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