What is Bodyboarding?
By: Ciaran Mann
Southern California is home to a large stretch of coastline that is bordered by the Pacific Ocean. California gets great waves year round attracting people, from wave-riders to vacationers coming to see the beautiful coastline. People think of surfing when it comes to extreme ocean water sports, but bodyboarding is another extreme ocean water sport that is completely put in the dark by surfing.
In the case of bodyboarding, Boogie is a very popular brand of bodyboard hence many people know the sport as "Boogie boarding". Now the brand Boogie, which created the first huge bodyboarding brand and put the sport in the spotlights, is a massive distributor of low-end boards. In fact, a “Boogie boarder” or “Boogie” is often used by the surf community as a derogatory term. Many people think of Boogie boarding as the activity little kids enjoy when they visit the beach but there is a whole other side to the skill spectrum.
Like surfing, bodyboarding has a pro-tour where bodyboarders from all over the world travel to different beaches and compete. Like surfers, bodyboarders compete in heats where they face off head-to-head. Their waves are scored by judges on a 1-10 score, their two best waves by score are added up per heat to give them their total with the highest score being the winner. Judges base their scoring on a number of things which include time in the barrel, maneuvers such as airs, spins, cutbacks and overall performance on the wave.
Unlike surfing, bodyboard competitions have two different divisions based on riding style. The first style of riding, and most common, is prone. A bodyboard is often ridden while laying down. The second style of riding is drop knee. Drop knee riders have one knee on the board and one foot on the board in a kneeling position. Bodyboarders who ride prone are very keen to hit massive airs where they are projected off of the lip and launch into the flats. Drop knee riders can hit very impressive cutbacks and spins but airs are much more challenging.
Fins are used for bodyboarding, but a different kind of fin is used in a fairly different manner. Fins for bodyboarding are often rubber and worn on your feet unlike surfing; where the fins are often hard plastic pieces, but on the bottom of your board to give you more control on the wave. Like diving fins, they help you move around in the water but they are much shorter and stiff to give you stronger, quicker kicks to propel onto the wave.
Although bodyboarding is a much less known water sport than surfing, it has a very tight knit community of water athletes who have a special passion for the ocean. At the end of the day, no matter what kind of board you choose to ride, being in the ocean is a very humbling experience that can be life changing.