First Boogyology Compo a Huge Success
posted by André de Vries on 6th July 2005
Boogyology Bodyboarding Club staged its first ever bodyboarding competition at Black Rock, Gonubie, East London on Saturday, 2 July 2005.
The club was established in March 2005 by Simon de Vries, a Grade 8 learner at Hudson Park High School, and Albert Snyman, a Grade 11 learner at Hoërskool Grens, in East London. The club currently boasts a fully paid-up membership of 20.
What makes the success of the contest even more remarkable is the fact that the organization thereof only started two and a half weeks before the actual event. Sponsors were arranged and bodyboarders responded very positively to the event. The main sponsor was Empty Vessel Creations, a clothing label started by local bodyboarder Shane Rielly, and Extreme Sports who sponsored a beautiful pair of Quiksilver shoes.
The contest attracted 30 entries, sadly no ladies. Due to a mix-up at the local municipality the beach was double-booked with Sonsurf also staging a surfing as well as a bodyboarding contest on the same day. Boogyology was then “banished” to Black Rock, which is not really known as a bodyboarding wave, but more of a surfing wave.
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Luckily we had good waves all day!" Simon de Vries, the event organiser enthused. Some high quality riding was seen especially from Albert Snyman in the Junior Division who showed why he is known as "DJ Abbie" with all the spins he managed to perform in a single wave. The pro’s were equally impressive with Shane Rielly even performing a never-seen-before and very unconventional handstand and Bruce Herselman and especially, Cabbage Botha, entertaining the crowd with some radical Air Reverses. One or two really awesome rolls were also seen from the winner of the Groms, Peter de Lacey.
Conditions became worse when a strong south-westerly came up and threatened to disrupt the waves totally and blow the judges’ tent into the surf! The drop-knee final had to be scratched and winners were determined on their accumulative points scored in the two rounds.
The following were the winners at the end of the day:
Groms (Boys 14 and under):
3. Jason de Reuck
2. Kyle Thomson
1. Peter de Lacey
Junior (Boys 15 – 17):
3. Andrew Gaylard
2. Simon de Vries
1. Albert Snyman
Dropknee (Open):
3. Simon de Vries
2. Bruce Herselman
1. Keith Milward
Pro’s (Open):
3. Keith Milward
2. Shane Rielly
1. Ryan “Cabbage” Botha
As a result of the strong wind the prize-giving had to be held from the boot of a car!
Club spokesman André de Vries, said: ‘
We really want to thank all our sponsors and helpers Empty Vessel Creations, Extreme Sports, Knights Chicken and Mochachos Chicken Villages as well as the bodyboarding community of East London for their magnificent support. Without them this would not have been such a great success. We also want to thank our media partners who advertised the event so successfully and here we especially think of the Go & Express, Link FM Christian Radio, Algoa FM and Sixty40 Website.
We’ll probably plan a similar event for early summer 2005, but first we want to get the Border Bodyboarding Association up and running again. It is envisaged that Border Trials will be held towards the end of July and during August in order to select a team to represent Border at the SA Championships in Herolds Bay at the end of September.”
Anyone interested in joining Boogyology Bodyboarding Club or in assisting with the Border Bodyboarding Association are welcome to contact Simon on 073 949 8021, Albert on 084 766 0477 or André on 082 923 5226.
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