| vagabondsurf.com It's about life - not "lifestyle" |
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| The whole credibility thing is an absolutely crucial, critical issue to be dealt with if bodyboarding is going to survive as a legitimate part of surfing. One aspect of that also is that bodyboarding needs, must, see itself as part of surfing! This is an area where the marketing and advertising controls of the usual surf media have really hurt bodyboarding. Screw monetary support of contests and a handful of pros - they need to let bodyboarding media reflect bodyboarding as it is. These days in the U.S. it's pretty much a recreational situation. Create a strong base of enthusiasts and then maybe it can support a pro contest thing; I don't see any evidence that a pro circuit will create the fan base. Bodyboarding is about riding waves, however, and people have ridden waves prone on short, finless boards probably longer than they've been standing on any watercraft except boats. It's a way of surfing, different, but not that different. Again, the standup media pretty much enforces social norms at the expense of bodyboarding. **** A breakthrough in design or materials is absolutely essential to all of this. As long as bodyboards look lifeless in color and interchangeable in design to uneducated or disinterested eyes, bodyboarding will decline. My own feeling is that a step back into regular surfboard construction methods and materials might give things an energy boost. Anybody could start designing and building bodyboards at home - finning surfboards correctly is a pain, but finless bodyboards...all you need to do is glass them. It would allow color and graphic designs to expand immediately, feel really different to current bodyboarders, have that "hardness" which seems so important to standup surfing with the related "element of danger" and dick worship, and for those who do actually make their own (soft or hard) it's an invaluable education in just how much time and work goes into making any type of surfcraft, and how good most commercial products really are. It would at the very least make things more interesting for the hardcore until some new materials or methods come along. **** Down the line? With literally hundreds of thousands of new standup surfers entering the water every year, the wave resources are pretty much gone now in most areas with any population. As more and more people flow into surfing, and with no massive movement to build wavepools yet, a lot of experienced surfers are going to be looking for alternatives. Bodyboarding less than average breaks is a logical choice for a large number of them. Maybe 10 years ago they might get a longboard and start cruising, but now so many have started on them and will stick with longboards throughout their peak surf years that eventually they may be looking for something completely different...maybe a little revolutionary.... There is a potential future out there for bodyboarding, as yet untapped. |
| BODYBOARDING DEAD IN THE WATER? PAGE 2 |
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