Getting into bodyboarding has definitely been one of the best things Ive ever done with my life. Pure and simple it’s just about having fun and clearing your mind of anything untoward. Like anyone will tell you when you're out in the water absolutely nothing else matters. My thoughts are with the ocean and its gentle fluid movements. The ocean is a cool embrace that heals and elates. The desire is simple; to become part of nature in all its beauty and glory and to experience something that surpasses the monotony of a life lived on terra firma.
The start of my love of the ocean oddly began in freshwater. As a kid going fishing for trout in Victoria I was fascinated with what lived beneath the ripples. I remember the occasional family trips to the beach. Swimming in the ocean was an opportunity to immerse myself in a world that didn't seem real; a world so amazing that it should only have existed in fiction books. Some of my best memories are of going to Apollo Bay and bus driving the waves on inflatable surf mats. SOOO much fun I never wanted to leave.
Many years later, after probably only really visiting the beach once or twice a year and moving from Victoria to South Australia, my brother’s girlfriend (now wife) invited us to stay at their beach shack to go fishing and bodyboarding. I was 20 years old now. I was so excited I went and bought my first bodyboard (piping hot brand check the pic' ha ha) and fins from Kmart and a second hand wetsuit from cash converters. Quality gear I know but it got me started.
The beach shack happened to be in the fisherman’s village at Pondalowie bay on the Yorke Peninsular. It wasn’t pretty but it sure was in a good location as these shacks cannot be sold or bought these days. They just get passed down through the families lucky enough to have them (most of them crayfishermen who live there half the year). I spent the next week in heaven there, going fishing half the day and learning how to bodyboard the other half of the time. I remember learning how to turn and trim in the shories while watching the surfers to see what lines they drew as they surfed the nearby reef.
It was definitely one of the best holidays of my life and since then I try to get in the ocean as often as I can and get back down to the Yorke peninsular once a year. In the following years venturing back to the fisherman's village I had the best conflict of interest you could have. I used to get up every morning of my holidays at the shack and stare into the bay in utter confusion because I couldn't work out whether I wanted to go boogin or fishing more. Such a dilemma! Over the years though it’s now a no brainer as I will choose the boog over any other activity anytime. My only regrets are that I wish I had found the joy of the sponge when I was younger. By the time I was right into bodyboarding I was in my early twenties and working full time and had a girlfriend and various other commitments so I haven’t really been able to go crazy and surf as much as I like. Nevertheless, I am always super grateful whenever I get time to soak the sponge and the stoke is never diminished.
The start of my love of the ocean oddly began in freshwater. As a kid going fishing for trout in Victoria I was fascinated with what lived beneath the ripples. I remember the occasional family trips to the beach. Swimming in the ocean was an opportunity to immerse myself in a world that didn't seem real; a world so amazing that it should only have existed in fiction books. Some of my best memories are of going to Apollo Bay and bus driving the waves on inflatable surf mats. SOOO much fun I never wanted to leave.
Many years later, after probably only really visiting the beach once or twice a year and moving from Victoria to South Australia, my brother’s girlfriend (now wife) invited us to stay at their beach shack to go fishing and bodyboarding. I was 20 years old now. I was so excited I went and bought my first bodyboard (piping hot brand check the pic' ha ha) and fins from Kmart and a second hand wetsuit from cash converters. Quality gear I know but it got me started.
The beach shack happened to be in the fisherman’s village at Pondalowie bay on the Yorke Peninsular. It wasn’t pretty but it sure was in a good location as these shacks cannot be sold or bought these days. They just get passed down through the families lucky enough to have them (most of them crayfishermen who live there half the year). I spent the next week in heaven there, going fishing half the day and learning how to bodyboard the other half of the time. I remember learning how to turn and trim in the shories while watching the surfers to see what lines they drew as they surfed the nearby reef.
It was definitely one of the best holidays of my life and since then I try to get in the ocean as often as I can and get back down to the Yorke peninsular once a year. In the following years venturing back to the fisherman's village I had the best conflict of interest you could have. I used to get up every morning of my holidays at the shack and stare into the bay in utter confusion because I couldn't work out whether I wanted to go boogin or fishing more. Such a dilemma! Over the years though it’s now a no brainer as I will choose the boog over any other activity anytime. My only regrets are that I wish I had found the joy of the sponge when I was younger. By the time I was right into bodyboarding I was in my early twenties and working full time and had a girlfriend and various other commitments so I haven’t really been able to go crazy and surf as much as I like. Nevertheless, I am always super grateful whenever I get time to soak the sponge and the stoke is never diminished.
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