‘Wave artists’ vie for bodysurfing titles [PHOTOS]
Eighty athletes competed at the International Surf Festival’s bodysurfing competition. Photo by Mara Laine
by Brianne O’Donoghue
At 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, the sky over the Manhattan Beach pier was cloudy, the temperature agreeable and the atmosphere serene. Then, suddenly, a foghorn sounded and the heat was on, literally.
Six men donning multicolored swim caps dove into the ocean and bobbed like apples in the water, waiting for the right wave. They’d come with hopes of winning the International Surf Festival Bodysurfing Championship, but the contestants performed with an enthusiasm that revealed the contest is about more than just the end results.
The International Surf Festival’s 30-year-old bodysurfing competition drew about 80 athletes this year. “It’s a popular event,” said event organizer Bob Holmes, also known as “The Terror of Two Oceans.” “There’s a real friendly vibe and everyone knows each other.”
Holmes earned the nickname after he became one of the first South Bay bodysurfers to pursue the sport on the East Coast, while serving in the army and stationed in Virginia. “I decided to take a trip down to the Florida coast, and somewhere between Miami and Jacksonville I found a decent spot with five to six-foot waves,” Holmes recalled, adding that no one was in the water. “I got out of my car and asked the guard why no one was in the water and he responded, ‘Well look how big the surf is! You can’t go in there!’ I saw nothing wrong with it so I said, ‘See you in an hour,’ took my fins and jumped in.”
The surf culture was different back then, Holmes said. “You had your board on the top of your car and you’d see another guy that had his board on his car and you’d honk and say hi. Nowadays, you see a guy with his board and you’re thinking, ‘Aw crap, now it’s going to be crowded.’”
The Surf Festival seeks to unite the bodysurfing community and revive the community-oriented beach culture, Holmes said.
“I love to help put this on every year,” Holmes said. “It’s really our gift back to the sport.”
The bodysurfing competition, run by the Gillis Beach Bodysurfing Association, is comprised of nine age groups, with six competitors in 12-minute heats. The first and second place finishers move onto the finals. The heats are judged on the maneuver, length and tricks performed as well as the size of the wave. “We want people to be riding on the green, unbroken shoulder of wave, performing maneuvers,” Holmes said.
The event draws bodysurfers from all over California, including Summerland resident Jerry Springer (no, not the TV show host), the oldest competitor. Springer, who turned 77 the day after the competition, has been bodysurfing for 64 years.
“The festival draws a really fun group of people,” Springer said, with a smile. “It’s very laid back. I mean, of course there is competition out in the water, but nobody’s going to be mean-spirited, we’re just here for the fun of it.”
Springer is a member of a Ventura bodysurfing group called the South Jetty Swells. He’s competed in the World Bodysurfing Championships in addition to the one put on by the Gillis Association.
“I don’t think I have ever won my division final, but I usually make it past the prelims and have placed second and third a few times.”
Springer stressed that it was not the competitive nature of the sport that drives his interest. “It’s really just a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s great exercise and it helps me stay in good shape.”
[scrollGallery id=”449″]Photos by Mara Laine
His style of bodysurfing, however, has changed over the years. He no longer ventures into treacherous rip currents or huge surf to get a thrill. “I’m not death-defying anymore,” Springer said. “I’d rather live another day and have fun.”
Not all the competitors are seasoned International Surf Festival competitors. It was Venice resident Paul Perelman’s first Bodysurfing championship.
“I’m not anxious or nervous,” Perelman said. “I’m just groovin’.”
And while it was a quiet season, the competitors had been praying for good surf. On Saturday, their prayers were answered.
“Wooooooo,” shouted the announcer as the perfect wave broke. “Here they come ladies and gentlemen! Left and right and left and right!”
“This sport is great because it’s just you and the wave. These guys are wave artists,” Perelman said. “Bodysurfing is really an art form. The notion of a competition is somewhat subjective, but this is really a celebration of bodysurfing under the guise of a competition.”