The Joy of Bodysurfing
Posted on February 01, 2007 @ 2:38 PM
It’s kind of hard to explain the feeling. There’s something else in there that puts you much more in touch with nature when it’s just your body and the wave. No board, just you, a pair of fins and a wave (and your speedos, of course).
Words and Photos by Sean Davey
Bodysurfing, or some basic form of it, is how most people interact with waves for the first time. My earliest experience of breaking waves was actually about as horrifying as you can imagine. My mom had brought my brothers and I (a 3-year-old Australian ‘gremmie’) to the beach for the first time, and told us all to stay on the sand while she went for a swim. No problem methinks, until, just as she entered the water, the whole ocean opened up its enormous mouth and completely ate her up.
At least, that’s how this little toddler saw it. I was totally distraught at seeing my own mother disappear into the jaws of this terrifying monster.
Of course, really she’d just ducked under a pitching wave. And even though this was a traumatic experience, in the long run it didn’t affect my feelings for the beach at all. I’ve pretty much been in and out of the ocean almost every day since I was around 9 years old. During this time, bodysurfing definitely became a staple part of my daily routine, especially as a youngster. It became an absolute must on days when the best waves broke in the flagged (surfboard-free) zone, which was a lot of the time because the lifeguards always flagged off the best waves on the beach so they could bodysurf without surfers getting in the way.
We resented them for that, back in the day. I don’t know if it’s still the same now, but I do know that if I were one of the lifeguards, I’d probably do it myself now!
By my mid-teens, bodysurfing had fallen away as surfing became my focus, although I did get pretty obsessed with it again through my early 20s. Back then, as soon as I got home from work every day, I’d be straight down to the beach to meet up with my buddy and we’d bodysurf until dark. It didn’t matter if it was 1ft or 10ft; we’d be all over it, every day.
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