In Honolulu, Hawaii at Sandy Beach Park in April of 1980, an 18-year-old Pat Caldwell lands the first el rollo, a crucial capillary wave in the groundswell of bodyboarding. As the wind continues to blow over this stretch of sea, it evolves into air rollos and barrel rolls. Mike Stewart plays a large part in this via his performance at the first ever Morey Boogie International Bodyboarding Championships in December of 1982, in which he placed third behind the father of jack stance, Jack Lindholm, and the first ever bodyboarding world champ, Daniel Kaimi. Some quotes from Bodyboard Holidays’ Tales from the Tube with Jay Reale, a fellow competitor at the event, describe his firsthand account. “The state of the art in bodyboarding at that time for rollos, let’s talk about the rollo because that’s really what cemented Mike’s reputation at Pipe, the rollo up to that point was you went up to the lip of the wave and you went upside down and you sort of just flipped it over real quick and fell back down. You didn’t actually ride the lip over with the wave. Nobody did that.” “Here comes Mike Stewart, this is, again, back in ’82, he actually takes off on a wave and it was really good Pipeline that year, 6 to 8 foot Hawaiian scale, bottom turns and sort of like a corkscrew roller coaster, rides the lip out and over, fully in the air, rolls it, lands and keeps going. People were blown away. I was on the beach. I saw it and we all just kind of looked at each other and realized this is a pivotal moment in the sport. This is a performance marker that’s going to change the sport of bodyboarding and indeed it did.”
Eleven years later, the swell would rumble into Port Macquarie, Australia where Michael Eppelstun would combine the roll with the spinner to bring us the A.R.S. Eppo would also incorporate the double roll and the backflip into the wave train. Over the years, the ARS and the backflip have been polished and perfected by the most skilled and are now go-to moves for high scores in professional competition.
Other maneuvers have been conceptualized and realized since then, but none have been as utilized. The reason why would be interesting to find out. Is it because they’re not considered as aesthetically pleasing? Maybe they’re not as functional? Are we just not there yet?….How would these maneuvers fare in competition? That last question seems like a good place to start so I downloaded the judging criteria from the IBC website into my newly invented data analyzer, then I input some hypothetical situations and the analyzer spit out the answers as if it were human. I like to call it Fake AI. It’s an improvement on the prototype, Real I, which automatically scored all of them as a 10. It also called me an idiot.
Scenario #1
Let’s pretend Tristan Roberts and Tanner McDaniel are in contention for the world title sometime in the near future. The men’s division has returned to the Walker Bay Pro and although the competitors did get to enjoy some fun ramps at Onrus Beach, opportunities are lacking at the moment. Tristan Roberts has a 6.5 and a 6.0 earned by a single maneuver on both waves, both of them backflips that were performed cleanly and ridden to completion in front of the whitewater. Tanner has a 6.0 for an invert but he hasn’t yet backed it up with a meaningful score and he doesn’t have priority. There’s four minutes left and no sets are seen on the horizon. Tristan lets him go on a mediocre wave thinking there’s no chance Tanner will get the 6.51 he needs …but he also didn’t expect him to pull this arrow out of his quiver.
Does he get the score and what factors into the decision?
Fake AI: Let’s be real. I might malfunction on this one. Tanner McDaniel’s proprioceptive abilities are up there with Spider Man but he didn’t ride out as cleanly as he would’ve liked. He had to kick a little to get in front of the whitewater, but he did pull it off so it’s complete and still impressive. Another factor keeping the score down is that it wasn’t one of the better waves of the heat and the section wasn’t critical. The criteria that’ll be in his favor though are the variety of maneuvers plus its high degree of difficulty. He gets points for the creativity and innovation. Even though the landing wasn’t perfect, his quick timing was.
It would be compared to Tristan’s two waves, which were not scored in the excellent range, meaning the judges are leaving room for a better wave. This suggests a slow heat so Tristan’s wave might not have been that much better but he would’ve read it adeptly. I’m picturing Tristan drawing a line, picking up speed and catapulting off the close out at the end. It would be close, which means the score could go either way, but I like to think they’d give it to Tanner based on the novelty of this maneuver. Ultimately, it all depends on which criteria the judges favor for the conditions the ocean is offering that day. Will they favor Tanner’s innovation or will they prefer Tristan’s clean execution and better wave selection?
Real I: The backflip seems to have more flow to it but adding this into a competitor’s repertoire would definitely add some variety. Imagine Tanner at Punta Dos punting a Tic roll off the first section, combining it with a roll on the second section and a backflip off the third. Remember when Amaury pulled that huge backflip at the Arica Chilean Challenge some years back where he turned it around before landing because he knew he’d need to put down his legs as extra shock absorbers? Imagine if he would’ve twisted out of that backflip and used a Tic roll to land forward.
Scenario #2
Let’s say Sammy Morretino took some time off the tour to focus on drop kneeing waves of consequence, Pipeline to be more specific, and has been working closely with Mike Stewart, Jack Lindholm and Kainoa McGee; not only as mentors for riding Pipe, but also to develop equipment that’ll give him an edge in these kinds of conditions. Rail configurations, templates, cores, fins and even skegs were considered and experimented with. He also reached out to Kim Feast who offered some valuable input. Now he’s back and the winningest bodyboarder of all time has finished runner-up all year long to the motivated Meerkat. This time, they’re meeting up in the final at the Maldives Pro with epic conditions. Dubb scored a 10 for a deep barrel which no one expected him to exit and an 8.0 for a slash across the face followed by an uppercut to the lip. This is a heat that’ll go down in history though. Sammy is in the lead with a 9.0 for a right-handed float followed by his trademark backside power hack and a 9.5 for a frontside barrel of his own followed by a sharp rail gouge. Hubbard has to make do with this smaller wave and only 5 seconds to go.
He needs an 8.5. Is it enough and why?
Fake AI: I’m for real, my circuits might short. I’d hate to be a judge. Somebody check my motherboard please. Yup, right there. Haha, that tickles! Haha, stop!
Real I: If Dubb pulled that off at the last second in a heat and didn’t get a 10…the locals wouldn’t stand for it. They would ban the IBC from ever setting foot on their shores again.
Fake AI: But the conditions are epic! We’d have to compare it to Dubb’s 10.0 and Sammy’s two waves. On a day like this, I’m sure the competitors would be told “go for the barrels.” Dubb’s 10.0 would have to be the wave of the day. He would’ve been positioned perfectly to drop in, his bottom turn would’ve set him up to drive through the barrel and he would’ve been deep. The barrel would’ve stayed open long enough for him to pop out after the spit. That’s a 10. Sammy’s 9.5 would’ve been a good barrel on a set wave but not as deep. He would’ve been going into the cutback with speed displacing plenty of water. So now Dubb has no choice but to go big on this small wave with 5 seconds left. Plenty of speed, perfect timing, smooth and controlled landing. Innovative maneuver. High degree of difficulty. It’s a high score but we can’t give him a 10. We’ll give him the 8.5.
Real I: Everything you just said doesn’t matter.
Scenario #3
PLC and Brahim Iddouch make the final at the World Bodyboard Championship in Agadir, Morocco both of whom are eager to put on a good show in honor of those who fell victim to the earthquake and those who helped rebuild after. Brahim is in a flow state connecting with the right waves at Anchor Point and reading them like he can see the future. Perfectly timed tubes and a high flying invert gave him an 8.5 and a 9.0. PLC has his own 9.0 and a 6.5. He has priority, catches this set wave and pulls..a gainer flip!
Was this the right call for an 8.51?
Fake AI: In reality, I’d like to reward the gainer flip, but I feel torn about this one. Plug me in, I need some sweet juice. Mmmm, so good. (Hiccup). Whether Brahim’s invert was the 8.5 or the 9.0, for an invert to score that high it would have to be off a critical section and launched pretty high. I’d think the degree of difficulty for this gainer flip might be higher, but the section isn’t that critical. The timing would have to be on point for both. I don’t know. I’m picturing a sick invert off a heavy section. This gainer is on the shoulder section. I have to go with the invert but it’s close, 8.4 for the gainer.
Would a Gorf: Forward flip with a forward rotation score higher, less or the same?
Fake AI: Same criteria apply given the same section. I think the same. I don’t know which one’s more difficult. We should ask someone who can do both.
Real I: Tanner McDaniel.
Fake AI: PLC.
A Glimpse Into the Future
During the 2023 IBC world tour, we saw two intrepid competitors have a crack at creating history by attempting to be the first to pull maneuvers like these in competition. As it turns out, both would become this year’s world champs.
During the semifinals of the drop knee division at the Antofagasta Bodyboarding Festival, Dave Hubbard rolled the dice and attempted a drop knee roll to take the lead from Sammy Morretino. He was unsuccessful in landing it but there was still enough time in the heat for him to recuperate. In the end, he still managed to snag the heat win from the hungry Meerkat and was one step closer to gaining his record breaking 10th world title in the drop knee division by winning every event on the calendar.
The second human catalyst, consistently finishing runner-up in almost every event this year to eventually take out the world title in the open men’s division, is Tanner McDaniel. This moment created some discussion among both his peers and his fans alike because he only needed a score of 4.75 to take the lead from his opponent, Pierre Louis Costes. During the final at the Arica Cultura Bodyboard by Pride Bodyboards, Tanner had priority with 5 minutes left when El Flopos provided him a wave. From a viewer’s standpoint, rather than play it “safe”, he opted to attempt an inverse.
Tanner’s point of view, as quoted from a conversation between himself and Craig Whetter on their Breaking Even YouTube channel, “I was looking and I was like ‘Ok, I’m going to have a good run into this. I just gotta do an invert.’ And when I hit it, because I had so much forward momentum from driving towards that section, when I flipped the invert I tweaked it and I felt myself start to rotate, like over rotate, like what happens when you do an invert and you just tweak it a little too hard and you come too far around and you sometimes land sideways or even backwards. The second that I felt myself starting to do that I was like ‘I gotta commit to this rotation and try and tuck it and try to get around, otherwise there’s no way I’m gonna land.” Adding to that on the Riptide podcast Luke’s Lounge, Tanner stated he actually was playing it safe, “I honestly think that the reason it played out the way it did was because in my head I was thinking ‘play it safe.’ If I was in any other position at any other heat on that wave I would’ve never gone for an invert. I would’ve gone for an air reverse…. Next time I just won’t play it safe.” PLC tallied a record breaking third win at Arica, contributing to his finish as this year’s runner-up in the world title race.
Out of nowhere. Actually, from Reunion Island. Now residing in the Canary Islands. Not Moz. In the eighth heat of the eighth round of the Frontón King, Robin Legros pulls the first inverse in competition to earn an 8.5.
Why not a 10?
Fake AI: Poppa transferred some video clips of inverses into my analyzer. 8.5 is a good score. Robin Legros had an 8.75 scored earlier in the heat for a backflip off a bigger section which launched him up and far out in front from where he hit it. This is what set the scale. Not to take away from Robin’s inverse because it was awesome, but I think a 10.0 for an inverse would have to be a complete 360 degree rotation in time for the landing and off a critical section. A tweaked enough invert could already bring him almost halfway around. That’s the kind of inverse the judges were leaving room for. An 8.5 is an excellent score and it was well deserved. Robin Legros goes down in history as the first to complete an inverse in competition.
Lightning strikes. Real I steps in front of Fake AI to save him. They both get electrocuted and merge.
“Poppa! I’m a real boy!”
🤦🏻♂️
ShapeShifters 