Paulo Bacellos wins Pipe! 

The final day of the IBA/USBA Pipeline Pro went down with twists and turns that would make any of water sports stand at attention. With a on sight crowd of 2,000 and 18,000 webcast viewers the IBA and USBA top 32 riders went for broke for the entire day!

The Surf conditions started the day with light winds and a 6-8 ft WNW Hawaiian size swell.  The early rounds saw major action with David Crowley (AUS) progressing to the quarterfinals all the way from the trails. One of the biggest stories of the day was Pierre Costes (FRN) who was injured during his round 8 win over Mike Stewart (HI), Damien King (AUS) as he progressed with Darren Halse into the quarters (ENG). Pierre who is just coming off a fractured patella in his knee was hurt going backdoor during this heat, landing on his back leaving him almost enable to walk up the beach. He was assisted to the beach to rest and lick his wounds. Later he opted to continue to compete and was able to win his Quarter final heat only to be stopped in the Semi finals coming in early in pain
From his fairly server injuries.

Heading into the semis there were big upsets and big performances. Hugo Pinheiro (Port) was able to take out Pierre and Ben Player who was having a great competition early in the day with numerous backdoor barrels. Also moving through the first semi final was Brazil’s Paulo Bacellos who had been surfing solid all day!

In the next semi final it was a dominant Jeff Hubbard leading the pack with the first 10 point ride of the day, consisting of a double barrel to ars. Following suit was Uri Valadao who was able to edge out his countryman Guilherme Tamega with a tie breaker going to the their third best wave.

The final was an all out battle with blows coming from all riders. Jeff Hubbard sent a warning shot with a huge ars at backdoor, followed by Uri Valadao throwing almost the exact same maneuver just after. Paulo Barcellos through caution to the wind with a massive roll on a close out section at backdoor showing true commitment to the judges. Jeff answered back with a big invert again at backdoor. Hugo Pinheiro choose to stick to Pipe in the final and with Paulo Barcellos picking off the best Pipe barrels of the heat, leaving Hugo with not much to choose from.

In the end it was Paulo who took out the talented field with Jeff Hubbard just behind him.
An amazing crowd filled with Brazilian/Paulo supporters attacked him before the official beach byte scores where released. During the awards Paulo said in Portuguese to the webcast fans online “it has always been my dream to win at Pipe in 12 ft conditions but I will take the win in 6-8ft waves just the same”. Congratulations to Paulo for the much deserved win and thank you to our sponsors Bodyglove Bodyboards, Pride and NMD for their huge support of this years event.

USBA STAFF

For more information please check out

www.usbatour.org
www.ibatour.com

Bodyboarding has definitely come a long way since its humble beginning back in 1971, when Tom Morey had an idea to create a form of surfcraft that was more versatile in a wider variety of conditions. In this present day there is easily over 100 core companies dedicated to supporting the sport of bodyboarding. Sitting high up on that business pedestal are the Australians with a massive rider clientele to back that up.

Bodyboarders Surf Co. decided is was time to send some of their newest staff members out on the road to meet up with a handful of Australia’s finest industry folk to see what really happens behind those stage lit doors. So, on Tuesday 7th February, a handful of the crew from the Narrabeen store and I(Gold Coast) hit the busy streets of Sydney with Mick(Parkhill) behind the wheel of a hire car to meet up with Reon and the crew at the 4Play/Manta HQ, and also with Julio & Jose at World Bodyboards. The sole purpose of this trip was to find out what’s keeping the bodyboarding scene rolling right now, what’s going down in the shapers dens - from designing a board, to how it makes it all the way to our store - and to find out a bit more on product design and what to expect in the near distant future from these crazy big wigs!!

We started off at 4Play/Manta’s head office with Reon Fisher whom started shaping for 4Play/Manta back in 2000 after his team manager at the time Dave Clarke encouraged him to have a go since his surfing wasn’t going to get him anywhere(just kidding, he rips!!). Since then he has been schooled by every shaper there is, however he has always tried to put his own touch on to every board. There have been a million highs and of course a few lows in this time, including the fall of Manta in 2003/03 and the original mastermind behind it all-Terry Fleming! “It was hard to see Terry go bust and then wait to see who would come along to take over-luckily Stewart Brown came along, and he is so passionate about the sport.” Reon was the brains behind the new “Fusion” core(now available in store through the 4Play Dallas model), something that he has been perfecting over the last 5 years. The basic principle of it was to get the best of both worlds in terms of cores binding DOW & PolyPro together. “The feedback has been great, as its being used by guys who usually ride DOW”. The next model however is going to have a few changes with a Carbon stringer instead of FTC, and also the signature I-MESH(shh-keep this on the low down!). We finished up our stay here by getting a hands on approach on shaping a board for one of their team riders(whom shall remain nameless for certain reasons), and then checking out their archives, which bought a few tears to Mick’s eyes(showing his age).

From here on we made our way into the city to search through the maze that is Sydney to find World Bodyboards HQ, which by the way is very classy! We all sat down with Jose & Julio at the biggest round table you could imagine to discuss some of the current market trends and to hopefully squeeze some info on this years products from the likes of NMD, BZ, VS-however their lips were sealed tighter than the National Mint! All they could say though is that it was going to blow us away, so look out for that guys!! These two gentlemen are also close to the hardest working men within the Australian Bodyboarding Market today. Julio alone has been mixing it up with pretty much every label for at least the last ten years. Jose also being a strong core bodyboarder gives a great insight into what’s working and what’s not. Having these two guys working alongside one another is like having Vodka with Red Bull-and absolute explosion of so many good things at once. The other amazing thing that goes down here is the shipping & transport-it is like every little groms dream, literally thousands of boards in every size, colour & flavour you could imagine. And these guys make sure that all this is making it to the appropriate stockists-such as us(BSC). The only down side of the trip here was that none of us actually wanted to leave, I think each of us at one stage tried to hide amongst a box of boards so we’d never have to face reality again-come to think of it, has anyone seen Luke back at work since then??

Overall the day was amazing, we all went home with a brain filled with new knowledge especially in terms of design. This now makes us even better at our jobs, so if you are unsure about what board is going to suit you best-just ask! We’ve now got some core samples in both stores for you guys to check out as well. Bodyboarding is changing people-but for the better, boards are going to get stronger, faster lighter, prettier! You name it, its happening!! But finally we would all like to thank everyone that gave up their time on the day, I know you guys were probably sick of us after about five minutes especially when CJ started busting out inverts on new boards into the dumpster(didn’t really happen-would have been cool though). So a big shout out to Reon, Andrew, Graeme & Steph at 4Play Manta, and also Jose & Julio at World-you guys are all amazing and are the backbone of what is by far the greatest industry in the world…BODYBOARDING!!

Written by Ben Oborne
Gold Coast

The setup at pipe the day before the 2008 contest waiting period began.

The Pipeline event has already kicked off in Hawaii with BSC team riders Dave Winchester, Dallas Singer, Nick Ormerod, Nick Perry, Ewan Donnachie and Simon Ormerod all competing. Keep your eye out for these guys as they’re all in top form heading into the event and are all more than capable of taking the Pipe crown home with them!

To follow all the action live, check out www.ibatour.com 

To check out the IBA Calendar and the schedule of events to come, click the link below.

IBA Tour Calendar 2008

Event: The 2008 IBA/USBA Pipeline Pro

IBA/USBA Men’s Pro Sponsors: Bodyglove Bodyboards, Pride and NMD

USBA Women’s Pro: Association of Women’s Bodyboarding, Duke Kahamoku Foundation, Surfsling and Wahine Blue TV

USBA Drop Knee Pro: LMNOP Bodyboards

Today was the official kick off of the 2008 IBA/USBA Pipeline Pro.
With over 2000 fans on hand T&C surf helped the IBA/USBA kick off its biggest promotion of the year ” The T&C Go Big Promo”. This event has been a part of Bodyboarding’s biggest competition the Pipeline Pro for 11 years. Thanks to the People at Town and Country Surf and 2008 Pipeline Pro sponsors Bodyglove, Pride and NMD Bodyboards the event had another amazing run. Fans from Hawaii and all over the world Came out to get free boards and a piece of Pipeline Pro history. Women’s USBA 2x Champion was quoted saying ” This was the largest bodyboard promotion I have attended and it is great to see the public come out in the thousands to support their favorite riders”

The 2008 IBA/USBA Pipeline Pro will be on call starting this Sunday the
17th with a waiting period running to the following Sunday the 24th. The Men’s IBA/USBA divisions will run on the peak of next week’s swell followed by The USBA Women’s Pro presented by the Association of Women’s Bodyboarding and The Duke Kahamoku Foundation. The LMNOP Drop Knee Pro division looks to run on the reinforcing NW swell predicted to hit later in the workweek!

For more information please check out

www.usbatour.org
www.ibatour.com

For Webcast

www.usbamag.com/webcast

www.ibatour.com/webcast

Note: The New USBA Online magazine at USBAMAG.COM will Launch this Sunday in recognition of the start of the 2008 IBA/USBA Pipeline Pro

USBA STAFF

Newsletter

10th February 2008

Duranbah

Our first comp for the year went off with a blast as the new memberships kept rolling in and so did the swell. It was great to see some old faces return to the club and many new talents arrive to test their skills against the likes of Nick Ormerod, Corey McLean and the younger contenders of Sam Boulton and Thorpe Waluew.

With our divisions reverting to Groms, Cadets, Junior’s, Men’s and Opens the whole day evolved with some interesting results with a huge contingent of bodyboarders rolling up for the Open Division (30 entries) to accumulate points for the Trip to Hawaii, sponsored by Bodyboaders Surf Co @ Coolangatta.

The day proved to be a long one, but not without excitement from every division and thanks to BSC we were also able to present some special awards for the day. Our BSC gift vouchers for this month were as follows:-

Life Saver of the Day: This award went to Dane Pope who paddled out to rescue a
200kg bodyboarder (I think this is exaggerated because I think he was only 180kg) who was caught in the huge rip right in front of the judging tent. What an effort.
Dane was closely followed by Chris Breeze, who later went to rescue a stand up surfer (caught in the same rip) and managed to manoeuvre him to
Froggies and bail him out. Well done to both guys for their quick thinking and dedication. You both do Bodyboarders proud. Thanks heaps.

Wipe-out of the Day: This award went to Nikki Barnes (mother of three and our sole female competitor) who just wants to have some fun. Nik’s went through to the Men’s semi final and mixed it well all day until she “just got hammered” by one wave. Keep it up Nik’s we love having you there.

Junior Judge: Our Junior Judge award for this month went to Dylan McAskill. Dylan has joined the club this year as a grom but could not compete due to injury but still attended the comp to help out and learn what the judges look for. This is one keen grom as he is eager to learn and took in everything regarding judging that was put to him. Look out for this grom! Well done mate and I am sure your injuries will be over with for the next comp. Look after yourself and thanks heaps for your support on the day.

Parent Helper: It was fantastic to see the parents roll up and lend their support in which ever way possible. Special thanks went to Allan Macfarlane, who helped out all day (5.00 p.m. finish) with any task that came his way. Be it cooking the BBQ or changing flags, he was there. Thanks Allan.

We hope you all enjoy spending your BSC gift vouchers.

BSC gift vouchers were also awarded to the winners in each division with results being:-

Grommets:

Elliot Lynch

Cadets

Lloyd Vernals
Thorpe Waluew
Jordan Putland
Jack Oliver

Juniors

Sam Boulton
Peter Norman
Elliot Williams
Jimmy Williamson
Beau Kearsley

Mens

Casey Redden
Chris Breeze
Brendan Murray
Desaphie Mathieuk

Opens

Sam Boulton
Desaphie Mathieuk
Corey McLean
Jimmy Williamson

DK

Corey McLean
Stevie Lloyd
Tom MacFarlane
Brett Dalton

Our next comp will be on 10th March @ Duranbah and don’t forget to check out our new website @ www.qabonline.com for updates, comp results and photos from the day.

See you all next month.

Cheers

Deb Waluew

Agent 18 is the latest bodyboarding wetsuit brand to arrive in our stores and creator Bryce Thurston and his elite team of riders have really engineered something special with this brand.

Sourcing the very finest materials and manufacturing known to man, the Agent 18 suit is the ultimate in high quality, construction and design available for you the bodyboarder. These suits aren’t your run of the mill product that looks good on the shelf but struggles to stay together after a handful of surfs - these are seriously well constructed and tested suits that will provide the very best in comfort, warmth, functionality and very importantly durability for many seasons to come.

Chris James, Michael Novy, Glen Thurston and Jake Stone are already on board with Agent 18 and are sporting some funky colours and designs. Look no further than Agent 18 when you’re hunting down your next rubber suit.

Bodyboarders Surf Co is the ONLY STORE WORLDWIDE to stock the Zebra long arm spring suit and stocks are very limited so preorder now to avoid disappointment!

Sydney Bodyboard Club is back in 2008 with an even stronger membership base and bigger plans for the year of competition so make sure you’re signed up to your division before all the places are filled!

Click here to check out the club page and download the rego form!