HISTORY

Eppo once said that Toddy De Graaf was the best natural talented bodyboarder he had ever seen. Coming from the laid back Port MacQuarie area on the mid North Coast of N SW Toddy grew up on the sand at Lighthouse Beach . He  would often paddle across the river to the wedges at North Wall where the accompanying picture  was taken by Chris Stroh. Toddy was going off around this time and had a section in the Underground Tapes 6 video Seek and Destroy. Check out his unauthorised section downloaded on Youtube below.

Held in mid December the infamous Pipeline churned out waves in the 4ft to 8ft range with clean conditions early but turning cross shore. The Hawaiians dominated from the outset. Jack The Ripper getting deep Dropknee tubes and  Stewart pulling state of the art barrel rolls. Sevo, JP Patterson and Pat Caldwell were also outstanding. When it got down to the finals 3 Aussies made the cut with Evan Penglis, Mark Sutton and Tony Sykes reaching the semis. Evan went on to place 6th the highest for a non Hawaiian in the event so far. The final was close but Mike shone brightest with his consistent rolls and deep tubes and walked away with $4000. Pat was 2nd and Jack Lindholm was 3rd. Photo below Mike Charging from a Morey Advertisement in 84.Check out the link below of footage from the event on youtube.

Coming from Cronulla, young Andrew had a lot of tough competition surrounding him. As a member of the Emerald Club he soon moved up the ranks winning contest after contest. He also found a love for charging Shark Island following in the footsteps of Perce, Wazza, Bal, Nugget and Wingnut who pushed him to perform .Either you rip or you get written off and just dont get any waves out the Island. Andrew began winning his share of local contests and Aussie Tour Titles but his career peaked when he won The Pipe Title in 2001. Andrew is the nice guy of Aussie bodyboarding, always positive and never a bad word to say. Today he is the NSW rep for Turbo. Below one of the first photos taken by Chris Stroh of the young school kid at The Point after a session circa mid 90′s.

Phylis was the sports first female star. She earned this reputation not winning contests but charging big Sunset and Waimea Bay back in the late 70′s. She was one of bodyboardings first big wave chargers.Pictures started turning up of her taking massive freefall drops on her bodyboard outside at The Bay on the biggest days. Her performances were up there with any hardcore surfer of the time. She even had rigged a special super thick wrist rope and a homemade square plug for extra strength when wiping out to help prevent her being seperated from her board. Phylis was profiled in 79 in Surfer Magazine.

Evan Penglis began bodyboarding between the flags at Maroubra Beach in the late 70′s. He soon grew a passion for  entering contests and won the 1st Official Australian title beating Mark Warren in the final at Dee Why.Evan won a ticket and an invite into the first official Morey Boogie World Titles held at Pipeline in ’82. Around his hometown Evan earned the title The Godfather for his role as Australias first international ambassador and competitor.Evan put Australia on the map charging in Hawaii even earning the best wipeout award. Back home the Godfather took under his wing hot upencoming Maroubra grommets like Bob Bell, Ross Hawke and young Steve Mackenzie. Together they dominated local contests for many years in the 80′s. Evan was the first rider sponsored by Morey Boogie  in Australia. Photo below Evan chilling on the South Coast 91  photo Stroh

 Alex de Pontes was also known as Xandinho, he was the first Brazillian to receive international recognition in the sport. Alex charged in Hawaii on his BZ with Redley Fins and was the first Brazilian to reach the finals of the Pipeline Bodyboarding World Championships. He was also involved as a designer for Redley and was a  rider represenative for the bodyboarders on the World Tour. In 1994 while returning from a contest in Portugal he was killed in car accident. Fellow countryman 6 time world champion Guilherme Tamega  credits Xandinho as one of the greatest bodyboarders of all time.This shot was taken in Manly at the Pro comps around 89.     photo Stroh

Morey Boogie 136 BE arrived on the scene in Hawaii sometime around 1977. It  had a narrow planshape and was super bendy, one of the first to be manufactured on a large scale.Prior to the arrival of the Morey 136  it was bodyboard mail order kits that you built yourself and glued together. The most popular colour was the green rainbow coloured deck.Below a red model put out in the rubbish cleanup.

Jacky grew up riding at the The Wall at Waikiki in Hawaii imitating the moves he saw by his heroes like Kainoa McGee and Keith Sasaki. Gradually the regular footed Dropknee rider with the crazy forehand snap began entering and winning contests throughout the early 90′s. Jacky competed on the USA Amatuer cuircuit and eventually won the World Amatuer Title setting him up for a Pro career. Jacky’s moves were explosive especially his frontside layback snap making him a standout at Backdoor and Off The Wall. A few years back he suffered a life threatening disease which started as a virus and it  took him years to recover. Today he still lives in Town raising a family. The image below was taken at Off The Wall in the mid 90′s with Jacky busting out his signature move.  pic Chris Stroh

 During the 1930s right up to the 1960s small blowup devices known as Surf-O-Planes a forerunner to the bodyboard were a common sight and could be hired at most City beaches in Australia. These inflated hard ribbed rubber rafts lacked any real maneuverability and came with two rubber handles attached at the nose for turning.  With the invention of the Surf Mat followed soon by the Bodyboard in the 70’s the Surf-O-plane all but disappeared from sight. Check out this retro photo below of the Surf-O-Planes and the stylish swim costumes these guys are wearing.

In January ’93 a little known bodyboarder from the mid north coast town of Port Macquarie ventured to Hawaii to try his luck in the World Title competition. Heat after heat he advanced by using a combination of turns and aerial moves. On the final day of competition the waves had all but vanished. During his semi final heat Eppo pulled a Double Roll the first time this move had ever been seen in a contest or public for that matter. He advanced to the final to battle it out in the half metre swells with Tamega, Stewart and Aka Lyman. While the others sat at Pipe waiting for the miracle ride Eppo notched a couple of long waves at Backdoor allowing him to launch a huge air rollo and room to pull a series of combo moves all the way to the beach. The country kid who only saw the ocean for the first time a few years early had done the unthinkable. Not only had he won The World  Chamionship Trophy but he ended Mike Stewarts stranglehold over the title as well.The photo below shows Eppo reaping the benifits of his victory by signing a lucrative contract with Mantas Terry Fleming a short time later. Photo Chris Stroh