I grew up bodyboarding on the KZN South Coast. That was twenty years ago when the sport was just starting out. I bought the Zigzag Magazine every month to see what moves my heroes were busting. I looked up to guys like Mike van Huysteen, Nigel Tarboton, Phillip Ohemsdahl and a young grommet called Alistair Taylor. That was the early days when Wave Warrior & Lazer 2 were the only boards available. Barrels, cut backs & floaters were the order of the day.
As I improved I bought a second-hand Mike Stewart Mach 7-7. My heroes then included the Cockwell brothers, Neal Stephenson, Phillip Rodrigues, Doug Lindsay, Jason Boddy, Dean Seppings, Billy Thiel, Brode Vosloo, Hilton Menne, etc. Barrels, inverts & el-rollo’s were the big moves.
Not long after that bodyboarding got some seriously good press thanks to the event that ran concurrently with the Gunston 500. I think it was organised by Tony Abrahams. The two Olivia's were busy giving ladies bodyboarding a good boost too.
Let's not forget to mention Neal Stephenson. He was a South African Bodyboarding Champion who was the victim of a shark attack in at Keurbooms beach near Lautenberg Bay. Unfortunately he lost his right leg and suffered severe lacerations on left leg and for a while was in a critical condition. He's a champion waveski surfer now.
A little later another young grommet called Andre Botha started to dominate the local tour. Andre's little sister started bodyboarding & see also cleaned up the ladies competitions. ARS's were no longer regarded as a futuristic move.
Not long after this I moved to London & I lost touch with South African bodyboarding. I’m back now & I’m slowly returning to the sport I once loved!
My point is… and I do have a point. How about creating a history section in the website? It’ll be a way of honouring those characters that made South African bodyboarding what it is today.
Cheers,
Gary
P.S. Another interesting fact is that Nigel Tarboton placed 8th in the Crush International Bodyboard Championships at Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii way back in 1988. I'm still in touch with Nigel. It might be worth getting his views on what it was like competing against Mike Stewart in his prime!
