The saltwater people of Australia started body surfing
thousands of years ago. Each of our first steps into the ocean
involved body surfing shorebreaks straight into the sand. Butin our life’s pursuit of surfing, why do we forsake this primitive
union of body on water?
WORDS BY LAWRIE VONHOFFW
e had been in the Nusa
Tenggara Barat region of
the archipelago for several weeks
by this stage; each day fusing
into the next as it often does in
Indonesia. The main break we
were at, an A-frame over a sharp
and shallow reef, was becoming
ground-zero for overzealous
hassling. The peak was perfect,
but crowded; the sun was blaring
on surround sound, melting all
wax in its path. Wanting to just
get in the water, our mate Hamish
cracked the shits and skipped over
the reef with nothing but a pair
of fins. Five minutes later he was
dropping into a flawless three-footer
riding nothing but his torso; skilfully
using his entire left arm to control
speed and keep his body on rail.
Planing and dropping and cutting the
green! He was body surfing.
Ditch the board in perfect reef
waves? Why the heck not?
The quintessential path of the
Australian surfer begins its first steps
in the frothing, summer shore break,
where, as toddlers, we learn to ride
waves on our bellies. Later we might
graduate to a styrofoam boogieboard
and catch straighthanders into the
sand, before finally arriving at the
holy grail – the fibreglass surfboard.
Filmmaker and lifelong surfer of all
craft Nathan Oldfield tells us, “It’s
where it all began. That feeling when
you get picked up by a wave and
pushed towards shore, you don’t haveto be an expert surfer to experience
the joy of that. Just getting carried
along is beautiful and sacred and rad.”
We all move on from this earliest
mode of wave-riding. But why? Allow
us to convince you to leave the board
on the sand and really test your wave-
riding credentials.
Many Australian surfers would
find it surprising that the true origins
of wave-riding on our coast actually
stem from our Indigenous Saltwater
People. While the early colonial
settlers were absolutely terrified of
the surf zone, the Saltwater People
had a strong relationship with the
surf that included ocean canoes,
free-diving for shellfish, and even
bodysurfing. The purest connection
to wave-riding; a primitive union.
As Nathan tells us reflectively,
“Bodysurfing is really elemental
human play.” Bodysurfing is the
closest a person can physically be
to a swell – not just on a wave, but
actually in the wave.
Mike Stewart, zillion-time World
Bodyboard champ, North Shore
surfing luminary and bodysurfing
savant, backs up Oldfield’s claim.
“Bodysurfing is certainly a more
immersive wave-riding experience.
Not only are you within the energies
of the surf zone, more of your body
(from head to toe) actually senses
or feels this energy. For me it is also
a much more engaging, interactive
experience, as you design your
planing surface on the fly.”