HISTORY

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

This advertisement came out around 87/88. Young Nick Gibbs from Manly was making a name for himself along with Brother Alex. The pair were being called the Wonder Kids of Aussie bodyboarding and were winning their share of small wave comps. Nick scored as well around this time the cover of the Milo Tin Can as well.

            Danny Kim was not the first to standup bodyboard but he was definitely one of the best. With specially made  BZ custom bodyboards he pulled amazing carving , floating and 360 moves and during the 80′s competed successfully on the Pro Tour. Danny from the Westside was a regular at Sandy Beach in the early days and his image graced many pages of  Bodyboarding magazine. His high performance riding inspired the next generation of standups including Chris Won and Kavan Yap. Today standup is a dying art but riders like Danny can still surf better than most fiberglas surfers.  pic Manly Beach late 80′s Danny was there competing and signing autographs  photo Stroh