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Bodyboarding"Despite being warned by a surfer, I thought, who cares, it's just water. Then almost broke my friggin’ neck! " I haven't bodyboarded much since taking up surfing, but as a kid back in the 70s I went bodyboarding (then called "boogieboarding") many times at Laguna beach. Want to share something about bodyboarding Northern/Central California? Click Here! Most people can learn basic bodyboarding fairly quickly. You can go from riding whitewash to actually riding a wave much faster than with surfing. The more advanced maneuvers like spinners and rollos come after more practice. This assumes that you’ve already spent some time in the ocean. Before I’d spent a decent amount of time in the water, I made the mistake of going to a hard-breaking spot called the Wedge at Newport Beach. Despite being warned by a surfer, I thought, who cares, it's just water. Then almost broke my friggin’ neck!
Half my face became a giant rash after a face plant and my neck and back were sore for days. I bumped into the same surfer later that night in the college dorms and received a well-deserved "told you so." I went back to the same spot after spending more time in the ocean at easier spots and was much more cautious.
Though bodyboarding has a fairly quick learning curve, you still need to learn how to read waves. You’ll find bodyboarders at all the main spots around the San Francisco Bay Area, but Ocean Beach is not for beginners. Just go slowly if you’re learning and remember that the same rules of etiquette apply. When people ask me about riding waves at some places, like on a family vacation, I usually steer them toward bodyboarding instead of surfing. It just seems like a better intro to the ocean and I think they’ll have more fun. If it’s somebody who I know lives or will live near the ocean and really wants to learn to surf, then I say go for the surfing lesson if you have the opportunity during a trip.
Although I personally much prefer surfing, I do occasionally bodyboard. On a trip to La Jolla I didn't have a surfboard as nice glassy waves rolled in. I borrowed my friend’s bodyboard, swam out to the "blackball" area (swimmers and bodyboarders only....we don't have those in northern California....or lifeguards) and caught a bunch of waves at sunset. It turned out to be really nice. On a trip to the big island of Hawaii, the waves were too small to surf, so I just grabbed a bodyboard and rode 2ft closeouts at Disappearing Sands beach. I’d ride the wave very quickly, pretend I was in a barrel, and eat sand, and still it was fun….white sand and warm, blue water.
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Perfect Arvo Surf at Straddie
Vertigo Horizon
surfing is madd
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Sponger
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Bodyboarding OB
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Return from Bodyboarding to Other Wave Riders.
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Like with surfing, you don't need lots of gear. All you need is a bodyboard, fins, and wetsuit if the water’s cold. Fin leashes are nice, too. After losing a fin the first time I used it at the Wedge, I bought leashes and never lost a fin again. In recent years I’ve seen the blackball surfboard. It’s basically a surfboard that’s soft like a bodyboard and just under 5ft in length. Apparently it just passes the regulations for being a bodyboard instead of a surfboard, so you can "surf" in the blackball areas. Haven't tried it myself but I might if I lived near the blackball areas.
Side note: Bodyboarders are also called the more derogatory term "sponge" by some surfers....in case you hear the word thrown around.
