Like cats and dogs, bodyboarders and surfers have historically been sworn enemies.
But is that feud still a thing? World Champion bodyboarder, Jeff Hubbard, went on Jamie O’Brien’s podcast to talk about the perceived beef between surfers and bodyboarders, his approach in the water, and the worst wipeout he ever experienced.
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But before we get into the beef, let’s hear about Hubbard’s worst wipeout ever:
“I was at Sandy Beach, and it was like one-foot. I pulled into a little left, and got wrapped around a rock. I broke my back, and broke two ribs. When it’s big and gnarly, all your senses are firing on all cylinders. You’re very calculated. But those small days, you’re just like: ‘la la la.’ Then, bam…smacked into the reef.”
Then, Hubbard went on to talk about the historic hostility between bodyboarders and surfers. And he had some interesting thoughts on how it started, and why it’s perhaps not so much of a big deal these days.
At the 52:00-minute mark below, fellow North Shore surfer and veteran Makua Rothman phones into the podcast to ask: “Why do you think there’s so much hostility between surfers and bodyboarders?”
Hubbard responded:
“I think the stigma emerged in the early ‘80s, when bodyboarding was gaining a lot of popularity. It was gaining so much traction around the world that it was taking a little light away from surfing.
“Because it was such an easy-access vehicle for the ocean, the mass majority of people were kind of kooks. They didn’t know surfing etiquette; they didn’t know where to be in the lineup; they didn’t know aloha. They were probably getting in the way. These weren’t the ‘good’ bodyboarders from Hawaii – they knew exactly what they were doing in the water. But the majority of people went out and didn’t know what they were doing. I think the stigma stemmed from that.
“The good news is, from a bodyboarders perspective, is that there are a lot less people out there doing that these days. Today, you see a lot more kook surfers on soft-tops ruining the sessions. It’s more of a surfer-to-surfer beef than it used to be.”
And Makua added:
“Some of the stuff I’ve seen you folks do demands respect. It’s some of the craziest, gnarliest things I’ve seen any waterman do.”
Perhaps the feud is coming to an end?
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