HISTORY

In 1984 a group headed by Claudio Marques, Marcus Cal “Kung” and Marcos Salgado set up the Rio De Janeiro Bodyboard Association also known as ABBERJ. The group ran the first State Title competitions. The clip below was filmed in ’85 as Boogie Fever hits South American Beaches.

 Born in 1980 in South Africa, Dre was a local grom from North Durban Beach. He left school to go Pro by the age of 15 and planned his assault up the bodyboard ranks with his first season on the Northshore of Oahu. His performance in his first Pipe Comp was outstanding and his debut was the most impressive of any grommet to date. He surfed fearlessly and with a mop of blond hair and a mouth full of braces in one heat he scored a 10 out of 10 ride. By the time he was 17 he had won his first World Title then backed it up the next year winning two crowns back to back. Dre created history as the youngest World Champion ever . As the years passed Andre  built up a reputation as a big wave specialist. His wipeout at Teahupo was  legendary during the 2000 Tahiti Skins.Today Dre still travels the world bodyboarding hard and still pushing the limits   Pipe carve late 90′s photo Stroh

Bodyboarder Magazine surfaced in Australia in 1990 with Ben Severson gracing the first cover. It was  bi-monthly and the first editor was well known Maroubra bodyboarder PJ Hyland. Later Matt Riley took over the reins. The mag died out by the late 90′s. 

This pic was sent in by Dallas Singer who’s mate found this 139 on a rubbish cleanup recently.Classic. If you have a pic of vintage bodyboard we’d love to see it, especially if its an orinal Morey kit board.

Dean Marzol was one of the early Waikiki Wall boys and Sandy Beach crew. He grew up competing against Sevo, Sasaki and Kainoa and was a regular face in the early issues of Bodyboarding magazine in the ’80′s. Dean was  renown for  his Off The Wall free surfing sessions. In ’88 he scored a career high when he finished 2nd to Mike Stewart at Pipe in the World Titles winning $2500. The following year in ’89 he placed 5th in the Crush International at Pipe. The accompanying photo was taken on the Westside of Dean lining up taken by Chris Stroh

     Queensland bodyboard legend Julie Rowbotham sent us this poster from the Pacific Bodyboarding Classic at Duranbah in 1986. Julie dominated the girl comps in the early days of the sport then turned her hand to organising and running events on the Gold Coast as well as forming Queenslands first club. The Classic attracted the USA Pros like Mike Stewart, Pat Caldwell, Tom Boyle and Ben Severson during there first Aussie trip as well as the best Aussie riders. Sevo won it.

The Morey Boogie attachable fin system came out in the early 80′s. Jay Reale was one of the first to use them to assist with his dropknee but was often criticized by his peers. Aussie Warrick Appelton had 2 sets on his board when he won an Australian title in ’85 aged 14. Warrick says the fins gave him more projection and power in his turns but he cant do spinners with them. The fins never really took off and were treated with disdain by many pros.Kyle Maligro sometimes uses  small fins when DK riding but on a whole they dont suit prone manoeuvres.

This is some of the earliest footage available of the original pioneers like Jack,Pat and Stewart taken from a How To Bodyboard video sometime around the mid 80′. We recomend you turn the music off.

In November 82  Australia’s best gathered at Dee Why Beach for the first official Aussie Title. It was Evan Penglis who stole the show and won the first prize of a ticket to Hawaii to compete in the first Morey Boogie World Championship at Pipeline in a few weeks time. Queenslands queen of the waves Julie Rowbotham won the Womans division and also a ticket to Pipe. The only thing was there was no Womens division in the Hawaiian event so Julie was forced to surf against the men.

Ben Holland from Avoca on the Central Coast first made a name for himself when he won the Open Australian title held at Byron Bay in 93. The win launched his Pro career and he went on to become one of the sports most competitive forces throughout the 90′s.He won events in Brazil, Portugal, Japan, Reunion Island and France. He even claimed victory in the DK division at Pipe. BH finnished runnerup on the World Tour 3 times. Eppo credits Benny with inspiring his ARS move after seeing him attempt a twisted flip in the Underground Tapes movie Ballistic. Below young Ben with his first Rheopaipo signature board models taken at Tamarama photo Circa mid 90′s  by Stroh