In the early 90s the battle lines were drawn between surfers and bodyboarders. As bodyboarding’s popularity exploded surfers feared their breaks would be overrun with prone-sliders and that Australia’s stranglehold on professional surfing would end because legions of grommets were taking the so-called easy option. From this somewhat hostile setting emerged a crew of young bodyboarders from Cronulla who were determined to stand out even if they weren’t standing up. Led by Dave Ballard, Matt Percy and Nathan ‘Nugget’ Purcell they were known as the skid kids and now a new movie titled ‘Holding On’ charts their attempts to revolutionise their sport. If the trailer is anything to go by, the film takes a candid look at the long-standing tensions between surfers and bodyboarders. Below, the co-producer/director, Simon Bruncke, talks about bodyboarders stumbling across Ours/Cape Solander, introducing the concept of event waiting periods and whether or not the war with surfers is over. Check out the trailer for ‘Holding On’ below this interview)
What was the motivation behind making the movie?
Simon Bruncke: I’ve always been a huge fan of action sports films, especially Stacey Peralta’s movies Riding Giants, Dogtown and Z Boys and Bones Brigade The Autobiography and being a bodyboarder, I always wished that there was a film on bodyboarding. Then one day, like all good ideas, Trent and I were talking shit over a few beers and came up with the idea of doing a film on the notorious Skid Kids from Cronulla and it’s all snowballed from there.
Were the guys featured in the film revolutionary in their own way?
Yeah they were. The most obvious is the way that they all rode Shark Island on their bodyboards, which at the time was the pinnacle of high performance bodyboarding in Australia. More specifically though Nugget invented a new move called the Gorf, which is kind of like an inverted 360 air and he also, along with Mark Fordham, created the Shark Island Challenge, which is a bodyboarding competition at Shark Island that experimented with various formats and was one of the first events at the time that had a waiting period rather than just being run on a specified weekend. That event then lead to events on the world tour moving from a focus on bums-on-beach type events, to events at waves of consequence.
The Wingnut pro model board that he developed himself was the first ever board designed and marketed to kids as it was at least 3 inches shorter than any other board on the market at the time, which enabled younger kids to more functionally ride waves on their bodyboards.
Some of the credit for pioneering certain extreme waves must go to bodyboarders? Does the film address that?
Yeah it does. Warren “Wazza” Feinbier tells us a great story of finding Cape Solander (Ours) while fishing and then surfing it for years by himself before anyone else knew about it. Bodyboarders in general prefer suckier, hollower waves than surfers and the desire to find the biggest, hollowest waves is what bodyboarders have been doing since the sport was invented.
You didn’t shy away from the long-standing issues between surfers and bodyboarders?
Ha ha yeah, bodyboarding experienced a huge boom in the late 80s and early 90s and as well as just the sheer numbers of them in the water, there were also undoubtedly a lot of bodyboarders who were probably surfing waves they weren’t ready for and giving the ones that were being patient and respectful a bad name.
Tracks in particular gets a pretty hard time for fuelling the fire? Were the surf mags seen as the satanic verses back then?
Not at all. Before bodyboarding mags started Tracks actually had a few pages dedicated to bodyboarding at the back of the mag. I think it was more to do with the person that wrote the article, rather than the mag itself.
Nugget, Ballard and Doug Robson Circa ’89. Photo: Chris StrohIt seems like certain waves became real battlegrounds. Shark island comes to mind?
Shark Island has a definite pecking order, which was really at its peak during the time of the Skid Kids. They dominated the line-up and wouldn’t stand for anyone, surfer or bodyboarder, giving them shit. One of the funniest things that we’ve heard in interviewing the guys for the movie is how they’d make people take the closeouts so that they could move up the order in the lineup.
How do you think relations stand between surfers and bodyboarders at present?
I don’t think it’s ever been better. I think the amount of clueless bodyboarders in the lineup has dropped due to the increased popularity of soft surfboards and SUP’s as great introductions into the ocean, meaning that bodyboarders aren’t the targets for as much animosity anymore.
There are certain waves, which were once the treasured dominions of surfers but are now synonymous with Bodyboarders. Aus Pipe is perhaps one of them. Can bodyboarders understand why this might upset surfers?
Yeah to an extent. Aussie Pipe is such a great bodyboarding wave, so it’s only natural that there’d be a lot of guys that would want to go there. I don’t think it’s an issue of a lot of bodyboarders, but a lot of people. If everyone is patient and respectful, then there won’t be problems.
Are surfers sometimes guilty of a disproportionate sense of entitlement to waves simply because they stand up?
Generally no. But everyone knows that one local “hero” that coulda been or shoulda been pro and is just angry for the sake of being angry and bodyboarders are just easy targets.
About five years ago Tracks took Bodyboarder Mitch Rawlins on a trip with a bunch of surfers. Mitch ended up appearing in the movie Contrasts, which was shot on the trip. How do you think that was received by bodyboarders?
I think that bodyboarders would have been stoked with that, I know I was. I’m sure Mitch would have enjoyed that trip and the opportunity to show the surfing world what he can do on a bodyboard and there should be much more of it in my opinion.
Bodyboarding mags have actually influenced the way surf mags are put together? Guys like Ben Player (3 times world champ and creator of Movement magazine) seem to be able to do it all?
There’s never been a lot of money in bodyboarding, so the pro riders have always had to be very resourceful by starting their own brands, creating their own products and in Ben’s case starting his own magazine. I guess it’d be pretty similar to the way surfing was in the 70’s when brands like Billabong and Rip Curl were started out of a need for particular products that didn’t exist yet.
Many of the bodyboarders who reached an elite level now surf. Are they in the best position because they have an option for all conditions?
Yeah that happens a lot. Matt Percy from our film now surfs 100% and even shapes his own surfboards and most of the other guys in our film ride both surfboards and bodyboards. It goes without saying that having the right board for the right conditions will help in getting the best out of any surf. I encourage everyone reading this to grab a bodyboard and give it a crack in shallow, sucky waves and I guarantee that you’ll have fun.
We’re both here to stay. What attitude is needed if everyone is going to get along?
Skaters and rollerbladers, Rugby League and Rugby Union, skiers and snowboarders, all of these sports benefit from their healthy rivalry and surfing and bodyboarding is no different. We all just have to be respectful and cool to each other as we’re all in the water for the same reason, to ride waves and have fun.
