Steamer Lane
2017 Pipeline Bodysurfing Contest
Scott Creek
Steamer Lane
The OB Big Wave Bodysurfing Challenge (Art: Gray Hogue)
Steamer Lane
Santa Cruz Body Surfing Association
Mavericks
Mavericks
Steamer Lane
Steamer Lane
Caught Inside at Middle Peak
Steamer Lane
Steamer Lane
What was the California Bodysurf Freakout?
The sport’s devotees call it one of the purest forms of any sort of wave riding. “It’s like every cell in your body is humming with the energy of the ocean,” said Ryan Masters, a big-wave bodysurfer from Santa Cruz, Calif. “I believe it’s the closest you can get to really physically experiencing the universe’s tangible energy, call that God or whatever.”
The salty old-timer remembers when all surfers were bodysurfers. Before leashes transformed surfboards into flotation devices. Before the crowds and the bad vibes and the meth-addled surf tribes. Before the creation of the surf industry and the contests designed to move surf-industry products. Before, even, the bodysurfer’s curse faded from memory.
“Beware!” the old-timer croaks at surfers who pass too close to his van in the parking lot. “Every time you drop in on a bodysurfer, that’s a season of bad surf luck.”