A few weeks ago I was at the Carlsbad Toyota dealership to test drive a new Prius. I was trying to decide what to get when my Saab lease is up in December. I loved the car. During the test drive the salesman and me got very chatty. He was telling me about his wife and family, I was telling him about the things I do, and just happened to mention boogie boarding. I told him I boogie boarded with a group of women at Moonlight, Fletcher Cove, and Del Mar. He told me that the boogie board was invented in Carlsbad, by a man named Boogie, in the 1970's. He went on to say that the guy still lived in North County and still could be seen catching a wave. I thought that sounded rather interesting, so I went home and googled it. Here's what I found.
The sport of bodyboarding started in 1971 in Hawaii, thanks to surfing legend Tom Morey. From its humble beginnings, bodyboarding has grown into an international sport. In fact, the GOB (Global Organization of Bodyboarders) is trying to gain Olympic recognition. Here's how it really got started.
On July 7, 1971, the bodyboard was born. Tom Morey, a surfboard builder with a background in math and engineering, had left his California surfboard business to relax and design on the Island of Hawaii. On that day, staring out at the surf without a board to ride, Morey borrowed an electric carving knife and a household iron, whittled some scrap polyethylene foam into a small rectangular mat and covered it with newspaper. He found his invention easy to produce and even easier to navigate. In 1973, he trademarked the name Morey Boogie for $10 and scrounged together enough money to place a quarter page ad in Surfing magazine. He was on his way. He eventually sold out to Whamo. So the salesman who told me the story had the right idea, except for the fact that Tom's real name was not Boogie and he did not live in Carlsbad. Anyway, it was a good story.
Boogieboarding has grown as a sport for several reasons. The main reason is that it is inexpensive to do (Costco $39) Boogie boarding can be easily learned and even the most sedentary of people can enjoy it almost immediately.
The first professional contest took place at Pipeline (Hawaii) in 1979. The prize money was a few hundred dollars. By 1995 the prize money for bodyboarding was over $200,000. Now women are getting into professional bodyboarding, just as they did surfing. Maybe some of you North County women will become part of the senior circuit!
Finally, Tom Morey still lives, surfs and bodyboards in Hawaii.
Looks like fun! Do you ride these big waves like in the picture Susie, if so I'm impressed! You go girl!
ReplyDeleteLearned how to boogie board early this year in Hawaii!! So, so much fun!
ReplyDeleteNice that you took the time to look that up and give a write-up. It turns out the salesman was more correct than you thought. I know Tom Morey personally and worked at Morey Boogie in Carlsbad in 1974. Tom was living in Carlsbad and started selling boards out of his garage in 73. The business grew so fast they moved 3 times in 4 years and he sold out to Kransco around 1978, who was later sold to Whamo who was later sold to Mattel. Tom went back to Hawaii for awhile but now he lives in San Clemente Ca.
ReplyDeleteI think Tom may have developed the body/ boogie board but I think it was invented by a group of Army soldiers stationed on a gun boat in Viet Nam in 1970. They used a ironing board and fine tuned it. There are film footage of the soldiers using it on the river in Viet Nam.
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