Body Surf Now

NEW directions in Higher tech augmented Bodysurfing

2012-02-01T11:23:00.003+11:00

The next level of trays..

From across the ditch, over the hill and the ends of the earth comes new technology for high speed adventures. I need reviews, discussions, slow motion video analysis, design tweeks and full investigations of these new vehicles.

See more high speed ingenuity, and an amazing array of scaled surfing equipment including innovative low tech one and two handed hand planes at SLOP GROVELLER...all rights are theres.

Hold Yer Breath - The 12 second rule

2012-01-20T16:23:00.000+11:00

Loving bodysurfing big messy beachbreaks and getting smashed and rolled is part and parcel..

Being comfortable holding my breath whilst under is important for me. It requires two things from you. Practice and peace.

This little rule helps with the second thing....

From" Bali and Indo Surf Stories blog"......Posted on February 28, 2011
(great blog full of seafaring/ surfing stories of adventure)..

The 12 Second Rule (of Wave Hold-downs)

Before reading further, hold your breath for twelve seconds.

Seriously. Twelve seconds.

Easy as a mouthful of black rice pudding, wasn’t it? (If you’re old Bali; if you’re new Bali, make that easy as organic tofu scrambled with sun-dried tomatoes with a side dish of wild brown rice, seasoned with natural sea salt and hand-picked jungle herbs).

One lesser known but quite relevant fact of surfing is that most waves, even ten foot boomers, do not hold you down for longer than twelve seconds, and of those that do, most let you up by fifteen seconds.

I was told this fact some twenty years ago by a heavy water man, an Alaska fisherman, North Shore regular, blue water speargun hunter. We were out at Nusa Dua. This was the wet season that Nusa Dua Did Not Stop, and after days and days of double overhead surf with spring tide currents to match, that afternoon was a pleasant overhead on a calm neap tide. I did not believe Mike when he told me. I said no way. After all, I’d spent not an insignificant fraction of my life during the previous week proving him wrong. Those hold downs were way longer than twelve seconds.

But then I started timing my hold downs, and counting others from cliff tops and channels and boat railings. And sure enough. He was right.... Read more...

all rights are theirs.

The Dunlop Hand Surfa - retro plastic

2012-01-16T13:24:00.002+11:00

Not that they know it, but this is courtesy of the Surf City exhibition on at the muesum of Sydney at the moment. Surf City: Getting Radical in the 50's, 60's and 70's

Come Hell or High Water GET IT NOW

2011-12-19T12:07:00.001+11:00

A Body surfing Film documenting the plight of the torpedo people: Thanks to those who raised the alarm. . .

Come Hell or highwater can be downloaded NOW..right NOW..

\\\\\\\COMMENCE DOWNLOADING\\\\\

This is through the surfnetwork website..i have a love hate with these guys.. they have heaps of stuff, but I don't like being strapped to my bloody computer to watch films.

Handplane Tree

2011-12-16T17:03:00.003+11:00

Make someone a handplane for Christmas

Or you could could get one from Thomas off his Handplane tree.

Thomas Bexton makes sweet logs and sweet handplanes.

asymmetrical handplanes

2011-12-14T15:10:00.005+11:00

These look SIIIIIIICK.
go get one at Almond Surfboards.. Someone tell me how they go.

gonna have to make one..wheres me plywood?

BODYSURFERS RULE!

2011-12-09T16:05:00.002+11:00

Nice article in the Honolulu Weekly with Mr Mark Cunningham and a bit of a review of The Keith Malloy Film , Come Hell or High water.

'Ave a look

BODYSURFERS RULE!

Handplanes - The Wegener Brothers

2011-11-29T08:59:00.008+11:00

Jon in California

Tom in Queensland

So you have these brothers, one on one side, the other on the other side, both doing really similar stuff, pushing the use of wood, both a part of the alaias return to the water, and it seems churning out the odd hand plane, I'm sure if you called, they'd be able to make you one..

...And in the true handplane tradition, the buzz about making your own is also allowed, accepted and encouraged.. Jon with Cyrus Sutton will also sell you a little pack with paulownia which is here if you want one...And theres even a little instructional video... go have go. no excuses now.
Yes, you can just rip down a fence post, cut up old furniture, or steal mcdonalds trays, but sometimes, you wanna do things right.. and that means a nice hunk of wood. worth doing, worth doing right.

Deadman at Deadmans

2011-11-21T16:34:00.004+11:00

Starting at One Minute, a deadman at deadmans.

True surfers can also bodysurf.

Handplanes -Ventana Surf, Santa Cruz

2011-11-17T17:36:00.005+11:00

Theres so many epic handplane makers out there these days and I'll have to try them all eventually.

Ran across these the other day though, bueeewwwwwwwdiful.. dig that woodwork

By Ventana Surf Co, Santa Cruz

They have lots more on their site. go have a gander

More Visuals from the San Fran Bodysurf Classic

2011-11-09T10:08:00.003+11:00

A few more epic photos of the competition from the lens of Ryan Tatar ...go have a look for more on his blog Shakasandsinglefins.com...Its worth your time.

San Fran Bodysurfing classic run and won

2011-11-07T16:44:00.007+11:00

Just one of the many prize fighters to step into the ring for the Bodysurfing Classic - San Francisco last weekend.

Mark "the man" Cunningham took first prize, which is sorta cool to know he can still smash it in a rubber suit as well as dickies.

All results, wrap ups and photos (((((here)))))

...and even an article by the San Francisco Chronicle.

edit: ........and surfermag...

KS KS KS KS KS KS KS KS KS KS KS - Not bad

2011-11-03T14:48:00.004+11:00

Congrats to Kelly on his eleventh bloody world title.

Kelly can bodysurf as well... starting at 1m25s

Kelly has soul

Body Surf Classic>San Francisco

2011-10-29T16:51:00.005+11:00

The Judging Criteria:
THE CONTESTANT WHO EXECUTES THE MOST RADICAL MANEUVERS GENERATING POWER AND SPEED THROUGH OUT IN A FUNCTIONAL MANNER IN THE MOST CRITICAL SECTIONS OF THE BIGGEST AND/OR BEST WAVE FOR THE LONGEST FUNCTIONAL DISTANCE WILL RECEIVE THE HIGHEST SCORE.

Wild card or guaranteed slots will be offered to people of gratuitous ability or contestants who arrive with exceptional snacks, provided they are also in good standing with The Bodysurf Classic.

The Bodysurf Classic to be held in San Francisco, Ocean Beach on November 5th, 2011 at 10:00am.
The Bodysurf Classic to be held in San Francisco, Ocean Beach on November 5th, 2011 at 10:00am.
The Bodysurf Classic to be held in San Francisco, Ocean Beach on November 5th, 2011 at 10:00am.
The Bodysurf Classic to be held in San Francisco, Ocean Beach on November 5th, 2011 at 10:00am.
The Bodysurf Classic to be held in San Francisco, Ocean Beach on November 5th, 2011 at 10:00am.
The Bodysurf Classic to be held in San Francisco, Ocean Beach on November 5th, 2011 at 10:00am.

More Information

Handplane to Rivermouth - a little film...

2011-10-28T09:22:00.009+11:00

"The idea is simple. To use as little energy as possible to ride waves in a new way."

A film about handplanes and people and waves and a place in England and people and handplanes.

Drift surfing did a feature article on it....

Stranger Mag said some nice things about it.

...and it was shown recently at the London Surf film festival held this month where "Stoked and Broke" and "Come Hell or High Water" both had their UK debuts...

All content, ideas and thoughts expressed in this piece were borrowed, stolen or otherwise appropriated.

Fin Geek Alert>>>>

2011-10-27T13:24:00.008+11:00

Not that it matters much.. because if you're in it and you're loving it, then who cares right?. But fin geeks will be interested.. and I know there is more than a few fin geeks out there... so here it is. You wanted to know what fins the best of the best of the best use?
.....

well that answers that..!

wait! theres some da-fins as well! ...

nicked from www.pipebodysurf.com/

Big Wave Body Surfing >>DUNGEONS

2011-10-20T06:50:00.002+11:00

DUNGEONS.. Scary.. big ugly unyielding waves, sharky, cold....all the best things that Cape Town has to offer.

Most people shit themselves at the sight of it.

Robin Möhr bodysurfs it with a hand gun.

An epic account worth reading.

Hand Guns At Dawn....

(Robin at Cape Towns Sunset reef)

How to make a Handplane -Deux

2011-10-19T12:05:00.005+11:00

Go make your own.

This little video is from a bunch of creative woodworking frenchies from Hidden Wood out of Anglet on the south west French coast... pumping out alias, handplanes and other sliding devices..

If you are from the US, this video might be blocked...the mangy bastards have blocked it because of the song used in the clip
try this link instead...
orr...this one... Can someone in the US let me know if that worked?

where is Anglet? Have a look...even better, go there...one of the great surf regions.. epic waves, epic food, epic people. and breadbaskets full of bodysurfers... you could even take a non surfing missus and she'll be happy as hell... who'd say no to a trip to the french sea side?

Bodysurfer Photography Competition---WINNING

2011-10-17T09:54:00.004+11:00

The Bodysurfer’s Toolkit Contest >>>drum rolL>>> brought to you by Surfing Magazine (and a bunch of other people)...Ta Daaaaa..

A collection of some pretty epic 20 or so bodysurfing shore wompin shots..

There's a nice little prize pack offered..

This is Jamie McClellan's entry.

Go get wet. Thats an order.

Body Wompin Waimea Shorebreak

2011-10-11T06:51:00.000+11:00

who wouldn't want a crack at this!

Under da Sea

2011-10-10T07:00:00.000+11:00

Hold yer breath, its good for yer bodysurfing.

And See more of this guys epic submersed photography.www.27mm.net

Wompin in the SOuth Pacific

2011-10-08T16:30:00.000+11:00

Mike Stewart Ain't Got Nothin' On Patrick Millin. from Michael Kew on Vimeo.

From Michael Kew, wordsmith of the cali coast and purveyor of fine thoughts through peathead.blogspot.com

The Bondi Warrior>>

2011-10-07T13:59:00.004+11:00

Just look at that custom ply...

Theived from Uge at aquabumps. Go check out Aquabumps.

2011 Redwing handboarding championships

2011-10-06T14:41:00.006+11:00

2011 Redwings Memorial events have been run and won.

wrap up

Some photos... get jealous.

Results..

...from 2009
Day1 -Part 1

Day1 -Part2

Day2

COME HELL OR HIGHWATER...let Loose!!

2011-09-26T09:51:00.004+10:00

No sightings in Oz-Straya yet... don't forget about us.

Watch THIS space.

Trailer is here

Front page News - DOLphin ACTion.

2011-09-09T09:25:00.004+10:00

Secret is out.

Teahupoo Bodysurfed

2011-08-29T10:20:00.003+10:00

After the excitement of the last few days, watching Bruce Irons et al getting flung into Teahupoo monsters before being spat out without their boardshorts.., I just had to go back and see how le bodysurfer does it...

Mike stewart bodysurfing Teahupoo

>>>OUTSIDE looking in

2011-08-25T12:24:00.005+10:00

That is all.

(Photo brazenly stolen in a daring daylight robbery from Ten piggies over blog. all rights are theirs. Nice photos, worth a look, cali coast, mainly log sliding...living the beach life..worth it.)

Red rag to a bull

2011-08-05T09:34:00.001+10:00

Reunion island this week.

2 waves - 4 bodysurfers

2011-08-04T17:17:00.004+10:00

No surf means wasting time at home.

Let me help.

4 epic rides.

Watch them.

That is all.

Support Stoke

2011-07-28T16:09:00.002+10:00

From Monsterboards creater, Eff. Mr Stoke himself .................

"you can vote for our movie (and watch it too) at the site of the Vancouver Festival of Ocean Films, so please do!

We are very honoured to be part of it!! I have had the pleasure to visit Vacncouver and Vancouver Island two times (we went surfing in Tofino) and the place and it's people are amazing!!

Here's how it works:

Click the link at the top that says "Click here to open the festival
microsite and watch the films."

Then click Monsterboards from the list of films.

If it says zero votes at the top of the page just reload the page a
few times. It should say 5 votes.

You can vote 5x by clicking the seal in the upper right 5x.

If you could make a post and send this around to friends (or folks
with blogs) that would be awesome.

Thanks,

Eef

What B - S!

2011-07-27T14:04:00.002+10:00

Just BSing

By Caltona

There it came once again, the salty fizz escaping, through gravity, from the very depths of my sinus cavities. Another splendid early session; now another warm shower soaking with its initial skin tingle-burn and the slow thawing of extremities with blood eventually circulating through the chilled inner core. While wetsuits extend the season and the thicker 4-3mm get-up is more flexible even than much thinner suits of years and decades past, and although my girth has further improved the length of a day’s go-out, the deep sub-surface canyons’ up-flows win over each time and we all get too cold to continue.

Bodysurfing conjures an inane vision for most non-devotees. Even hardcore watermen and waterwomen, surfers and boaters and fisherpeople of all varieties, whose diverse uses of the Pacific should arguably provide some depth of view, are as a whole ignorant of the possibilities. Most have a tourist’s eye view of what my crew celebrates. Most have bodysurfed in the most basic sense and therefore feel they have some knowledge. It’s much like completing a coloring book and calling oneself an artist, or winning in a game of tag and calling oneself a sprinter. Well, yeah, technically they are the same activities, but there are levels you know?

You want to irk a bodysurfer? Talk about “real” surfers......Read on here...

All rights to San Diego Reader.

Bodysurfing indonesia - with Laird hamilton et al

2011-07-04T15:58:00.004+10:00

A group of surfing superstars bodysurfing in Indo.. nuff said. Get into it.

even a bit of underwater bodysurfing...noice. Im sold.

This is from the movie "waterman"...worth a looksee.

Surfs up Brooklyn

2011-06-26T10:01:00.005+10:00

Travels took me to the US of A, New York City.... The promise of maybe finding a drinkable coffee took me to Williamsburg, Brooklyn...and there i found, shining like a dusty jewel, in between factories with stray cats crawling all over it... a surf shop..
and not just any surf shop... mollusk surf shop...I can confirm there is absolutely no surf in brooklyn.. but these guys still had a sweet range of hess and brownfish handplanes...also a fine selection of noseriding sliders...couldn't believe my eyes..

How to make a Handplane

2011-06-07T14:48:00.005+10:00

Want to see a master at work?

ok.

Thomas Bexton, the bearded waveslider of the north...

Thomas Surfboards from Bird Man Media on Vimeo.

Water is still 20 degrees..... the swell is dropping...time to put the boards away... time to womp ...

>>Under pipeline>>

2011-06-01T16:58:00.003+10:00

I love this, french bodysurfer Fred David shows what the reef looks like under those perfect spinning tubes.

RIP Russell Hughes

2011-05-30T12:21:00.001+10:00

Submerged Sandy Beach- Oahu

2011-05-16T17:24:00.002+10:00

Nick takes nice photos....and videos...and lives in Hawaii.

What does the underbelly of Sandy Beach look like?

Sandy's from Nick on Vimeo.

..For more Nick....www.nickchudeau.com

womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp womp.

The Double Hander

2011-04-14T16:07:00.007+10:00

More homemade Handplane action..

In a brave and adventurous leap forward in handplane design...the man who gave the world the Dual Fireball Handpods now brings the double hander to life.

From the plywood kingdom of Billyboarder....www.deluxepaipo.com

Its time to rip down a fence post and hit the water.

Home Made Hand Planes

2011-04-11T17:21:00.002+10:00

Ode to a handboard.

Bravo.

My hand boards from GotSurf.ca on Vimeo.

Submerged Sliding

2011-04-01T16:59:00.003+11:00

Beautiful Photo.

Just one among many.

from The Black and White Life.

Caption says this is Ryan Heywood..

'spose this is the same Ryan Heywood of Bodysurf.com.au fame.

Now you've got two more things you can look at. Keep going. It's worth it.

...and from Morgan Maassen..more.

Shark Island>>>>>>>

2011-03-31T09:06:00.001+11:00

Yesteryear...

Bodysurfing the notorious cheese grating, ridiculously heavy Shark Island in the 1970's..

From www.bodyboardmuseum.com.au (....the best source for all your flouro, hyper colour, zinc cream 70's and 80's magazine article needs. ..a sick little website.)

...This year

From last weeks uber-swell... the island again..

from www.leahmaclean.com

:::Spotted:::

2011-03-30T12:27:00.006+11:00

Strike 2 !

A bodysurfer gets into the annals of Sprout Daily for the second time... more more more !

Sprout Daily...providing a daily chronicle of the surfing life around Manly.

:::Spotted:::

2011-03-28T13:00:00.007+11:00

In the deep south of Sydney lies a beach called Bondi.

Snapped by the chronicler of these parts, Eugene of Aquabumps...

...a bodysurfer and his plywood.

Go see www.aquabumps.com... there are also recent photos of Slater who was in town sampling some local sydney 6-8ft slabs last week.

Come Hell or High Water by Keith Malloy

2011-03-27T16:42:00.007+11:00

Coming not soon enough.

New movie by Keith Malloy,

all about bodysurfing....

Come Hell or High Water Trailer from Woodshed Films on Vimeo.

Malloy filming the master, Mark Cunningham, for the film

Wedge = Sandy Hook

2011-03-23T13:10:00.000+11:00

Newport's Wedge is still a sandy hook

The art of bodysurfing -- less glamorous than surfing and tough to master -- lives on at the legendary, and dangerous, break. A new generation of daredevils is joining old-timers in the water.

By Susannah Rosenblatt

November 3, 2008

With the lifeguard tower boarded up, the sand mostly empty and the waves fizzling into foam, another bodysurfing season at the Wedge has drawn to a close. The daredevils who brave the wild waves at the legendary Newport Beach break are shelving their fins until next spring.

The die-hards -- guys whose concussions, fractured vertebrae and broken bones are testament to their devotion to the Wedge -- have mellowed with age. The waves -- which ricochet off the rocky jetty at the tip of Balboa Peninsula, smashing together in white-frosted peaks that can tower 20 feet -- have not. The Wedge chews up novices, flinging them onto the hard berm of sand or sucking them back into the churning surf.

The bodysurfing fraternity that held tanning tournaments and packed party houses during the Wedge's rowdy 1980s heyday has morphed into middle-aged dads. Fights used to break out among dudes angling for waves. Now, mentoring is more likely as newcomers learn to navigate that wall of water from the old hands who still can't get enough.

With a younger generation surfacing once again at the Wedge, the art of bodysurfing -- less glamorous than surfing and tough to master -- lives on.

"It is a dwindling thing -- there aren't the number of active bodysurfers that there were," said Tom "Cashbox" Kennedy, 44, who's been riding the Wedge for more than two decades. "With this new influx of fresh air, with these younger kids coming, it's like 'Wow, good, we're not going to die on the vine.' "

The Wedge crew, who call themselves the Wedge Preservation Society, successfully petitioned the city of Newport Beach to ban boards -- particularly the growing legions of bodyboarders -- at their prized spot from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May through October. Thus a landmark, and bodysurfing preserve, was born.

"Most people grow up, mature and leave the place," said Fred Simpson, 70, one of the Wedge patriarchs, who has spent nearly 40 years in the surf here. He also helped create Viper fins, standard equipment on the feet of many Wedge regulars. Of the Wedge crew, Simpson says, "Like me, they never matured."

Juggling kids and mortgages, the most devoted have bought houses close to the Wedge or created work schedules flexible enough that they can slip into a pair of fins on a long lunch break.

And there's no denying that it's the older guys -- the ones with the battle scars and the war stories -- who are still the best.

"The old guys rip," said Sean Starky, a bearded, long-haired 22-year-old. "They still kill it."

"The best guys are like dolphins on the waves," said Ron Romanosky, a longtime bodysurfer, kneeboarder, photographer and board maker.

Bodysurfing, which requires fins, nerve and perfect timing, never hit the commercial mainstream like surfing. The sport, which some bodysurfers consider an art form, has remained pure while skirting the pop-culture radar. That, and the practice required to become skilled, have thinned out the ranks frequenting the Wedge.

But some have noticed a resurgence.

"It seems like there's a whole new group there getting stoked on it," said Kevin "Mel" Thoman, 51, a Wedge veteran and the scene's de facto social coordinator (he has the tattoos to prove it).

"It's infectious; you don't really want to stop," said Ben Frazier, 18, who's been bodysurfing since the beginning of high school.

As long as the young guys know their place in the pecking order and show skill, the crew at the kinder, gentler Wedge is happy to show them the ropes.

"I love to see these guys charging these big waves," Kennedy said. "It's almost like the way I used to feel when I was their age. There's some sort of fire in the belly you need."

Simpson has seen generation after generation come and go at the Wedge. But though the old crew is happy to see newcomers keeping their passion alive, there are no plans to hang up their fins.

"We'll have a new crop," Thoman said, "and I'll be down there in a wheelchair."

Rosenblatt is a Times staff writer.
Straight out of the LA Times. All rights are theirs.

I can’t remember the last time I was on a surfboard....

2011-03-18T09:43:00.008+11:00

Intercourse With the Ocean

Words: Johnny Knapp

I can’t remember the last time I was on a surfboard. There have been waves, but none of my boards have left the corner in which they lean. Spiders have even taken to weaving a web that utilizes their dormant position.

My friends admitted that they are starting to worry about my absence from surfing. Because for some time now all I go to the beach with is a pair of swim fins and a piece of wood.

It all started when I tried a handplane,as they’re called, that belonged to a friend. I was always curious about them but never really gave it too much thought. I didn’t think it could be that different than the regular whopping of body surfing the shore break. Contrary to what I thought, I soon experienced a ride unique to anything I had experienced before. As vivid as my first ride was on a stand up surfboard, my first body surfing encounter with such a tool is equally ingrained. As the wave rose out of the ocean and across the sand bar, I managed to kick into it and glide across the face as one would on a board, in proper position the whole ride. Riding in the curl, the critical sections of the wave, never straying too far ahead.

Since that moment, I have dedicated myself to what I like to refer to as having intercourse with the ocean. There is a certain sensation that comes from skimming across the surface of the ocean with the water rushing across your body. The buffer of the surfboard as been removed. The ocean and your body are parallel to one another, becoming one during the act. There is a transfer of energy between the two, both feeding off one another. Through this developed energy, pleasure is received. The body’s sensory mechanisms are overloaded by what is happening in that brief and intense moment of the ride. Jolted, thrusted, and twisted into parts of the wave not seen or ridden by boards, it takes a special medium such as the body to get there.

The whole key to the gig is to have the eyes wide open during the whole ride. Even until the moment when the lip dumps upon you, the eyes must be open–alert to what is going on all around. It’s about the view. The lip is projected in the form of an aquatic cathedral with the curtain closing in, shimmering with light from the outside world. Droplets of water, though moving fast, appear to be in slow motion as time decelerates: an intimate moment with nature veiled under the cover of the lip. The ride climaxes with a tumble down to the ocean floor, bouncing up and gasping for air, wide-eyed and alive.

For now I’ve seem to have lost all desire to do a turn. Slashing and gashing the water seems like such rude thing to do to so a beautiful lady. Today I’d rather lie down and make love to her, face to face, touching one another in the glory of the moment.

All from the beautiful online surf magazine.. Driftsurfing.com ... all rights are theirs.

Driftsurfing.com
or
Driftsurfing.eu

>>>Measuring Stick II>>>

2011-03-18T09:29:00.006+11:00

Go see the madness of Eef

www.monsterboardsorg.blogspot.com

Eef is a happy handplaner

Eef is a plywood magician

Eef wins regularly

>>>Measuring Stick>>>

2011-03-17T17:57:00.004+11:00

THE PIPELINE BODYSURFING CLASSIC
JUDGING CRITERIA

4. Contestants will be judged on the following: Summary of Judging Criteria:

The bodysurfer that rides the biggest wave, with the most control, for the furthest distance in the most critical part of the wave will receive the highest points. Maneuvers while on the wave will be judged by each judge according to its functionality and the precision with which it is performed. Which is to say a maneuver in and of itself, will not automatically mean a higher score. Judges will also be watching for general sportsmanship. An interference call will be made when it is deemed that a bodysurfer's move directly affects the ride that a controlling bodysurfer has. A controlling bodysurfer is one that is closer to the critical section of the wave or who clearly caught the wave before the bodysurfer that is in the more critical section. His wave score will be halved and it will become a counted wave toward his final score.

Specific Qualities:
a) WAVE RIDING ABILITY - the demonstration of style, energy, flow, good control judgment, timing and response to the wave; good execution of all functional and aesthetic maneuvers; how existing wave conditions are utilized; and the quality of entry and exit from the waves.

b) MANEUVERS - the quality & smoothness of trick maneuvers; all maneuvers performed in the existing conditions; take offs, underwater-takeoffs, climbing, dropping, stalling, cut backs, back slides, bellyspins, spinners, & tube rides count as difficult maneuvers depending on the waves on which they are performed.

c) WAVE SIZE - the quality of wave selection; catching waves that break the highest, break the farthest out, travel the fastest, break the hardest, & wall up the steepest.

d) TRAVEL DISTANCE - the actual distance traveled across the face of the wave from the take off to the pull out or wipe out.

e) GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP AND COURTESY -All competitors will exhibit a professional, sportsmanlike regard for all of the other bodysurfers in the contest. If any competitor exhibits any unsportsmanlike behavior during competiton, their scores will not be tabulated. Additionally, a competitor who exhibits any unsportsmanlike behavior before, during or after competiton may have penalties, fines imposed and depending on severity of violations or actions may not be allowed to participate in future events.

f) INTERFERENCE - Interference will be called primarily for, but not limited to the following two (2) occasions: 1. if during a ride one rider INTENTIONALLY strikes or makes contact with another rider, 2. if one rider clearly establishes the right-of-way andanother rider takes off and drops into the path of the first rider, adversely affecting the ride.

::Gettin Started::

2011-03-14T18:03:00.006+11:00

It starts...

The idea is to keep it small....keep it cheap...$5 hunk of offcut ply.....start with a thick piece so a deep concave can be carved into the tail... nice flat and round up front with rounded soft rails, all bite kept in the rear.
..it'll probably fail...its going to be fun finding out..

::Dramatic Ocean::

2011-02-27T11:42:00.004+11:00

This isn't bodysurfing at all, but these pictures are so dramatic, beautiful, and create a feeling of immense scale.
Freediving, skin diving, spear fishing, deep water, a big ocean and little human beans.
Many more at http://www.kanoazimmerman.com

Copyright of Kanoa Zimmerman, All Rights Reserved

Beeeauuwdy

2011-02-25T13:51:00.007+11:00

What ever happened to bodysurfing Comps in Oz?

37th annual Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic 2011 Results:

Mike Stewart HAW 1st Place
Kai Santos HAW 2nd Place
Chrisotpher Kalima HAW 3rd Place
Frederic David FRA 4th Place
Ryan Hailsones HAW 5th Place
Craig Watson HAW 6th Place

The Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic
Sponsors Include Patagonia, Viper Fins & CTS Foundation
(Honolulu, HI) February 17, 2010 —

The holding period for the 37th annual Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic
presented by Patagonia, Viper Fins & CTS Foundation, on the North
Shore of Oahu, will begin February 16th , 2010 and will run through
February 26th , 2010.

This half day event will be held when the conditions at Pipeline are
the best available during the holding period (based on swell and wind
direction as well as size). The preferred conditions for this event will
be 6 to 8 foot (12? to 15? faces) West to North West Swell with
favorable off shore winds.

Each year, for one day watermen (past entrants have included Kelly
Slater, Rob Machado, Tom Curren and Donavan Frankenreiter) from
around the world come together and participate in a homegrown
event in Hawa’ii involving Bodysurfing.

Bodysurfing, called he’e umauma or kaha nalu in Hawaiian, was first
enjoyed by ancient Hawaiians at the break called “Pipeline? today. It is believed that bodysurfing at Pipeline was first inspired by the dolphins seen there, long before the invention of the surfboard.

While boardsurfing has evolved into a visible and highly competitive sport, the main draw to bodysurfing is still as it ever was – the intimate relationship between the ocean and the rider in what is considered by many as the “purest form of waveriding.”

The Current champion Mike Stewart (Hawaii) will be defending his 2008 title against a field of seasoned waterman including Steve Kapela, Frederic David, Mark Cunningham and Keith Malloy at the Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic (due to permit conflicts, there was no 2007 or 2009 event).

Competitors must swim without the use of any type of board into extremely challenging at the world-class break known as Pipeline.

Pipeline is world-famous for its fast and powerful breaking waves over a shallow reef. Just as Everest is the gauge of all mountains for mountaineers, Pipeline is the ultimate test for wave-riders from all over the world, rewarding the best with waves of aesthetic perfection.

Thirty of the world?s most dedicated bodysurfers will be on-call during the 11 day holding period. Depending on conditions, the competitors will have a one to two day window to compete at Pipeline without any surfboards. At the end of the competition, the top six bodysurfers will compete in an intense final push to determine the new champion.

From: http://www.surfermag.com/industry-news/37th-annual-pipeline-bodysurfing-classic-presented-by-patagonia/

::les Bodysurf Manoeuvre:::

2011-02-02T17:28:00.005+11:00

Reverse spin

Dolphin Takeoff

Triple spin

Le Tube

360 spin

El Rollo

Double Spin

Classic Takeoff

Backriding

Takeoff through white wash

Reentry

Take off with a spin

Merci.

:::Bodysurf Underwater:::

2011-01-25T12:56:00.005+11:00

bodysurfing underwater... always looks awesome.. the rush is awesome... this footage aint bad.. look and learn..

The "How To bodysurf like a dolphin" post : Dolphin Action

Bodysurf underwater + Scuba

Body Surf underwater + Fiji

Bodysurf underwater + breach like a dolphin + extras from "A Brokedown Melody"

::Inspired by Enjoy:::

2011-01-20T12:22:00.007+11:00

Are you sure Andre didn't bodysurf?

mini surfboards/ handplanes / works of art/ environmentally responsible sliding devices/ guilt free/ little slivers of epicness / Enjoy Handplanes...

There is a great story behind these handplanes that is worth a little read. You might even find something you like... Spread the word.

:::Spotted:::

2011-01-19T17:11:00.005+11:00

A finely crafted wooden handplane spotted cruising sub-surface somewhere on Sunshine Beach...

Nicked From Fotosinnoosa.com All rights are theirs.

See what else you can spot on www.fotosinnoosa.com or sign up for a daily delivery of photos from in and around Noosa...just to remind you where you'd rather be.

Noosa Noosa...The place gives me goosebumps..it is that beautiful, the waves are that good, the talent is that inspiring. Loggers heaven..not bad for bodybashing either..

:::::One Picture:::

2011-01-12T10:41:00.007+11:00

Two mates. Action. Beards. Fins. Hess Handplanes. Womp.

Borrowed (nicked) from the blog of Brett Caller.
photo by Duncan Mcfarlane, and you can see more on his blog which is full of hearty goodness. Great logging shots as well.

Considering the armada of bluebottles attacking the East Coast right now, I reckon you should check out his surreal series on bluebottles...he manages to make the nasty little f#$kers look sort of beautiful...

:::Endless Epicness:::

2011-01-10T10:39:00.006+11:00

As good as it gets!

Page after page of perfection...Barrel after barrel in beautiful conditions... if you ever doubted the magic nature of Hawai'i, sunshine, clear warm water, amazing wave setups, this website is for you. So, yeahhh... I have to get to Hawai'i....somehow.

© 2007-2010 Hawaiʻi Island Bodysurfing Association, All Rights Reserved

Go look. Hawai'i Island bodysurfing Association
This site is worth your time.

Thank you so much to the guys who put these photos up for the rest of us to enjoy. It gets me pumped to go out there and get wet.

::Spotted::

2011-01-07T11:47:00.005+11:00

So my local beach is a crowded place..sometimes you can walk from one end to the other across the surfboards without getting your feet wet... and yet bodysurfers are everywhere, shore dump womping, shooting straight down-head down-arms out...life savers training, and a bucket load of old buggers with handplanes shooting across the face...

Sprout Daily , a daily photo log of the goings-on along the beach delivers a daily snapshot of life on the beach...documenting life in the water on one of Sydneys busiest beaches...and there has been a glaring discrepancy so far! No bodysurfers!

Today is the day...finally, the cellophane people get their showing. Nothing spectacular, but its a start!. Come on Barnaby and Murray! More!

I encourage you to go check out their material. Just Bewdiful.

:::Nearshore Incursion:::

2011-01-04T17:23:00.005+11:00

Under the Sea from Thomas Stockwell on Vimeo.

A gem from Mr Stockwell;---- a bit of underwater takeoff action, a bit of underwater bodysurfing footage, a bit of nearshore underwater scenery...and nice beats.

If you haven't seen his blog...thomas.

Empty Land

2011-01-03T16:18:00.005+11:00

Mid North Coast of NSW, Paradise.

This is still empty land. Just you and the dolphins.

::Reef break Handplaning::

2010-12-19T14:05:00.005+11:00

Some of the nicest handplane footage I've seen... bodysurfing a ledgey reef break on the northern beaches of Sydney called LA... I'm told that before body boards and shortboards swept onto the scene it was the old bellyboards/ paipos and bodysurfers that dominated this break...

Its a millpond out there today..but with a 4-6ft swell coming in from the south this week...its time to get limbered up...There is no better xmas present than a good swell...

::Why I Bodysurf::

2010-12-17T15:44:00.005+11:00

...."I’ve confused my friends on many occasions by grabbing a handplane and fins on a perfect day, instead of a surfboard. “Why don’t you surf out here? Look how perfect it is!” My reply is always similar, “Sure, it’s perfect. Perfect for bodysurfing.”....Mark Lukach

Mark knows it... we know it... You know it... bodysurfing is just too much fun... Published on the surf commentary website Inertia.com, Mark has given his personal testimonial about his love of bodysurfing...

You need to read this. "Why I Bodysurf"

Our smile got bigger and bigger as we read.. San Francisco to Sydney... It's all the same...

Photo: Nick Allen/WithinWaves.com

::Wrapped in Neoprene::

2010-12-15T09:24:00.005+11:00

Bodysurfing in a wetsuit... Never tried it so I wouldn't know, but really? Can it be as good?...

Mr Nick Allen thinks so as his beautiful photos show...His photos really capture the bodysurfing experience as it is at sea level..

I encourage you to check out his work.

Double hand planes..

2010-12-01T11:50:00.005+11:00

bodysurf till your face goes numb.

..gotta get me some of these..

::WOmP aRT ::

2010-11-27T15:00:00.005+11:00

The lengths some people go to to get perspective.

::Surf - Shooting::

2010-11-25T10:18:00.004+11:00

Tanna, Tommy (c1869- ?)
Tommy Tanna, a South Pacific Islander, is widely credited with introducing body surfing, or surf shooting, to Australia in Sydney around 1890. Little is known about Tanna, including his real name and his place of origin. ‘Tommy Tanna’ was a common nickname for any Kanaka male, derived from the fact that a significant proportion of indentured labourers in Australia came from the island of Tanna in the South Hebrides, now part of Vanuatu.
In his recollections, Arthur M Lowe says that Tommy Tanna was employed as a gardener for the Moore family of Manly around the late 1880s and 1890s, where he lived in well-kept quarters at the bottom of the garden at ‘Tramore’, corner of Addison Road and Darley Road. Tanna fished and swam at South Steyne daily before 7am, when beach inspectors enforced the by-laws prohibited daylight bathing. His routine was to check
his self-made, basket, fish traps, put in a rock pool any fish caught, rebait (with rump steak) and reset traps, and then dive from Rocks Point at South Steyne to swim and surf-shoot. Lowe met Tanna through his school friend Eric Moore when he was ten years old, in about 1889, and describes him as follows: ‘He was about 20 odd years of age [in 1889], with a good-looking Islander’s type of face, fairly tall, with an athletic figure, and close crinkly hair’. Tanna taught Lowe and Eric Moore how to shoot waves from the deep water at South Steyne. Lowe wrote that Tanna’s shooting style always involved a degree of swimming, unlike the ‘perfect shooting’ developed later in Manly. Tanna taught others to body surf, including, it is thought, Fred C Williams. Swimming identity Arthur Rosenthal wrote that a South Sea Islander
introduced surf shooting to Williams, who in turn taught a new generation.

Source: Biographical Dictionary for Manly

::::::::::::Teahupoo Vs Mike Stewart::::::::::::

2010-11-21T15:13:00.004+11:00

::WEAPONS::

2010-11-17T16:50:00.008+11:00

Hand planes? hand boards? Epic.

Diatom Designs, Santa Cruz.

Issue 4

2010-11-12T09:16:00.003+11:00

If you haven't taken a few moments to check out Ryan Heywoods online magazine..well..your loss.

bodysurf.com.au

Bodysurf:: Reunion Island

2010-11-03T13:18:00.004+11:00

http://vimeo.com/8072550
I can only link to this one, so go check it out.

Heroes • Bodysurf // Reunion Island from Erwan Abdourazakou on Vimeo.

A new film from Ryan Thomas

2010-10-31T16:50:00.003+11:00

A beautiful opening sequence of a bearded wave warrior slipping across a wave embedded in the curl. This is the sort of body surfing we dream of:

TRAILER #2: Temporal Collections... In the General Vicinity of Inner & Outer Space from R.T. on Vimeo.

Stoked and Broke

2010-10-28T16:00:00.007+11:00

Stoked and Broke Teaser Trailer

Wish you were Here

2010-10-26T11:25:00.007+11:00

Shooting the Breakers, Manly, circa 1905.
Hall & Co.
Hall & Co. Postcard.

Body surfing at Manly Beach, circa 1905.
Postmarked February 1908.

Info and Photo from www.surfresearch.com.au One of the best websites ever.. go have a look around.

Back in the Day...

2010-10-23T16:36:00.005+11:00

...turns out it never really went away
Skimboarding.. the best fun we can have with a shorebreak....except bodysurfing of course...

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO

2010-10-20T15:05:00.004+11:00

Thomas does images... good ones.. he has a bigger version of this on his little blog.
go look. http://www.thomasstockwell.blogspot.com/

Before we begin...

2010-10-16T13:19:00.000+11:00

Will you look at that!

2010-10-15T16:53:00.004+11:00

Enjoyhandplanes.com

2010-10-13T16:20:00.005+11:00

Enjoy The Ride from Ed Lewis on Vimeo.

If you can't tell...we are getting a little obsessed with handplanes at the moment..

yeah yeah

2010-10-13T16:04:00.003+11:00

more youtubin..

synth-o-matic soundtrack... early Mark Cunningham.. noice

A Brokedown Melody

2010-10-13T15:20:00.004+11:00

If you haven't seen it...see it... then try what you've seen.

The Brown Fish Handplane Project

2010-10-13T14:00:00.009+11:00

In the same vein as the movie "Single Fin: Yellow", Brownfish Handplanes is looking to send one of their vessels around the world with a gopro camera attached.. 22 bodysurfers - 22 short films.. should be good!

The Brown Fish Handplane Project

Jason Hall from Daily Bread has organised a great little project. A keen bodysurfer, Jason is sending a Brown Fish Handplane, fitted with a GoPro Camera, on a round the world bodysurfing journey. Over the next year the handplane will make 22 stops across the globe, and 22 bodysurfers will create 22 short films of the waves they ride.

I've put my hand up to be one of the Australian filmers, as have four other fellas - g'day Peter, Lachlan, Duncan and Mateo!

The handplane will begin it's journey soon and you can keep track of it, and also view the incoming footage, on Daily Bread or here at Swellnet.//STUART NETTLE

reposted from: http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/643-the-brown-fish-handplane-project

Testing of the rig down at the Wedge.. ... we dig the low emersed perspective..

The pros and cons

2010-10-13T13:32:00.002+11:00

reposted from http://harakabaraka.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/bodysurfing-with-a-hand-plane/

nice little blog... loved this little wrap up of the pros and the cons.. we can relate.

This past summer my wife and I drove across country to my home state of Delaware. One of the many positives to come out of that trip is that while I was home, I grabbed a pair of Churchill swim fins that I have owned for probably 15 years to bring back to San Francisco. The subsequent result has been a personal revolution of the wave-riding experience.

I first bodysurfed Ocean Beach in August on a mid-sized, funky day. I hadn’t bodysurfed in quite some time, but had an absolute blast. There is something profoundly different about riding a wave without a board, and I loved it. Since then I’ve probably bodysurfed about a dozen times at Ocean Beach, and have became so enamorate with it that I put a hand plane, specifically one made by SF surfboard shaper Danny Hess, on my Christmas list. I got what I wanted.

I’ve been posting about my bodysurfing experiences on Stoke Report, and have gotten a lot of questions, so I thought I’d address them here in more depth…why I like bodysurfing, some of the differences between bodysurfing and surfing, gear, you name it.

First off, a few disclaimers. Bodysurfing is no joke. I love it, but I also speak as a guy who grew up swimming competitively, and I still coach swimming and water polo. Surfing at Ocean Beach is an exhausting experience; bodysurfing at Ocean Beach ratchets the physical demands up a notch. The fins certainly help, especially when duckdiving. When a wave comes through, you just swim down to the bottom and wait it out. However, you are constantly swimming. There is no board to sit on or rest on, and so it’s tough. The rip tides don’t disappear when you’re bodysurfing, so if you want to give it a shot, make sure you are comfortable with your swimming ability. This addresses a point someone asked me about getting cold. You’re fully in the water the whole session, but since you’re moving the whole time, you stay just as warm as you would while surfing, if not more so.

Pro’s of Bodysurfing
-I like that it’s a little bit more demanding physically than surfing. I get a more complete work-out, and I like the feeling of having to drag yourself out of the water from being so surfed-out.
-Surfing is extremely fun, especially when the waves peel and offer long rides. However, there are often times conditions when surfing isn’t that fun. For example, when waves close-out (meaning, the whole wave breaks at once), there’s not much to do when you surf, and often times you can break your board in these circumstances. Bodysurfing was made for close-outs. Without having a big board attached to your leg by a leash, you don’t have to worry about getting smacked by your board or breaking it when you pull into thumping close-outs. As a result, pretty much every wave that you ride turns into a barrel. Most of them close-out, but they’re still barrels, and there’s nothing sweeter than looking into a barrel. Believe me. Nothing sweeter.
-It’s beautiful to glide down the face of the wave more-or-less face first. The whole experience seems amplified. So much of my body is on the face of the wave, it seems like a more intimate experience with the wave’s energy.
-Hand plane bodysurfing adds a whole new dimension. My first half dozen sessions were naked–not literally naked, but it was just me, my wetsuit, and fins. A typical ride, especially on big days, was to skip down the face of the wave, tuck into the barrel once I hit bottom, and enjoy the view as the wave ate me for lunch. A hand plane makes waves much more manageable. When you bodysurf, your body creates a tremendous amount of drag, and so it’s hard to get a lot of speed…hence getting crushed in the barrel so regularly. However, with a hand plane, the plane of your hand becomes 3 times as big, and you find yourself pushing your body up out of the water, and creating a ton more speed. Your speed becomes almost the exact same as that of the peeling wave, and as such, you stay slotted in the barrel for a while. Surfers have to stall to get into the barrel; while hand planing, you just go, and you’re in, and can often come out. I am surprised by how long my rides have been since I’m hand-planing, sometimes lining all the way up into the inside. Just as long as on a surfboard. So with a handplane, not only do you get epic barrels, but you can actually get some long rides too.
[A note about hand planes: you can experiment with many different objects as hand planes. As a kid, I saw a guy who rounded out the nose of a broken surfboard as his hand plane. I've used flip-flops before, and I've definitely seen cafeteria trays used. The DIY nature of hand planes is totally epic, but I must also say, wave riding with a beautiful wooden hand plane crafted by a masterful carpenter like Danny Hess is also pretty epic.]
-The wave count is higher. I think it’s almost a 1:2 ratio. For every one ride I get in a typical surfing session, I get two rides in a bodysurfing session.

Con’s of Bodysurfing
-The other afternoon I was out on a fairly crowded day, and it’s pretty clear that bodysurfers get treated like 2nd-rate citizens in the line-up. I got dropped in on, a lot. It was my wave, I was making the drop, and just ahead of me a surfer who thought I wasn’t going to make it looks me right in the face as he drops in to snake it. So it goes. I still got a ton of waves–mostly medium-sized waves that guys paddle for and just barely miss. And towards the end of the session, as people would notice that my rides were legitimate and weren’t just quick close-outs, I ended up getting a bit more respect. But I know I’ll get snaked again.
-The poundings can be downright dirty. As a thrill-junky, I don’t mind getting rattled, I think that’s half the fun, but holy crap can you get hammered. It’s all about the take-off, and the problem is two-fold. If you make the drop and take it too vertically, and don’t angle it enough to stay with the wave, you end up getting ahead of the lip. One of two things will happen. The first is that the lip will land directly on you, usually somewhere in your lower back, and the wave will violently try to rip you in half. The second thing that can happen is that you actually get fully in front of the lip, and it breaks immediately behind you. When this happens, you often times get fully launched out of the air….like, end up flopping your arms and legs around while you are airborne, as the wave throws you at its mercy. On one particularly memorable wipe-out I literally got water pushed under my eyelids while getting dragged under water. How’s that for the power of the ocean.
-I think a testament to the last statement is the fact that you get a ton more sand in your ass when you bodysurf. You just do.

As it says on Danny Hess’ website in his hand plane section, “I’ve occasionally had a bad time surfing, but I’ve never had a bad time body surfing.”

If you are considering giving it a go, I say do it. It’s incredibly fun. Fins aren’t too expensive, all the brands are pretty good. I’ve always used Churchills, for the almost two decades I’ve been bodysurfing, mostly because when I was a kid I saw Pointbreak and I thought the scene where the guy goes skydiving with Churchills was awesome. There are little mini-leashes that you can attach to your fins so that if they slip off your feet, they are still dangling around your ankle, which I think are a good idea. I’ve definitely had my fins ripped off my feet during some poundings.

Hope to see many of you out in the water, especially if you give bodysurfing a shot.

Now go check out the blog

http://harakabaraka.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/bodysurfing-with-a-hand-plane/

Poking around

2010-10-08T14:43:00.005+11:00

© 2010 within waves | photography by nick allen
...and in other news...introducing the ...Handplane Flexspoon

My new favourite blog...have a look...starting here...

http://lo--tech.blogspot.com/

The view from under the waves

2010-10-07T14:35:00.004+11:00

Photographer Mark Tipple speaks about the Underwater Project:

"I've always been intrigued by what happens below the surface, like what's happening where we can't see." While watching the slide-show on Mark's laptop I'm amazed at the detail of this 'other world' that's portrayed with his selection.

As an accomplished documentary photographer, in the past Mark has used the ocean as an escape for some solace away from his projects. Lately, while between projects he's been "hanging out" below the surface trying to capture what happens while swimming on a slow summer's day.

"Coming from a surfing background I used to wonder what happens when we're duck-diving, like, what it looks like from a different angle than what we can see. Kinda hard to explain but it has always been on my mind. I used to surf with a small video camera and housing attached to my helmet, (pauses) it worked surprisingly well but my neck couldn't take the impact and stress while trying to duck-dive and capture the right angle. Even tried to turn it back on myself to see what happens clearer but that, uh, sucked (laughs). I looked for a new approach to capture what I was seeking, which basically meant getting off the surfboard."

UDT Fins - the power option

2010-10-01T11:45:00.004+10:00

Great little article on UDT Fins

Taiwan?????!!!

2010-04-19T12:30:00.004+10:00

A cracking video of some beautiful bodysurfing in tasty waves, complete with a few barrels and even a nice dolphin takeoff.. about 5 minutes worth

Bodysurfing in Taiwan

All credit to http://www.theboardwok.com

check it out!

mutli talented

2009-12-04T16:49:00.005+11:00

She is also a kick ass longboarder..queensland girl Belinda Baggs

Source: The Surfers Path

Can anyone shed some light on where this is?

2009-11-23T15:09:00.003+11:00

This looks like too much fun..I'm guessing california somewhere..

Bodysurfing Film?

2009-11-23T14:55:00.003+11:00

When is someone going to do a grade A professional surf video for bodysurfers?!

Until then, here is a little collection of bodysurfing videos from the web...

Bodysurfing pipe in the dark

2009-11-23T14:42:00.004+11:00

..........consider this one a motivational read...get out there..........

Click----> Night Riding at Pipeline

camera on board a handboard.

2009-09-18T07:57:00.006+10:00

Killer footage from inside the tube, shot from a lipstick camera mounted on a handboard

>>See the full list of bodysurfing videos here<<

.....To see more on handboards or handplanes, click here.....

Body Surfing the big ones at steamer lane

2009-06-17T16:50:00.003+10:00

great description of the craft..

Body Surfing at Steamers Lane

"I have always thought that rodeo bull riders were just a bit nuts. You must have a really drastic need for fun if you hop on something that powerful and that mad. Well, Here I was, about 150 yards from shore at Middle Peak, Steamers Lane, trying my own version of that fun. I guess I just got real lucky. It was the beginning of a set and there was this monster coming. I could see it rising more than 200 yards past where I was and all I could do is wait and hope I was positioned well enough. These are too big to chase around after much.

At the time, I didn't know how hard it is to catch one of these big waves while bodysurfing. You have to take off really late as the wave is fully starting to break. I took off using a feet together dolphin kick and both my arms. I didn't know at the time that you don't ride Middle Peak towards the cliff. I certainly was learning. It is too fast. I was flying and water was spraying everywhere. You have to hold your breath all the time for the inevitable moment when the waves tires of you and puts you in the cold water spin cycle. In waves like this, you are just a rag doll. Amazingly though, I had successfully caught it and was riding it tubed inside the wave. There was nothing to see. It was just darkness and splashing water. Every 10 seconds or so, you blow out your air and suck in another breath to hold and keep blasting along. When in a wave like this, you intimately feel its power and well know that to it you are just another small spray of foam. It died out calmly. The end of the ride was not near catastrophic as I had expected. Then as I turned around some, I bumped into a rock. In a fraction of a second I realized without accepting, that the only rock out here was near the cliff, more than 150 yards from where I had started. I had been tubed for the whole ride. This was the first time I had ever tried bodysurfing at the Lane...."

Keep reading "Bodysurfing at Steamer Lane"...

Bodysurfing the Queenscliff Bombie

2009-05-12T14:39:00.006+10:00

I can't begin to tell you how nuts this is....

‘Bombie’ impulse makes David’s day
From the Manly Daily Newspaper

24 Apr 09 @ 02:29pm by JASON AVEDISSIAN

David Day bodysurfed the Queenscliff Bombie last weekend. Picture: SIMON DEAN

AN outrageous desire to bodysurf Queenscliff’s famous Bombora has been pulled off by a Mosman 60-year-old.

David Day was celebrating his birthday last weekend with family and friends when a spur of the moment decision to surf the famous break finally came to fruition.

With his brother Mark and nephew Ed, the trio swam about 700m to the deep-ocean spot in heavy surf last Sunday.

Do you have any crazy surf stories of your own? Let us know below.

Regular surfers need the break to reach at least 3m before they can take it on, and many of those generally reach the hidden beast after being towed-in.

“Bombie” was peaking that afternoon, reaching at least 4m by the time Day and his brave group nailed it.

“The heart was pumping like hell,” he recalled this week.

“When we got out there, it was like ... wow ... how good is this?

“We were miles away from anything. But once we got on a couple, your confidence just soars.”

Unfortunately, the group did not capture their moment with any video or camera footage.

Many within the northern beaches surfing community believe “Bombie” has rarely, if ever, been body-surfed.

But witnesses on shore are convinced the bodysurfers swam to the break before taking it on.

“They were surfing the Bommie,” North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club deputy president Geoff Cooper confirmed.

“I saw one or two of them catching a wave and thought; ‘that’s terrific’.

In fact, it was incredible.

Day, director of development at Redlands in Cremorne, had spoken to two-time world surfing champion Tom Carroll about taming the highly dangerous break.

Carroll had his doubts.

“Tom’s view was that there was no way and it was difficult enough just to be towed in on a board,” David’s Adelaide-based brother, Mark, said.

Carroll yesterday said he was stunned they pulled it off.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he said.

“If they got a wave, that’s great. It’s pretty risky stuff ... it’s a high sea. The ocean is such a wild and unpredictable place.”

To help you appreicate the madness of what they did, this is the queenscliff bombie on another day...

Dolphin Action

2009-05-12T13:53:00.007+10:00

Underwater fin surfing...

Some years ago i was sitting on a beach in northern N.S.W. Australia after a swim with my monofin. It was a beautifull sunny summer morning with a small but clean swell rolling through. As i was relaxing i saw what i had only seen once in a photo before. A pob of dolphins approached from offshore and proceeded to catch a wave and surf it as it peeled along the shore. These creatures are the planets most ancient surfers and probably this image is what inspired the ancient polynesians to start riding waves. To see with what style, fluidity, and grace they playfully rode that wave is something imposible to describe. This was really a situation of "you had to see it to really understand it".
All i could do was admire, in awe. When the first wave of emotions had disipated and the dolphins gone (probably to breakfast, hungry from the session) the only thing i could think about was if such a thing could be done by a human. Here i was in the land where surfing is a national sport and millions of waves get ridden around the country all year, yet to my knowledge, no other human had ever tried to imitate what i had just seen the dolphins do. So stood up and decided that it was time to wet my mono again and this time in a way i had never imagined. I finned to the lineup (for non surfers; the point where waves start to break) and waited for my first wave. Needless to say that my first attempts resulted in getting tumbled around with no result. But as i started to figure out the timming in diving at the right moment, finning and catching the wave as it broke, i magicly caught my first wave swimming underwater, just like they did. When you ride a wave in this manner you actually only kick to get some monentum, then when the wave comes above you it pulls you along with it's own energy without needing you to kick anymore. You suddenly find yourself in another dimension where you are inisde the wave, it's energy is all around you and you glide through the water propelled by it as it breaks down the line. You almost ARE the wave. When i exited the water from that first attempt i seriously felt as if i had seen the light, something in me had changed, maybe everything. As time passed i continued to practice whenever i got a chance and after some months figured out how to actually follow the wave. In the beginning i could only catch it and go in a straight line in front of it as it broke. This meant that my ride was very short as i didn't really follow the wave for much of it's breaking distance. So when i first followed the wave underwater as it was breaking along, without exiting from its inertia was again a ground breaking moment. This time i was starting to really surf it like the dolphins do. Of course i still could not manouver around underwater like they do with quick direction changes, out of the water leaps and so forth but i was on my way. One of the last times i surfed was in front of my old house in Bronte Sydney, where i was given the gift of catching my first tube ride. I was glidding fast under this wave when it started to tube and i kept on speeding right below the surface of a breaking liquid cylinder, WOW. Nevertheless, life having some odd twists and turns i was led away from my beloved waves and back to my familiar and flat mediteranean shores . It's been a year and a half since that last wave but not so long anymore until my next one. This winter i'm planning to see how far i can take this concept and to do so i will go where the best go, in the meca of surfing. Hawaii of course. Updates will follow. What i now want to know is...is there anybody else out there doing this. I really think that there must be, it's imposible that no one else has thought of this and tried it. If you are out there i want to know, i want to communicate, this is too fun to not share, and if i'm still alone it just a matter of time...
Delphicly,
Noa

reposted from : http://forums.deeperblue.com/general-freediving/53588-underwater-fin-surfing.html

Bodysurfing Pre-Fins

2009-04-07T09:58:00.007+10:00

Cal staying ahead of the whitewater by going left on a wave between the Venice and Sunset piers, pre swimfins, Southern Califonia, late 1930's.

Cal Porter's Now and Then Blog
Cal Porter, Malibu's first Lifeguard
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The purest form of surfing is bodysurfing. It is the only form of surfing where there is nothing between the surfer and the element that he is working with, the ocean wave. It is the art of riding a wave without the help of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. There is no other feeling in surfing quite like the sensation felt to one’s body, on its own, skimming down the face of a perfect wave and turning left or right to angle on the shoulder of the wave. The body itself, in essence, becomes a surfboard. I have bodysurfed all my life.

There is no way of knowing when or where bodysurfing originated. It probably has been practiced for hundreds of years, maybe first in the warm waters of the South Pacific, Tahiti or Hawaii. Wherever there were waves and kids some of them, no doubt, were body riding the waves in some form or other, probably long before there was board surfing. The first mention in literature that I have found is in the work of British poet Lord Byron two hundred years ago in the early 1800’s:

“I have loved the ocean,
And my joy of youthful sports was on thy breast borne by thy bubbles.
Onward from a boy I have wantoned with thy breakers.”

Sounds like he was bodysurfing to me. After all, in 1810 he swam the difficult four miles across The Hellespont, the strait that separates Europe from Asia, the first to accomplish this feat since Leander, in Greek myth, swam The Hellespont to be with his love, Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite who lived on the other side.

There are many photographs of early bodysurfers from the 1900’s through the 1920’s and into the ‘30’s, including Duke Kahanamoku and the Hawaiian beach boys, all going strait in on the waves, the object being to see if you could hold onto the wave all the way to the beach. The first surfing book ever written was “The Art of Wave Riding”, by Ron Drummond in 1932 which included many photos which also showed bodysurfers riding strait as an arrow in to the beach. That’s what bodysurfing was. In the late 1930’s I was bodysurfing in Venice, and after waiting on the end of the Sunset Pier for the biggest waves and then jumping in for one, I got the idea that maybe a longer, faster and more exciting ride could be had by using the body like a surfboard, staying ahead of the whitewater on the breaking wave, and riding the shoulder of the wave on an angle. After all, I was doing this on my surfboard on these very same waves. Well with my skinny body it worked, and it was much more fun and faster, and more could be done with the wave. Bodysurfing was never the same for me. I never saw anyone else try it for some years after. Swim fins hadn’t been invented yet so it wasn’t as easy as it is today. Luckily a photographer on the beach filmed me one day doing my thing out there and that photo has been used in surf magazines and bodysurfing books to document the first arrival of modern bodysurfing. Later, when fins had been invented, others took it up.

There are many fine bodysurfing breaks along the California Coast. Most of these breaks, Malibu, Rincon, Trestles and my favorite, Zeros (because it’s a left breaking wave) are also good for board surfing making it difficult for the bodysurfer to get a wave with so many boards in the water. There also are many bodysurfing contests during the year: Santa Cruz, Manhattan Beach, Oceanside, San Diego. The Pipeline Contest on the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii is probably the most exciting, with waves often reaching 20 feet. The Oceanside contest is billed as the world’s championship each year drawing three to four hundred surfers from as far away as South America, Europe and Hawaii. Many maneuvers are required to do well in this contest such as underwater takeoffs, spinners, barrel rolls, riding on the back, and getting tubed (rare). I have won my group many times in this contest, and used to enter most of the others. However, these days there doesn’t seem to be a category for fellows into their 85th year.

When I was a kid it was fun to take a break from board surfing and go bodysurfing there at the same break. There was plenty of room for both at most places like Malibu, San Onofre and most of the others. I used to bodysurf Zeros alone in the ‘40’s and early ‘50’s. Today you might get run over. Another trick was to catch a wave on your board and at the proper moment push off the board, dive into the wave and bodysurf it to the beach, swimming back out for your board afterward. Not much like this goes on anymore with surfers encased in neoprene from head to toe and attached securely to the surfboard with a long leash from leg to board. We had a little more freedom back then before all this stuff was invented. But there I go talking about the old days again.

Submitted By Cal Porter on Oct. 09 , 2008
© Cal Porter 2009, all rights reserved
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Handboards and bodysurfing in french

2009-03-30T16:10:00.006+11:00

If you are looking for inspiration for handboards, or want to see some of the shapes people use, check out this guys blog.. Great links as well for european bodysurfing scene.

Bodysurf, handboards et autres glisses alternatives

Outside Magazine August 2004 -Bodysurfing

2009-03-16T14:57:00.006+11:00

Article by Outside Magazine August 2004 on Matt Larson, Fred Simpson, The Wedge, and co, and an interesting first hand account of getting pulverised..

The Lip Comes Down
Wipe out trying to bodysurf the Newport Wedge and you'll burst an eardrum, yank out a shoulder, or snap a few ribs. Daniel Duane tackles the mean blue beast and meets the elite riders who court her lash.

By Daniel Duane

1971 Sports Illustrated--Bodysurfing

2009-03-11T17:36:00.008+11:00

"Bitchin" article with an interesting bit on the way new styles and techniques developed and moved from Hawaii to the Wedge and beyond. Head hopping, busted spines, goons, jerks and other assorted Wedge characters. Sounds all a bit bizarre from over here..

The Closest Thing To Being Born

February 22, 1971

Body surfers are prone to hyperbole, but anyone who rides the waves at the Wedge in Newport Beach, Calif knows whereof he speaks. With breakers up to 22 feet, it's the hairiest trip going.....
Curry Kirkpatrick

Books on Bodysurfing

2009-03-11T17:15:00.011+11:00

For a pastime that occupies the free time of so many people around the world, there is an amazing lack of books and material on the subject.

Let me know if you find further, but below are the only books I have found devoted to the art of bodysurfing so far. Good luck finding anything recent in english!

In French:

Passion bodysurf - Le corps et la vague
Author: Hugo Verlomme and Laurent Masurel (2008)
Publisher: Yago - ISBN : 978-2-916209-17-3

Bodysurf , Aux origines du surf
by Hugo Verlomme and Laurent Masurel (2002)
Publisher: Atlantica - ISBN : 2-84394-492-9

In English:

The Art of Bodysurfing
by Robert Gardner (1972)
Publisher: Chilton Book Co

Finding the book can be a mission, but Robert Gardner sounds like an interesting character.. found his obituary from the LA Times....

The Art of Wave Riding
by Ron Drummond (1931)
Publisher: unknown
Almost impossible to find and if you do, think $4000 USD. From what I can gather 500 copies of this book were published. To be honest, I haven't seen this book and couldn't even tell you to what extent this covers bodysurfing specifically..