You have been at the top of the sport since day one, how have you seen the changes to bodyboarding as a whole through the boom-bust days of the eighties/nineties to the current situation we have now of a bunch of dedicated guys doing it for love for the sport
I believe the sport is in the healthiest state it has ever been in. The level of riding is at it’s highest point and advancing. The IBA is the most organized it’s been and growing with great venues on the tour, and the sport is supported almost entirely by bodyboarding companies.
Your Science range of boards are really popular in the UK, as in the rest of the world, whats new in the science range for 2008?
There are quite a few things we are introducing this year, you might want to go to
http://www.mikestewart.com for all the details. This would be a synopsis of some of the boards coming out. For starters a long awaited dk/prone hybrid DK5, based off of the very popular ms5. World tour Top 5 South African rider Mark McCarthy has a signature board with a unique deck contour that will increase the surface area that your arm contacts and controls the board. Australian phenomenon/prodigy Tom Rigby will be heading up a line of boards called the Mini Rig’s designed for charging groms who need scaled down equipment. I am working with shaper Tom Wegener on a traditional Hawaiian prone board that is an absolute blast to ride especially in smaller conditions. I have come out with a couple really cool board bags, One is an ultra light bag designed for simple transport of you and your friends gear this bag compresses and zips into itself to fit easily in your backpack or luggage to bring with you where ever you travel to. Another is a new beach towel that folds and easily zips into a padded board cover. We are also introducing two types of coils for the new Gyroll arm and wrist leashes. The original tough and extremely strong one and a softer one when conditions aren’t exactly like pipe.
We are also introducing an entire line of wetsuits designed specifically to enhance your bodyboarding.
As well as designing your Science range of boards and Gyroll accessories you also design and invent other stuff, such as the watercamera you used in the filming of Sprout. Do you have anything new and exciting in the pipeline at the moment?
There are a couple really interesting things I am working on at the moment but they are all pretty much surf related. I would just say go to
http://www.mikestewart.com for updates.
You still continue to compete at the highest level of the sport and have always been up there with the best riders in the world. How do you manage to compete around the world as well as run a successful business and also spend time with the family?
Life is a balancing act. Efficiency is high with laptop computers these days, so you can travel and still be productive and connected. In fact last season, it seems traveling enhanced my awareness of the bodyboarding environment on many levels and really helped my business. Regarding competing at a high level: I have embarked on a fairly strict physical program. My diet is mainly organic foods and I am eating according to my metabolic typing. I am also following a strict fitness program that includes stretching and core exercise that seem to keep me going strong. However my number one priority is always my family and I am just lucky to have two great kids and especially a great wife that fully supports me when I travel.
I am finding it harder to keep up with the younger guys in the water nowadays, do you have any tips for prolonging the bodyboarding life of an aging rider such as myself?
You have a huge advantage; that being experience. If you get into better shape physically your mind will also have renewed stoke which just snowballs into a positive flow. There is absolutely no reason you can’t continue to perform and progress at a high level. (Matt let me know if you need some help here and maybe give me a call on skype or the phone. I am pretty sure I can help)
Being at the top of the sport you have been lucky enough to earn a good living from bodyboarding, can you give some advice as to how to get a foothold into the industry and to how bodyboarders themselves can put energy back into the sport?Well it’s not easy in a sport that is in it’s infancy like ours is. You have to be resourceful, smart and very hard working.
You have discovered and surfed some of the heaviest waves in the world, how do you prepare to surf such heavy places as Pipe, Teaphoo and Jaws? Does it depend on the spot or do you have a set routine?
I do have to psyche myself up but usually intense surf will get the adrenalin flowing pretty easily and then it’s just auto pilot from there.
As well as pushing the boundaries for discovering new spots, you have also chased the same swell around the world and towed into some of the biggest waves surfed, do you have any other missions or goals in the pipeline?
Just when you think you have experienced the bulk of what the ocean has to offer there is a new frontier, a new experience. I guess my goal at this point is just to be able to experience more of that, to be able to really experience the best fruit this existence here has to offer.
With the current trend of high performance bodyboarding in bigger and heavier waves how do you think riders will progress in the future, and how do you see advances in board design progressing to help this development?
Riders will continue to push it in heavier conditions doing crazier moves. Equipment will adapt to help achieve this. I am already working on some things along this line.
When are you next coming over to visit us in the UK? Hopefully soon. I would love to make a trip over to Ireland and drop down to check out England as well.
Many thanks for your time, aloha.
