except myself
stunet, 1626139282
On the eve of the lid's fiftieth, Maui councillors passed an amendment to ban 'single use' bodyboards - cheaply made polystyrene bodyboards.
Maui County looking at banning certain bodyboards
spenda, 1626148663
Great to see the positive comments. I've ridden shortboards for decades, but recent injuries (heed Stu's warnings on Mountain biking) got me into bodyboarding while things healed. I thought it would be as boring as bat shit, it sure looks that way watching someone else do it, but it is a blast. You feel the wave way more, and you can get really fun cover ups on waves that board riders wouldn't look at. A great way escape the crowds by pulling into close outs or riding the inside shoreys. Never come in feeling pissed off.
sangsta, 1626261521
Bought my first BB, original Morey Boogie 135 multi coloured beast, in 1978 from Sea N Sea on a family Hawaii trip. When I got it back to Oz, most times I was the only booger in the line up for a long while and yep, there was a lot of "WTF is that and why are you in our lineup?" going on. Migrating from a surf mat to a BB was an awakening. Even with a non slick bottom, the 135 had so much more speed. (still got a good rash up most days). Fast forward 40+ years and when I am on tour surfing with mates, I am still the only boogie in the line up most times and my stand up cohorts are still cursing me:-) And I wouldn't have it any other way!
thermalben, 1634272901
Sad news - Tom Morey has passed away, following an operation to remove a brain clot. RIP.
Baron von Spatula, 1634274024
'The best surfer I ever knew, no one would ever have heard of him today.
Nor do I remember his name.' - Tom Morey
Craig, 1634275176
Rest in Peace Tom, the OG boog lord.
Yuckfou, 1636232212
Yes, well, where's the money? They buy wetsuits, clothes, accessories, cars, etc and can inspire people beyond the realm of the sport. Can't expect anyone to do anything at an elite standard if they aren't financially sustainable. Pay elite riders, today.
Yuckfou, 1636232475
and I'm not talking about the guy at your local bus driving, tanking and relentlessly sucking industry cock. I'm talking proper good riders.