Sponge or bust?

Did it lying down for the first time on Wednesday. Bodyboarding that is. Necessity is the mother of invention as the saying goes. What are you gonna do if the lifeguards yank up the blue flag and boot you out the surf at Humewood? Pack up and go home? Or swop the fibreglass for foam? 

Thanks to Jono Scheepers for not laughing his head off at my pathetic attempts! Wasn't only me trying out alternative craft to stay wet. Anthony Scholtz swam out with a hand-plane for a spot of body surfing. Only way to survive the small summer swell is to think outside the box.

What's the deal with sponging anyhow? 

Turns out the bodyboard was born back in 1971. Tom Morey, a surfboard builder with a background in math and engineering, moved out to Hawaii for a change of scenery. One day he ended up at the beach without a board, and desperate for a surf he did the classic "boer maak a plan" kinda action. He borrowed an electric carving knife and an iron (as in the thing you iron clothes with) and bunged together some scrap polyethylene foam into a small rectangular mat, then covered it with newspaper. And off he went....

He dubbed this first effort the S.N.A.K.E. (side, navel, arm, knee, elbow) - I kid you not!! Prophetic? Anyhow - he refined things a bit (ok, a fair bit) and decided to trademark the name Morey Boogie for $10 in 1973. And that's how it all began...

Take the piss outta them all we want - but boogers ride deeper and fly higher than their stand-up counterparts. So hats off to them. They were the first ou's out at nutso spots like Teahupo'o and Ours. If it wedges  ledges, slabs, shorepounds...or is just plain mutant - these ou's are on it. Just please ban the bloody spinner thing tho guys!