most progressive country

lyle
December 2007
which country as a whole would be seen as the leading bodyboarding country?

in the final 30 IBA ratings there is 1 saffa, 1 frenchie, 2 canary islanders a good few aussies and hawaiians and a good few brazilian, spanish and portugese.

i know oz and hawaii have good waves so i expect them to dominate, but i didnt expect so many spainish,portugese and brzilian rides. do these places have good waves and a strong history in bodyboarding?? i know tamega is from brazil and there is one or two other brzilian rippers around.

i expected more saffa but obviously a weak rand handicaps our travels. or is it our preferance and passion for free surf at remote destinations??

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7 Replies

Spy Dude
December 2007
As far as progression goes ... Oz, they really are leading the way with the sport, but then again thats where the money is, and they have a government that has a posivite attitude to surifng in general.

The states is where it all started, so i guess you cant over look them, but in reality they have also slowed down over the years, and the issues with the pipe contest etc knocks them down a bit.

South Africa is a bit of a canumdrum i think, we have the talent, but we also have the politics and the issues. I think the rest of the world fears us a little. We are progressive and in our own way we are striving to move forward. Pity the fincial backing is so hard to come by... like image what sixty40 could be if the was good advertising revenue coming in. Full on Afica coverage, sponcered shoots to exotic destination (and not hoping some lucky sod who has slaved on the mud island for the last 6 months sends in his holiday pix and his blog as copy) but to send a proper crew to say brazil on a mission of exploration... image DC shooting stills, JVD on DV, and a crew consisting of Robbery grey, Peter Lambert, one of the girlys, Mr white on words, mr EMO housten, ATTIE for shits and giggles, and Hugh grant to be the bitch, cruising the brazza coast, finding out just why these okes charge so much, all paid for by REEF!!! Kinda what like ZAG gets 4 or 5 times a year from BONG, Quick and the rest of the SURF BRANDS THAT DIS OUR SPORT.

I must say though our Movie making in SA leaves allot to be desired, its only my opinion but i honestly feel we need to be original in our out look and not copy what has been done by the yanks and the ozzies. But again i guess this comes down to money and time. We have so much to offer, but to sit through anther made for MTV bodyboarding music video just puts me to sleep. Saddly why is it i never hear a SAFFA accent or narration in our movies, why is the editing all about name dropping, showing just the moves and missing out on the actual surfing, suddenly i start to feel epilectic watching saffa booger films, why is it always localsied to a few spots that gets regurgitated in the same sequince over and over againand half our coast line misses out, why is no thought given to a "script"and story line and WHY OH WHY DO WE KEEP ON USING YANK MUSIC!!! please i will rather watch a SA booger film using STEVE HOFFMEYER OR DOZI (oooohhhh rreei pperrd!!) OR FLIPPIN MANDOZA than sit through another yank music fest. maybe our aspiring film producers should sit down and watch what our surfer film producers are doing.. ALAN ROB, NIC Bothma, to name a few, local is lekker and it gives a beautiful South African edge to the movie, that appeals to boogers and non boogers alike, south africans and non south africans....

Portuagal rocks, i have surfed there and i love the pochy locals, those okes are so open and humble its not funny, and as an alternative surf destination i can recogmend it, same goes for spain and france, minus the cool locals though.

We all know what the Canarys producers so it doesnt surprise me that they have some top riders.

ok slow day at work, its flat, its hot and i am soooo bored.
lyle
December 2007

Quote:
ok slow day at work, its flat, its hot and i am soooo bored.

same in el!! work is slow, hot and bored!! hoping for waves from today though!! wind is right and i have next week off!!
SmT
December 2007
My opinion is that Oz is defintely on the top of the Bodyboarding pile at the moment, they just have all the resources and the cost of getting both a good Stills set-up or a Vid set-up is a lot easier. Makes it that much easier to keep sponsors happy.
Al Taylor also had a very interesting point he mentioned at S.A's this year. South Africans lack the drive that the Brazillians and some of the other guys have. The Brazillians travel the world on a super tight budget, just pushing themselves. The S.A crew of Top Riders are just too content with dominating in their own playground and not pushing themselves into the International Arena. We need to man up, save cash and cruise.
Spy, I think you're truly showing your age again, in my opinion Dvd's that just throw footage together and play a cool song over it are Old School. Cruising with Jared Schafer and seeing what goes into creating a sick section that's edited to the track that's playing is a lot of hard work. Think about it from the point of view of a guy making a new Vid. Slap some shots of a guy zooming a wave and then hitting the section right at the end with a Lekker local track playing (that nobody has really heard before) or a shot of the guy smashing the section edited to the smash of Drums on a track that everyone's heard of on the radio. Which one do you think will appeal to the masses of frothing groms and therefore sell more copies?
Anyway, that's what I think. It defintely comes down to personal preference, i'm not a huge fan of Narration in Dvd's.
One things for sure, i'm super amped to see Mr Schafer's new production.
Haha, it's super flat out here on the North Shore, has been for the past week and i'm bored!
MichelleDaniels
December 2007
Yes, in my opinion, Oz has some superb talent, however SA, Hawaii, Canaries, Brazil etc-- have proven to be right up there as well. It's great that Australia has a strong, supportive group of supporter's. I believe the U.S. has a pretty good suppport of companies--especially board companies!!

Quite a while back I was researching the world's top women bodyboarder's and how they faired. I was really amazed at the number of Japanese women that were numbered in the top 50! Especially since we don't hear about it.

Jared Schafer's Pull the Plug was greatness and looking forward to his second venture to be released! BY THE WAY, WHEN IS THAT?? I have and also really enjoy the SA films, Lines of Fire and Piece of Mind. I am not a big fan of narration either. I do appreciate the time involved to piece together music to the manuver's and label who is riding, as well. Really makes it even more interesting when they spotlight a rider and show him at his crib and involved in other activties as well--for instance the SA Development work et. Now making an SA bodyboarding movie to SA MUSIC would be tops! Would really be keen to see something like that.

With all due respect, I don't think a blanketed statement can be made concerning all SA's and their lack of drive to travel. (I would venture to say that could be said of all other countries as well.) Now reading that comes as real surprize!!! In fact, I have heard/witnessed quite the opposite. I have met and keep in contact with many SA's that are vigilant in breaking out and seeing the world! That has been one of the most impressive attributes, along with a drive to succeed at what they set out to accomplish, utilizing necessary personal sacrafices as well! I've heard stories(Won''t mention any names) of what some of these top bodyboarder's have sustained themselves on, just so they could have the means to travel to the next comp. Perhaps it is Alistair's way of attempting to motivate some of the upcoming talent?!?

As far as Spy Dude showing his age? Hahah! I guess his reputation proceeds him--
I'm still getting over the "African American" comment!?!? Hahahah! Where did that come from?
Teasing you Pierre--Just joking!
Maybe I shouldn''t get you started, hey?!
No worries, I don't judge other's from their looks or formulated comments on a message board until I have personally met and talked to them.
Ian
December 2007
Aust is prob the most progressive country and they are blessed with some of the craziest and heaviest waves on the planet!but then again their country is huge and the surfing/bodyboarding population is massive in respect so i think in other ways, other countrys are doing a damn fine job of representing, in size ratio!

South african riders has always had repect overseas in hawaii for example, surfers and bodyboarders due to their good nature and crazy attitude to charging heavy waves...

The Canarian riders who live on island the size of dots on the world map are probably the most consitent all-round riders and have mad attitudes when it comes to charging their waves but then again if you look at their local waves..whats not to charge?

Hawaiin riders also have an amazing talent pool but also have some of the best waves to train on plus their economy is shy, so they can travel pretty easily
December 2007
well ja think Oz definitely has it hey in the bag. they are leading the way and making things happen.. but they make it happen!! I know our currency aint that strong but i do believe a lot of our riders can be very lazy with making the effort to expose the sport.. sure we all put some form of effort in which is great, but how often do we see the bodyboarding owes chipping in for a jetski, boat or even a good off road car to make missions and trips?

Zigzag are doing it and if you follow them they are hitting up and discovering soooo many sick new waves even on the w.coast where the bodyboarder doesnt even have a clue about it cause hes scrapping it.. so yup that doesnt help but think we need to go big and stop being a scrapper and push the sport if you want it to grow!! And yes coverage is a big thing for the sport, but in order for that you need Photog's and camera guys who actually put in soooo much time and miss out on sooo much waves just to get some coverage for the sport...the end of the day the guys that shoot and film bodyboarding dont make any coin id say from SA side of things... but if owes would pull together and make plans, get a 4x4 and few bodyboarders, maybe a photog or camera guy and go explore somewhere random even for the weekend it could be worth it.. thats what the guys in Oz are doing constantly and look at the stuff they are coming across!! Maybe we dont always get hit by such monsterous swell... but if its after huge slabbing reefs you want, then maybe when CT is maxing out dont go ride Toilets where its fun 3ft... GO MISSION and find a sick 6-10FT slabbing reef or insane point break... make it happen its a new year and think owes need to get over this whole wimpy crying about surfing....why fight them? lets just watch and learn how they do it as they have already learnt so should be easier to pick up off them who knows.....
Jmo
December 2007
Go Mark! I like your style...

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