HISTORY

Some of the sports first pioneers and stars from the pages of Bodyboard Mag.

When Mike was the highest profile rider in the sport throughout the 80′s he attracted outside sponshorship like Gothcha Clothing and other surf related brands. Around ’86 the sport was going off in the USA and Mike was in the box seat to claim the rewards.

Early 80′s standout and one of the sports first pro’s, JP even had the honour by winning the first ever bodyboard comp held at Pipe. This pic by Hank for Challenger by Easyrider.

Adam “Muzza”Murray was a part of the strong Port MacQuarie crew around the start of the ’90s. Along with his brother Ash the pair were winning  amateur junior titles and at State level. Muzza was as competent and skilled prone as he was dropknee. Muzza was soon to drop out of competing to soul surf back home. Today he is a skilled artist.Muzza below around 1990 by Stroh

 

Hawaiian born Kavan was one of the first innovators to push away from the basic moves and start adding tweaks and twists to standard turns and advanced the sport with his lip launches and first aerials. This pic by Tom Boyle was part of the ’89 Board Test in Bodyboarding mag.

Kalani was one of Hawaiia’s most consistent performers throughout the 80′s placing highly in the Pipeline events and even travelled to parts of the globe including Australia to compete on the World stage. These days Kalani has built a name for himself in the standup surfing world. Photo Balzer. 

Sasaki was the first  dropknee rider to fully push the limits with manoeuvres and edge control. He copied the surf moves and transferred them over to to bodyboarding. Keith used his arm leash to help whip his turns like the Morey Adv featured below that got kids amped on the Jack Stance.