HISTORY

A country bumpkin when he first arrived at Port MacQuarie, Eppo soon revolutionised the sport with his aerial attack and innovation.One of the sports finest ambassadors and most passionate riders. Photo Stroh ’90.

Eppos first trip to the Northshore of Hawaii in ’92 resulted in this huge air at Backdoor. It was the start of his growing reputation for busting out big. Pic by Joli.

After winning the World Title in 93 around 6 months later Eppo  unleashed 2 new moves on the bodyboard world. First came the ARS then quickly followed the Backflip. Pic below taken at Suckrock shows Eppo pulling the Backflip move he invented. Photo Chris Stroh mid 90′s.

When Eppo busted out his big aerial moves his wide bow leg stance which he claimed helped cushion his landing earnt the knickname frog airs. When you regularily got as high as Eppo you need all the help you can get to achieve those injury free smooth landings. This flight pic was taken at D Bah in Queensland by Chris Stroh mid 90′s.

Eppo known mostly for his aerial approach to wave riding was also a compentent tube rider. Eppo scored the cover of Aussie Bodyboarder Mag pulling into this blue Hawaiian Pipe pit in ’95. Photo Frank.

Eppo grew up in Port MacQuarie where there are no reef waves and swells usually closeout if it gets over 2 metres. This shot caught Eppo like most young Aussies venturing to the Northshore  forced to face  your natural fear of big waves around ’94.  photo Chris Stroh

When Eppo won the world title in ’93 bodyboarding was in the boom days of the sport. Eppo scored a sweet deal with Old El Passo to promote there Mexican products. Here’s the lad on the cover in supermarkets all around Australia. photos Stroh

When Eppo busted onto bodyboard radar he was known for his ability to bust huge airs. Eppo practiced getting big air by launching on a oversize trampoline and soon transferred his technique to the waves. Throughout the early 90′s Eppos airs were the biggest in the business and he took them further in the coming years when he single handed ushered in the gymnastic era of the sport. Check out some footage of Eppo from his movie Freakshow here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D7vHFnMuDM&feature=player_embedded

This pic below shot at Pipe around ’95 he made it.

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

Before he won the World Title in 83, Eppo rode for Paipo Bodyboards  who later changed there name to Rheopaipo due to copyright infringement. Paipo was run by John Holmes on the Central Coast. Heres one of his well used vehicles from the Stroh collection.