Bodyboarding has always had a tough time at the hands of its older brother surfing. Back in the 80s when bodyboarding and the Morey Boogie board were gaining popularity most surfers just saw it as a kids toy, something for the groms to practice on before learning to stand up. Just look at how Morey were advertising their boogie boards back in 1986…
Bodyboarding could have ended up being a fad that would just recede into insignificance, and for a while it did. At the end of the 80s bodyboarding was in a downward spiral, widely regarded as a lesser form of wave riding, but a group of kids from Cronulla in South Sydney didn’t let it go. They embraced their sport, gave it life and took their own path, sticking the finger up to anyone who got in their way. These guys were called the Skid Kids.
Holding On
A new documentary is being released in November this year telling the story of the Skid Kids, namely six die-hard bodyboarders, Dave Ballard, Nathan Purcell, Matt Percy, Adam Smith, Christian Riguccini, and Mark Fordham. When the whole surfing industry was shunning the bodyboard, this group of kids held on and kept doing what they loved. They didn’t fit in with the established surf culture and they didn’t want to. They did things differently, their own way and didn’t care what other people thought. At the time line-ups were totally dominated by surfers, and bodyboarders had to really prove their worth. So that is exactly what the Skid Kids did.
Shark Island Pioneers
On a reef around 100 metres of the coast, easily viewable from land and just a short paddle out to reach it, broke a wave that none of the local surfers in Cronulla had attempted to ride. It broke into such shallow water, a hollow wave zippering along the reef with such speed, it was deemed impossible to ride. The wave kept on breaking with no one even attempting it, until the Skid Kids took it on. They were the first to ride this dangerous surf break, and with that they opened the floodgates for bodyboarding. This was a wave that surfers wouldn’t ride, but bodyboarders would. Suddenly they had the upper hand and a mutant slab all to themselves.
The Challenge
Now Shark Island is home to the annual Shark Island Challenge, an Association of Bodyboarding Professionals event that has grown into one of the most celebrated bodyboarding contests in the world. Nathan Purcell and Mark Fordham organised the first challenge in 1997, and now it’s a prestigious invitation-only event that pits 20 of the world’s best bodyboarders against each other on one day when the conditions are at their best and biggest.
Check Out the Trailer
The documentary isn’t out for a few more months yet, but a trailer has been released which you can watch below. To find out more about the Skid Kids and updates on the documentary head over to the Holding On website.