HISTORY

Ross “Hellman” Hawke got his knick name from Kavan Okamura after the young skinny Hawkey paddled out at huge Waimea in the mid 80′s on his first trip to Hawaii. The name has stuck ever since.This Morey Boogie adv. came out mid 80s featuring the young looking Maroubra  Hellman and the new Mach 7-7. Tom Boyle took the pic.

Alistair Taylor from Durban South Africa honed his big wave repertoire at the heavy ledging barrel called Cave Rock. He dominated the local South African contest scene and went Pro in the early 90′s. Stories of Alistairs hard times on the Northsore were legendary. His church back home raised the money for his ticket due to a lack of sponsorship support and of surviving on bags of potatoes for weeks at a time. AT soon gained a rep as a big wave go for it who was out charging on all the biggest days at Pipe. In the 97 Pipe Comp in the final he was drilled by a monster set  during the final. In 2001 he took the worst wipeout award at The Shark Island Challenge and went to hospital. Throughout his career he has notched up 9 South African Titles. Today he is married to fellow bodyboarder and World Womens Champ Carla Costa and together they have a baby girl. photo below Alistair rolling off the death section at Pipe Circa 90′s, pic by Stroh.

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.

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

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.

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

The Wedge  at Newport Harbor  is California’s best known bodyboarding wave. A longtime haven for bodysurfers in the sixties the first  local bodyboarders were Dan Taylor, Ron Romanosky,Mike Rovetto, Scott Scholton and  James Sowell.The Wedge sits directly North of Newport Harbour and is best on a extremely big south swell. The waves bounce off the harbour jetty forming a side wave which meets up with the next wave to form a peak. This peak throws out into shallow water creating a very hollow tube.Wedge veterans include Matt Allen and Chad Barba.This photo was taken in the very early seventies long before bodyboarders filled the lineup.

Jack The Ripper Lindholm was the sports first media identity and it was mostly due to his unique style of riding at Pipeline. Jack rode in a crouched position with one knee dropped and his body further back on his board than how most Dropknee riders do it today. It was labelled the Jack Stance after him. Years later it became known as Dropknee. This sequence by Tom Boyle appeared in the 1983 Dec issue of Surfer mag, the article by Tom was called Boogie To The Max.

Doug Robson from Cronulla in Australia was the hottest rising star of Aussie bodyboarding around the late 80′s. Dougy had taken over from Chaz McCall at the Island freefalling and pulling into some incredible liquid caves plus he was making a name for himself in the contest scene making the finals of the Int. Pro Comp held at Cronulla Point. Doug had a unique big air launching style that all the kids labelled Doug Airs, including Eppo who took them even further in the coming years. At Suckrock in particular Robson would bust high and float well above the lip. The pic below is Dougy in full flight late 80s by Chris Stroh. 

Check out Team Morey no longer called  Morey Boogie, chilling on the rocks at Off The Wall, Circa mid 90′s. Left to right Lanson Ronquilio,Tharin Rosa, Spencer Skipper, Alex Kinamaka, Jay Reale and Mke Stewart. Team supreme.