Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore. Bodyboarding is also referred to as Boogieboarding due to the invention of the "Boogie Board" by Tom Morey in 1971. The average bodyboard consists of a short, rectangular piece of hydrodynamic foam. Bodyboarders typically use swim fins for additional propulsion and control while riding a breaking wave.
Bodysurfing is the sport of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. Bodysurfers often equip themselves with a pair of swimfins that aid propulsion and help the bodysurfer catch, ride, and kick out of waves. Some bodysurfers also use a wooden or foam handplane, which helps to get one's chest out of the water to reduce drag, this is known as handplaning and is an offshoot of bodysurfing.
Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. He won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year four-times. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.
Jeff Hubbard is the 2012 IBA World Tour bodyboarder champion from Kauai, Hawaii. His brother David also won a bodyboarding world title: the 2009 IBA Drop Knee World Tour. Jeff won his first IBA World Title in 2006 and the second in 2009 and third in 2012.
The Shark Island Challenge (SIC), held near Cronulla, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is a World Tour event in bodyboarding since the elimination of the Teahupoo Challenge (Teahupoo) from the world bodyboarding tour.
José Otavio, or Zé Otavio, is the given name of a Brazilian bodyboarder. He was born in the landlocked state of Minas Gerais. He started to surf in Guriri, Espírito Santo, and he developed his skills as a bodyboarder on the beaches of Niterói, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Otavio has continued his career by surfing Brazil's most sought after bodyboarding waves at Itacoatiara beach. He was the first bodyboarder to execute a 720° reverse air spinner caught on tape, which can be seen in the bodyboarding video movie QUE! Mutação.
Mister Pipeline is a title given to masters of the waves at the North Shore's Pipeline. It was first given to Butch Van Artsdalen, and is passed on from generation to generation, by consensus. During this year, the Pipeline was at the forefront of surfing competitions. This first initial competition was sponsored by Continental Airlines, giving the winner a share of $500. Hakman rode six- to eight-foot waves for hours despite the conditions, being a leader in the big-wave riders at Pipeline. While Hakman dominated the first year of the competition, newcomer Michael Armstrong stunned the event by clinging to second place and a $250 prize. Corky Carroll took third place with a $150 prize. Other holders of the title have included sometime actor Gerry Lopez and bodyboarding legend Mike Stewart.
The Banzai Pipeline, or simply Pipeline or Pipe, is a surf reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore. A reef break is an area in the ocean where waves start to break once they reach the shallows of a reef. Pipeline is known for huge waves that break in shallow water just above a sharp and cavernous reef, forming large, hollow, thick curls of water that surfers can tube ride. There are three reefs at Pipeline in progressively deeper water farther out to sea that activate according to the increasing size of approaching ocean swells.
Patrick Shane Dorian, or "Shane", is an American surfer from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He spent 11 years touring on the World Championship Tour as a professional surfer. Dorian quit competition surfing in 2003 to focus on big waves. He is currently a big wave surfer and one of the best in the world at big wave riding.
Andre Botha is a South African bodyboarder. Born in Cape Town in 1981, he left school at the age of 15 to become a professional bodyboarder and won his first world title at the age of 17 and his second at 18, winning both the World GOB Tour Series and the Pipeline World Championships.
Alexandre de Pontes (1968–1993), also known as Xandinho, was a Brazilian bodyboarder, and one of the first Brazilians to gain widespread international recognition in the sport. He was the first Brazilian to reach the finals in the Pipeline world bodyboarding championship. He died in a car accident in Portugal when returning to the airport for a flight back to Brazil.
Ben Severson is a Sandy Beach bodyboarder. He was the 1986 world bodyboarding champion.
The Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic (PBC) is a bodysurfing competition held annually during the winter season at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
Terry Wade is an American bodysurfer. Terry Wade, who began surfing at the Wedge at age 14, describes it as an exceptionally high-performance wave, noted for its challenge and intensity, making it one of the most formidable waves worldwide due to its power and steepness.
Carol Philips is a pioneer of big-wave bodyboarding for women. She was the first woman to compete against the men at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore (Oʻahu). She founded the World Championship of Women's Bodyboarding in memory of Don and Josie Over in 1990. She was the first woman to hold a permit to run a contest at the Banzai Pipeline. Philips is the founder of the North Shore Surf Girls - Surf School.
James Duncan O'Brien is a professional surfer from the North Shore, Hawaii.
Teahupoʻo is a village on the southeastern coast of the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, France, in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is known for the large, consistent surf that occurs off its shore, and resulting international surfing competitions.
Mathieu Schiller was a French bodyboarder. Crowned French champion in 1993, he later won the team event of the European championships in 1995. He died in a shark attack off Saint-Gilles, Réunion. The attack was likely caused by multiple tiger shark or bull sharks. The presence of sharks and turbulent conditions forced rescuers to abandon an immediate attempt to retrieve his body; his remains were never recovered.
