HISTORY

Jack Lindholm at Pipeline blew minds whether prone or dropknee he opened many peoples minds as to what could be achieved riding a humble bodyboard. This pic taken around ’79 by Jeff Divine from Surfing Magazine.

 Retro footage of British Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman getting stoked on bodyboarding (turn on the sound to hear him waxing eloquent): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whW5exlFoc4

Californian kid Raffi Meyer grew up in the bodyboarding public eye in the late 90′s as the next big thing in  dropknee. Paul Roach regarded as the king was one of his most vocal supporters. For a while Raffi who rode natural looked set to follow in Roaches wake. He had the moves and skills but seemed to bum out on the whole stagnating bodyboarding scene a few years later and dropped off the radar for a while.  Pic below showing Raffi blazing in his prime with his trademark fronside float riding for Cartel Bodyboards photo by Nunez around 2000.

Bodyboarding Magazine October issue 2000 celebrates Ryan Hardy winning the awesome first Tahiti Skins contest at Teahupoo with a epic shot on the cover. Hardy’s win that day is still regarded as one of the most epic victories and performance surfing the sport has ever seen. Footage of Ryans win and the final heats can bee seen here.                             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZbqT0ts4Ws&feature=related

Paul Roach many believe is a freak when it comes to riding Dropknee. Speed ,  power and style make up the basic formula to his riding but there’s also his spontaneity. You just never knew what this dropknee lord would do next on a wave. From Manta adv early 2000 photo Jack English.

One of the first Morey Boogie bodyboards kit models to arrive in Australia around ’73 that came complete  with glue and instructions  on how to put it together. This classic board is on show at Bodyboarders Surf Co. on the Gold Coast.

We owe it all to the sher vision of this man Tom Morey who in on the afteroon of July 7th 1971 put one of his brain waves to action and created the modern day bodyboard. Photo of Tom with his earliest prototypes.

Here’s a clip from one of Australias most important and passionate bodyboarders of the last decade from his self titled project made by the Waldron Bros.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz3Fz5VOiXI&feature=related

In 1999 Avalon’s Toby Player scored the cover of US Bodyboarding magazine . Aussies on the cover of America’s top mag in the early days was a very rare occurence. Toby’s perfect Tahilian pit helped change all that.

Throughout the 80′s and early 90′s next to the World Title competition held at Pipeline before the World Tour was set up and in motion the next prestigious series of events was The Morey Bodyboards National tour held in the US. Throughout the years Mike Stewart had a virtual stranglehold over this circuit  but in ’94 Brazils Guilherme  Tamega is hot on his trail and wins the ’94 Pipe World title as he establishes himself as Stewarts main rival.