HISTORY

Steve MacKenzie was Australia’s most celebrated rider for a long time. In the late 80′s and 90′s the style concience  Maroubra kid could surf both prone or dropknee and won almost every local comp he went in. This shot from early 90′s demonstrates his DK prowess. Photo Stroh

Around the early 2000′s Hawaiian  ripper Chad Milante from Maui had a strong underground following. He earned it for his overall talent. He charges, launches big and he rides dropknee switchstanch. Many believe Chad had the ability to mix it up with the big boys but his typical Hawaiian laidback approach saw  him shine the pro scene to concentrate on the waves at his home. This cover pic barrel of Chad on the cover of Bodyboarding Magazine in 2002 was snapped by Kealoha.

Hawaiian heavy hitter Lanson Ronquilio throughout the 90′s was leading the charge of local Hawaiian bodyboarders and part of the elite Morey team. As an original member of the No Friends team he charged hard in the big stuff but could also mix it up with the air brigade at Off The Wall. This pic below captured Lanson in full flight, photo Bielmann. 

Egg from Kiama  a hotbed of bodyboarding talent on the South Coast of Sydney scored the cover of Pit Magazine issue 5.1 . At the time he went uncredited and called “Mystery man”. Egg was one of the Southern coastlines standout performers throughout the 90′s. The pic was by Jones.

1993 The Merc scored the cover of Bodyrider issue No 16 with this timeless shot using a camera board by Tom Boyle.

This Manta advertisement appeared in August ’88. Note  the handle that came with top of the line models.

Mark Sutton one of Newcastle’s first bodyboarders was also a fine surf photographer back in the day. This El rollo sequence he took of Ron Jarvis appeared in Tracks in 1985. Back then El rollos were still pretty new and regarded as futuristic.

This pic of the radical Hawaiian Hauoli Reeves was taken around 1990 when he and Mike Stewart arrived in Oz for promo duties. On a trip down the far south coast we scored a secret left reef that not to many people new about back then. It was only 1 meter this day but was barreling all the same and best of all we had it to ourselves . Photo Stroh

Surfmate was another cheap bodyboard looking to make a fast buck that hit the market in the 80′s and disappeared just as quick.

The first Morey Boogie advertisements of the 70′s were the only lifeblood of the sport, spreading the word long before bodyboard mags and videos. This one featured Scott Harrison pic by Tony Prince