First off, if you bodyboard you don't have much choice in media for getting a fix. That means there isn't much competition for the handful of bodyboard magazines, which translates into their having their pick of the photos. This means that almost any bodyboard magazine you see will have some outrageously great photography, and the Winter 2001-2002 issue of BODYBOARDING magazine in no exception.
My problem with BODYBOARDING is not with the photos, but with the written content. The features in this issue are either contest or Indo boat trip. The editorial style remains targeted for 15 year old males - I did like the big spread on Damien King's sister, Sarah Jane - to the exclusion of all else, including those who were teens last year.
It's the same predictable demographic-driven pandering that the group which puts out SURFING and BODYBOARDING have been doing for years now. I hate to pick on them - and I do pick on them - but they have done and are capable of doing so much better. At least for standup surfing there are many alternatives, and as their readers age they have some options to turn to. For bodyboarders, and bodyboarding, this lack of vision is devastating. It is killing what was,for a time, the leading edge of wave riding.
A telling fact about bodyboarding and BODYBOARDING Magazine is that the mag stopped being stocked at least in most non-surf venues in my county of residence (Ventura) right after summer. Yes, it isn't published with the same frequency after summer ends, but that isn't what I'm talking about.
BODYBOARDING should be the "Bible" of bodyboarding, but the content precludes it. Everything is focused on "now", which isn't interesting very far down the road. In the end, it's a photo book, and under the current circumstances the outstanding photos more or less get overlooked by the surfing world at large.
The first issue of 2002 is due out in late January. vagabondsurf.com will check it out for you. Here is hoping for some fresh air.
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