HISTORY

This article appeared in Body Lines in Waves Magazine June 87. The article was called “Attack of The Bellymen”. It starts off with a little fond tale about Mike Stewart told by Ross Hawke. Hellman , Hauoli and Kai Santos were hanging out bored on the Northshore so they decided on a trip to Kiddieland the notorious dumping shorebreak where 6 ft walls crash onto dry sand. The boys picked up Mike who lived right nearby and charged the shorey. Mike stole the show when he pretended to be a helpless tourist getting sucked out backwards into this super heavy rip and smashed by the waves. The real tourists watching thought it was for real and were freaking out. Pic of Mike by Wilmont.

As a Grommet, Barney from the Gold Coast first began to bodysurf before he progressed to a standup for 6 months. He then got given a crappy coolite bodyboard for Xmas and got the bug. “My parents next bought me a Scott BZ and I started entering contests and winning them.” Barney won the Open Oz title at Dee Why in 86 then again in ’90 on the mid north coast. His best surf trip was Hawaii in ’86 when he competed at Pipe. Today the Barndog is still as keen as ever and is a regular out at Kirra when it breaks. Barny’s regarded as the Gold Coasts senior bodyboarding statesman he also is the Goldies largest bodyboard rep.  pic below Hawaii ’86 by Tom Boyle.

Heres two clips of the 80′s Dropknee legend Keith Sasaki. First is a interview in ’88. The 2nd is from a comp at Trestles in 95 with Keith showing all the moves that made him one of the sports biggest stars.

When Steve Mackenzie first began dominating the local comp scene it was his dropknee moves that was winning events. In the early days Macca rarely proned. It was only when he wrenched his knee so bad that he had to change to prone and learn how to spin and roll again.This pic was taken on the Central Coast at Forresters Beach. Bullet wearing his Sports Skin wettie and riding for Morey, he was blazing and massacred this poor wave. Photo by Chris Stroh Circa ’90.

Check out this bit of memorabilia. A Morey Pro Tour 96 Series T Shirt. Brand new, never been worn and covered in autographs on the front side. Names like Wingnut, Tamega, Ben and Toby, Eppo, Kingy, Vicki Gleeson, Maligs, Brian Press, Tyson Williams, Toddy DeGraaf, Skipp, Barney and more have left their signatures. From the  Bodyboarding Museum Collection.

When this profile of Doug Robson appeared in Waves in the late ’80s it blew minds. The free-fall was state of the art and at the time Doug was on fire. Dougy was Australias next big thing and was pushing the limits with his charging and airs. Doug’s career a few years later was cut short when he broke his back at his beloved Shark Island in a back slamming wipeout on the reef.

 

This advertisement came out around ’86 featuring Ben Severson snapped in a clean Duranbah tube. The blurb reads “Get your body on a Boogie:”. Photo by Tullemans

More Bodyboard publications from the Past. Riders of Tube Magazine or RoT was the work of Sean Manning. His USA based product lasted only a few issues due to the fickle US market. The Hubb cover was issue No1. Threesixty Magazine is from the United Kingdom and has been around since the early 90′s and is still alive and kicking today keeping the English riders stoked. The Wingnut cover was from issue No 12 and shot by Chris Stroh.

Experience the huge cavernous pits of Pipeline,the shearing speed walls of G-Land, the treacherous reefs of Tahiti and the infamous Shark Island right in your bedroom. Mike Stewarts game had everyone amped. The PC computer game had good graphics but restricted by keypad controls. Now if this had come out on Playstation the bodyboard crew would have been stoked and ate it up. 

Back in 1990 these Riptide fluro caps were all the rage and a sign of the times. They look like they came from the set of Rip The Pit. Kids would have done pretty much anything to get their hands on one. Who knows if we hang onto them long enough they may come back into fashion.