Former World Champ wins Legends division
Early Saturday morning, before the droves of Six-Man attendees arrived, bodysurfers from throughout the state met at the Manhattan Beach pier for the International Body Surfing Championships.
Roughly 50 spectators gathered near the north side of the pier to watch men, women and children compete in what is arguably wave-riding for purists.
“Bodysurfing is just a pair of trunks and a pair of fins,” said Bob Holmes of the Gillis Beach Bodysurfing Association. “It’s the purest form of wave-riding.”
The south swell made for fair conditions for the roughly 80 bodysurfers, making up nine different divisions. Competitors were judged on how well they took off from underwater, the length of rides and how many tricks they managed to pull off during each 12-minute heat.
Gillis, the oldest bodysurfing club in the U.S., hosts and judges the Manhattan competition each year.
“It’s the best organized and best judged bodysurfing competition of them all,” said Hal Handley, a former World Champion bodysurfer who competed Saturday in the Legends division for men aged 60 and older. “It’s put on by bodysurfers who are dedicated to and knowledgeable about the sport.”
After 56 years of bodysurfing, Handley, 60, competed for the first time this year in the Legends division.
He started bodysurfing at the age of four at Fourth Street in Hermosa Beach. When he got older, he headed down south to Newport Beach’s famous “The Wedge.”
“There is a high level of bodysurfing at The Wedge,” Handley said. “It is a very powerful, very hollow wave that demands a lot of respect.”
“The interesting thing about body surfing is that it makes you concentrate on every move, every trick and every maneuver,” he said. “Sometimes, activity-wise, that 12 minutes is equivalent to an hour of [board] surfing.”
Handley played water polo for Palos Verdes Peninsula High School and later for University of California at San Diego. He also surfed, alternating between long and short boards. But he always came back to bodysurfing.
“There is a certain level of solitude you get bodysurfing that you just don’t get board surfing,” he said.
In the 1980s, Handley introduced the butterfly take-off technique. He won his first World Championship title in 1985 at the World Bodysurfing Championships in Oceanside. He went on to win the title five more times and in 1990, claimed the title of Grand World Champion of Bodysurfing after winning a final heat where competitors from each division competed against each other.
Handley said that there is more to the sport than many people think.
“Your average person saying they bodysurf is like someone who has a driver’s license saying they drive Formula One cars,” he said. “There is a whole different level of awareness and athleticism to it than many people realize. The idea is to be fluid, mobile and graceful.”
Belly-riding waves straight in – also known as “soup sliding” – doesn’t qualify as bodysurfing, according to Holmes. Bodysurfers ride with arms outstretched in front and behind while riding the unbroken face of the wave to the right or left. Advanced bodysurfers pull off tricks, including spinners, backslides and the highly sought-after tube ride.
On Saturday, Handley’s performance in the first round and final heats earned him first place in the Legend’s division.
“Hal is a really good body surfer,” said Jerry Springer, a 74-year-old bodysurfer who took fifth place in the same division. “He would do good in any age group he competes in.”
For Handley, it’s nice to win but the contest is mostly about getting together with like-minded watermen and waterwomen.
“It’s just fun to get together in contests, hanging out for half a day with people you’ve seen over the years,” he said. “I’m not quite what I used to be, but I had a lot of fun.” ER