HISTORY

Riley was the king of creating maximum spray on his turns. With just the right hand placement he could carve a beautiful fan of water. Here’s Chopper in action making it look easy and stylish when he was riding for Quiky, Sports Skins and Morey Boogie. Photo Stroh Circa early 90′s.

Shawnee was one of the hottest girl bodyboarders from Hawaii in the 80′s. While the sheer numbers of Brazillian girls dominated the womens events, Shawnee still was a major threat and represented Hawaii well. From Sandy Beach she had a clean smooth style and was a gutsy standout on the North Shore. These days Shawnee is married to Aka Lyman of DK fame and are bringing up a family on the South Shore. This pic South Coast carve late 80′s by Stroh.

Jay Reale was mainland USA’s most visible and successful rider in the 80′s. Talented at both prone and Dropknee , Jay would work with photographers at every given opportunity creating a hard working clean profile that sponsors warmed to. This shot on the cover of Bodyboarding magazine was one of the first using a pole camera  pioneered and shot by Aaron Lloyd.

This pic of super grommet Guilherme Tamega was taken in the late 80′s at Manly Beach riding a Mach 7-7. In the coming years Tamega would dominate the competition side of the sport for many years. Even back then he was winning and competing against much older rivals and was destined to put Brazillian Bodyboarding on the world map.  Photo Stroh.

One of the Sandy Beach standouts in the second half of the 80′s ‘The Pulsator” is best remembered for his classic Tom Boyle camera board shot on the cover of Bodyboarding Magazine. In the late 80′s he visited Australia for the first time, fell in love with the place and a girl and has lived here pretty much ever since. For a while he managed the OZ division of Elemenophhee and was a regular out the Island and the rest of the surrounding  reef breaks. This pic late 80′s at Cronulla by Chris Stroh.

One of the early competitive Maroubra crew PJ grew up with the likes of Ross Hawke, Evan Penglis, Bob Bell and Macca. PJ was equally talented at Dropknee or prone and won his fair share of comps in his time. He had the privilege of having the first Paipo signature board model and became the longtime editor of Aus Bodyboarder Magazine. This pic early contest win Circa early 90′s at Maroubra. Pic by Stroh

Joey was one of those Northshore underground shredders who was 90% Dropknee. He had a heavy backside snap in his repertoire and he would mostly be found hanging out in the lineup at Velzyland. In the late 80′s he ventured out to Aus, for the first time and hanged out with Dougy, Youngy and the rest of the Skid Kids at Cronulla. This snap was shot at South Cronulla during that trip by Stroh.

Eppos Freakshow movie came out in the summer of ’93 following up on Eppos World Title success. After winning the crown in January Eppo spent the next 6 months filming with photographer Chris Stroh and during that time he invented two new moves that changed the course of bodyboarding. Eppo started the gymnastic era when he introduced the Air Roll Spin and Backflip moves. Poster below photo Stroh

Cameron Steele from San Clemente USA was one of the top mainland pro’s during the later half of the eighties. A talented BMX rider he rose to bodyboard fame at home when he was the highest non Hawaiian on the PSAA tour and then placing in the finals of the World Championships at Pipe. Cameron was the man behind Pit Magazine when it was at its most controversial best. In one issue Pit  managed to offend around 95% of the Top 16 riders of the time. Cameron dropped out of the sport as a pro rider by the early 90′s and focused on a career as a sports announcer for Motorcross.

Shamus Mercado was one of Hawaii’s top riders and characters around the late 80s and early 90′s. Best known for his Sandy Beach tube shots and big lip launching moves at Off The Wall and Pipeline. This ’89 cover of Bodyboarding mag featured a Shamus and Tom Boyle collaboration using Toms camera board. It  was well ahead of its time and gave the mag a futuristic look to it.