HISTORY

Wingnut in his prime carving a clean line out of the bowl at Surge. Adam had shot up considerably in size since his micro-grom days and was now packing some muscle into each turn. A damn fine tube rider as well. Photo by CSP Circa late 90′s.

 

The first time I witnessed Jeff Hubbard in the flesh was  in Jan ’93 surfing  at Beach Park on a half metre sloppy fun day and he was dropneeing, pretty good I might add. Id heard tales that he was the next big thing coming out of Hawaii. A few days later I saw some of his aerial hi-jinks at Off The Wall and have been a big fan ever since. This move was just typical of Hubb and the amazing thing is he’s still pulling them every other day. Photo Stroh Circa 90′s.

Eppo , Youngy and Macca check out the lineup at St Pierre in Reunion Island. Reunion was one of the fun spots of the tour and the waves always seemed to co operate for the touring pro’s during their stay. Photo Stroh ’96

It began with Tom Boyle and his in depth fish eye photos at Sandy Beach that photographers and bodyboarderss have shared a unique vision. Tom was the first to really get  up close and personal shots inside the tube. Since then bodyboard photographers have been at the forefront of getting different angles. Aaron Lloyd began experimenting with pole cameras and pictured below Flindt captures Jay Reale using a pole rig at Off The Wall trying for that elusive photo edge. Many of the top water photographers today were former boogie riders like Tim Jones, Scott Aichner, Chris White, Scotty Carter, Toinz, and Trent Miller.Photo Chris Stroh Circa 90′s

 

 

 

Heres  the cream of Aussie women bodyboarding competing in Australia around the late 90′s. At the time womens bodyboarding was taking off and improving in leaps and bounds. Included  below is Vicki, Kira, Francine, Emma , Lauren , Lily and the rest of the ladies at a comp at Wollongong. Photo Stroh

Fordy along with Nugget was the driving force in getting the Shark Island Challenge to become a reality. Mark was a longtime Island local and was well respected in the lineup for his quiet nature,casual style and go for it tube charging. Here Fordy almost cops Tim Jones camera in the noggin as he sails by photo CSP

Heres Eppo, Adam and Ash Murray returning from a Nth Wall session in Eppos beetle on the ferry. The years 1990 photo Chris Stroh

The first Shark Island Challenge held in June 97 was a groundbreaking event in Australian bodyboarding. Shark Island has long been regarded as the epicentre of the sport in Oz. The event organised by locals Mark Fordham and Nathan Purcell  brought together the best riders in one of the most high performance and  feared waves in the country. In the past most bodyboard comps were held in substandard  beach break conditions , the SIC was a breath of fresh air and well received by the top  riders. The event was won by Matt Percy just defeating Steve Mackenzie in 1 .5 metre clean offshore waves.

Below Some of the action taken from the judges boat in the channel..from left to right…1. Wazza 2.Unkown 3 & 4 Dave Ballard 5.Toby, 6. Andrew Lester.

 

When this pic was taken in January ’93 on the Northshore of Hawaii Guilherme Tamega from Brazil was already challenging Mike Stewart for the King of Pipe title. In 12 months time he made it official when Tamega won his first of several Pipe Titles and went on to dominate the sport for more than a decade. Photo Stroh

Winny grew up surfing in the Curl Curl and the Dee Why beach area which renown for being  a hardcore standup surfers domain. I remember early on in his career he had some good competitive results and a few people were quick with the negative write offs. To his credit , Winny would win over  the haters with his consistency and no holds barred approach to become one of the most popular riders in the sport. He never plays it safe in a heat and will push it all the way. The World title has  eluded him so far but its only a matter of time. This shot, Hawaiian beachy flip for the hell of it. Photo Stroh mid 2000′s