Torpedo People

A few years ago while in Hawaii for the world title race, I bumped into old friend Nick Carrol, brother of Tom. Nick was looking terrible, with half of his face literally missing. ”What happened?” I asked, as anyone would if they bumped into an old friend with half a face missing.

“I went bodysurfing,” was Nick’s reply, adding nothing after that. It turned out that he was out bodysurfing at Pipe on a flat day, and surfed straight into a coral head, inflicting serious-looking damage. In Hawaii you even get fucked up bodysurfing when it is flat.

Bodysurfing has always been there, the much older, quiet brother running alongside surfing, and two great world champs in Tom Curren and Kelly Slater have long been advocates for the fitness benefits and convenience of it.

Both have been know in the past to carry swim fins with them on surf trips, to head out for a bodysurfing session when the waves are somewhat less than heady. From their involvement, a kind of popularity grew amongst many pros for one, and the sport spread out a little from there.

It’s pure, it’s natural, and without the assistance of anything buoyant like a surfboard or a bodyboard, bodysurfing is an art unto itself. Bodysurfers typically equip themselves only with a pair of specialised swim fins that stay on during turbulent conditions and optimise propulsion. To get on the wave, bodysurfers must time their launch, pick a direction, kick and stroke hard with feet and arms, and then use their back and outstretched arm, to ride the wave both sideways and downward. In other words, they go out and have all sorts of fun on the waves.

The bodysurfing movement picked up some momentum over the last decade, and seemed to somehow affiliate itself with the hipster movement of minimalism and beards, with a crew of scrawny, hairy-faced men, taking bodysurfing to the next level. Nowhere has this been better encapsulated than in Keith Malloy’s inspiring and award winning (Best Film, Best Cinematography) movie Come Hell Or High Water - The Plight Of The Torpedo People.

In it, bodysurfing is described, understood and deployed to great effect. The movie itself is close to a little bit too arty, but it gets away with it and comes out pretty cool, with unique angles and sound affects that any surfer will enjoy.

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Unknown to many, bodysurfing has a number of moves and tricks. You get dolphin surfing, single-rolls, inverse-rolls, double-rolls, triple-rolls, off-the-lip rolls, back-riding, 360, and obviously, the ubiquitous tube. So brush up on your skills in the shore break and check them out here (with French subtitles)

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There is a bodysurfing organisation that runs the World Bodysurfing Championships that take place every year in the United States: http://www.worldbodysurfing.org/

In Hawaii there is a specialty event called the Pipeline Bodysurfing Experience at Pipe. In 2014, it was won by former world body boarding champion Mike Stewart, while Mark Cunningham (pictured above) is always part of the scene, and is known as the grandfather of the sport in the modern era.

The RVCA Rolling Retro surf tournament, which was postponed until next Sunday 1 March due to heavy surf forecast tomorrow, will for the first time recognise bodysurfing by including a bodysurfing division with prizes. There are slots for 40 entries in the bodysurfing event, and there is a men’s and a lady’s division.

Wawa Wooden Surfboards have made 10 handslides available for competitors. A handslide is like a mini board that goes under one of your hands, providing lift, thus less drag and more speed for the bodysurfer. The prizes for the bodysurfing tournament are El Jimador-branded wooden handslides shaped out of locally grown agave wood by Wawa Wooden Surfboards.

Check out Wawa Wooden Surfboards and RVCA Rolling Retro on Facebook. The event hashtag is #rvcarollingretro