The Day The Bodyboarding World Changed Forever - But I can't do it alone

Some of you know me as Fish, the D’bah local who refuses to leave “Fish’s Left”, AKA "Lovers", regardless of how good the wall, snapper, or TOS is. I think it was Rob Laurie(NSW) who first started calling it Fish’s Left, but I can't actually remember.

Some of you might know me from that one year, back in 2015 when I was actually surfing well, and somehow ended up winning a National Championship and progressing to a World Championship in Chile with Jake Metcalfe (WA), Jack Harries (NSW), and my good friend, and on again off again housemate Jordyn Ihms (WA). But all of you know how much I love our sport!

The Aussie Team at the 2015 ISA World Bodyboarding Championshipn, Iquique Chile. (pic by ISA photographer Sean Evans). Left to Right Jake Metcalfe, Jordyn Ihms, Fish, Jack Harries.

Whether it’s encouraging the up and coming groms like Buzz Van Der Waal(GCBC), Levi Jackson(GCBC), and Jack Parkhill(GCBG), trying to be cool with the cadets (don’t worry Santo Van Der Waal (GCBC) and Jai Smith (GCBC), I know I’m too old to be cool, lol). Or competing and surfing with my heroes like Ceaser Bauer (Peru) and Daniel Alves (Brazil), Renato Arellano (Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le Viva Chile!), Martin Mouradian (France) Thanks for dropping that 10 on me bro,and Fabian Chacon (Costa Rica) & Kazuma Tomita (Japan), thanks for knocking me out of the World Championships boys, lol. I love bodyboarding!

Fish looking confident (but secretively shitting himself) prior to being "owned" by his heroes In Iquique, Chile 2015

I also froth over local talents and bodyboarding heroes like Joe Clarke (GCBC), Dave Winchester (GCBC), Tyson Ryan (Downstairs, hi neighbour), Matt Lackey(DK Legend), and Rob Laurie (underground shredder and role model in the "first Australian's" community).

My favourite prone rider Rob Laurie doing what he does best.... Going Big!!!!

I remember the ISA after party (well sort of...) held at local body boarding bar and unofficial Aussie team sponsors Bulldogs trying to gather my composure enough to meet perhaps the most beautiful woman in our sport, Ayaka Suzuki (Japan). I strode up confidently (I'm assuming thanks to the alcohol served to me by another bodyboarding legend and Iquique local Lucas Pipe.) "H H Hey, I'm Fish, I like bodyboarding too" I stuttered almost silently, before scurrying back to the birthplace of my shortly lived confidence.

Bulldog Sports Bar & Grill, I haven't forgotten about you guys you know "I got to do what I got to do" lol. Awesome hospitality, amazing staff, and I hope the Aussie flag is still up on the wall.

I doubt she'd remember me, or even knew I was a competitor at the time. Chile is a bodyboarding Mecca, and even I got a little bit of short term fame in the picturesque, bodyboard crazed community of Iquique. Ayaka probably thought I was just a fan. I guess I did too. It's hard to see yourself as an equal with someone who'd been training so hard to get there. My venture into competitive bodyboarding was nothing more than a chance meeting with Aussie Tour Legend, Zack Armytage (NSW).

The extremely talented and achingly beautiful Ayaka Suzuki (call me, lol) Iquique, Chile 2015 (ISA Photographer Pablo Jiminez)

The day before the 2015 D'Bah Pro (I didn't even know it was on) I see this DK'er, crowding up my local, buckets going everywhere, and the best looking beard I've ever seen. None other than Aussie Tour Legend Zac Armytage. Of course I had no idea who he was at the time, but I understand now how lucky I was. Zac invited me to join the Tour, as spot had opened up with one of the regulars not having the funds to compete. "Why should money decide who competes at the top level" I though, although excited to accept this amazing opportunity. Thanks again Zac for bringing me in. I really enjoyed that surf with you and Yuki Yamada (Japan) after battling it out with you both in the Final of the 2016 Jeff Wilcox.

And come to think of it I quiet like the increase in our women's division division (GCBC now with 7 amazing ladies of froth). I know, I know, pick up on my own time right? You guys just love the bodyboarding. I'll get on with it.

Some of my nearest and dearest friends and mentors have come from our sport too. Owen Bayliss (GCBC) (DK detroyer and possibly one of the loyalist mates you will ever meet) Juan Boogie Shakkas (GCBC) (Will surf anything, from boog to short board, mullets to SUP's. Even a McDonald's tray if you give him one). Robbie Marshall (GCBC) (Surfs in, and wins almost every division at GCBC, the dude's a machine), Brett Dalton (GCBC) (DK rolls now, are you serious mate? You're already destroying me in competition this year, do you really need to step it u a notch?) Dion Meyers and Matt Sullivan (CCBC) (Took me under their wings at my first nationals). All the Aussie boys from the Indo DK tour (pretty much every surfing region of Australia was represented), and a special shout out to Newport Wedge local, and DK maniac Adam Dumas (some of the craziest and best barrel riding I've eve seen bro).

Photo: Dion Myers, clean, stylish, but what's that I see Colonel? (what we call Dion because of the "buckets he throws") Is that a HAND ON THE RAIL? I refer to Dion as my "bodyboarding mentor", but really he's just a mate who yells "Fish! Get your f@*king hand of the rail" every time I go for a turn.

Robbie Marshall (The GCBC machine, and our resident D'bah frother)

The DK boys at the Panitin Islands, home of the infamous Napalms (Mad respect to Scotty Kitchen, and Mitch Ascroft who owned that tasty little sesh, and of course the terrifying beast Apocalypse, where only Shark Island charger Azza Glossop was crazy enough to try

Brett Dalton. DK pioneer and current leader of the GCBC DK competition.

Owen Bayliss showing why he is considered one of the biggest threats joining the competitive circuit in 2017.

Saving the best for last, Matt Brockie (my best mate since we were 12 year old groms, frothing over any shorey, novelty break, and even a makeshift wave put together using a tarp and garden hose, for those seemingly endless flat spells. Brockie is also one of the most talented and underrated surf photographers of our generation. Thanks Brocks for giving me most of the pics for my articles. And a lifetime of friendship that first developed, and has held strong because of bodyboarding. Much love brother.

Perfect timing, a lifetime of experience in the water, and balls of steel to throw yourself over the ledge on to dry reef to get the shot. It ain't easy being a surf photog but this Matt Brockie classic makes it look all too easy. He's been doing it since we were 12 years old. Buying disposable 36exp waterproof cameras, and eagerly waiting outside the Kodak shop for 1 hour "instant" developing. The vintage bodyboarders out there will no exactly what I am talking about. To the groms... you don't know how good you have it these days when it comes to surf pics. It used to work out at about $1.50 per shot (which was about a months pocket money back then), and unless you had someone like Brockie on the lense, 90% of them were garbage.

Each and everyone one of you reading this article probably know of the people I'm talking about, or even know them personally. These are huge names in a amazing sport which does not get the recognition or reward it deserves. Up and comers like Oliver Carrick (GCBC) should already be setting their sights on full time professional bodyboarding careers. The Hinchliffe and Van der Waal brothers should be household names (the family is a bodyboarding dynasty). Silas Ganciar (Brazil) should already be listed as Silas Ganciar (AUS) and helping to run and transition bodyboarding into the future. He's a brilliant events coordinator and has done so much for his an my home club GCBC. And I for one would love to see Tyson Ryan, on the front of a Whet-bix box, can you imagine? (lol, Best! as Tys would say).

Tyson Ryan, and Willium Ungermann always pushing the boundaries in the underground DK/photog world. An incredible night sesh at Froggies and one of my favourite shots of Tys. Make way on your Weet-Bix box, Tys is coming...tats and all.

My heart breaks when I hear kids talking about dropping out of the competitive side of the sport we love because "you can't really make any money doing it". I won't say who said it to me, but trust me when I say this kid is exciting, Mr Double Roll himself (GCBC club members know who I am talking about). To lose him would be a loss for the future and progression of our sport. The problem is.... he's right!

Take arguably the biggest name in bodyboarding today as an example. An exception athlete, and a gentlemen who I had the pleasure of being introduced to when surfing in Chile. Pierre Louis Costes, or PLC (as my teammates muttered alarmingly while sleeping), is a superstar of our sport. Whilst his sponsorship arrangements will have helped his earnings, his prolific performance on the ocean battlefield has him returning an annual competitive salary that would make a welfare recipient blush.

I've continued bodyboarding because I love it. It also prevents me from "going Fish" every now and then (I'm known to lose my mind from time to time if I'm not surfing enough). But with printed media largely falling by the wayside, and several promising careers diverting my attention, my knowledge of the pros (at least at the time I first got into competition) was limited to the legends of my day. The pioneers of our sport like Roach, Ballard, Stewart, Eppo, Hubbard, and of course for me personally the guy who started it all Jack Lindholm. I will sheepishly admit to not knowing who PLC was when I first arrived in Chile. But one flip seen live, in one of the heats I watched with PLC competing, changed everything. "That was Awesommmmme" I cried with a Barney Stinson style yelp. It was clear this guy was next level, how is it I had never heard of him?

Barney Stinson (for those of you not hip to the pop culture, like this wannabe grom)

We have long debated the "problem" with our sport. I think we are at a point where trying to figure out what has gone wrong is an exercise in futility. We need to start again, and Steemit.com has given us a once in a generation opportunity to do just that.

For those of you not familiar with Steemit.com, it is a revolutionary social media platform that could potentially pay for and secure a better bodyboarding's future for the groms. If you're not following me watch this short youtube explanation of how Steemit works

I've been writing articles since two days ago under the handle @beachbuminvestor and I've seen this work.

Steemit is relatively unheard of amongst the wider community, but with a revolutionary idea like this it won't be for long. We have a tiny window of opportunity to change everything in our sport. We need to move fast and we need to move together, and only by doing this can we truly fast track our sport to professional status.

Let me explain how we will wipe the slate clean and rebuild bodyboarding with a far better ongoing money supply, and move forward with the collective will of the bodyboarding community. It's simple really. I'm calling all bodyboarders the world over to untie, sign up to Steemit.com NOW!!!!

The registration process takes a few minutes and it might take up to a couple of days to get your account. But the minute, nay the second you get your approval, login, find this article and upvote it (the same as facebook like but with payment in return instead of adds. That's it. If every bodyboarder in the world was to do this we would be able to make bodyboarding the top trending topic on a social media site that is really starting to gain STEEM (obvious pun opportunity). But most importantly pays the users for top quality content. As decided by the community. We have never been a big enough voice in the wider surfing community to ever really be heard. But while Steem is still in it's in infancy we might finally be able to be heard. But only if we YELL together.

This can't be an "I'll do it later thing". If you love the sport of bodyboarding as much as I do, I think you'll know this our chance to change everything. Most of the competitions I speak of so fondly of don't even exist anymore. My groms may never have the opportunity to represent their country, travel the wold surfing, and meet the amazing people I've come across on the competitive scene. I weep for our sport.

It's a radical idea yes. But if it works we are going to have plenty of money to rebuild our sport, and make better decisions moving forward. A remodel of the competitive circuit(s) that see's a true "pathway to podium" from grass roots club bodyboarding all the way to a unified Bodyboarding World Title. This site effectively allows us to make collective decisions that are best for bodyboarding, promote our much love sport, and bring more money to talented riders, and photographers, through this revolutionary social media platform.

If you are bi-lingual and can translate this article into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Japanese or even Italian (Yes I remember you Daivid Danti (Italy) (ISA competitor and adopted Aussie team member/party buddy). If you have some sic photos you've been stashing away, or some tasty bodyboarding articles (shout out to Noah Aubort (QLD)) sign up and start posting. Call your sponsors, tell the booging groups to switch over from FB and let's make Steemit.com the official home of bodyboarding and finally get paid for the effort we put into out sport.

Hope you enjoyed the article and pics. I couldn't have put this article together without the talented photographers and riders who are continuously inspiring me and making bodyboarding the sport and community that I love.