On Wednesday the 15th April Bali Bodyboarding hosted the world’s first tandem bodyboarding championships at secret location on Bali’s west coast! The field of eight teams from all over the world ranged from IBA and ABA title contenders to complete novices and even non swimmers! All vying for a chance at Tandem Bodyboarding immortality! The contest criteria was simple each team was made up of a male and a female (except if there was no willing female in which case one of the competitors had to wear a bikini as per contest rules), points were awarded for length of ride and ‘extremeness’. Contest Directors Dave Burden and Ephrem Ez decided to adopt the Shark Island contest format to ensure that each team got to surf twice and truly express themselves through tandem bodyboarding.
Hot favourites according to event bookie, time keeper and enforcer Carlos Castro were Ryan and Leah Hardy from Margaret River Australia. This dynamic duo drastically increased their lead during the first heat when they bought in 4 year old Ollie Hardy as a third member of their team. The addition of the micro grom maximised on ‘cutesy points’ in the testing conditions according to Head Judge Rob Barber.
Notable mentions include the cross dressing Ben ‘Benita’ Mulcahy and Aidan Baker for their hip thrusting long rides, Laurence Tierney and Oriana Abreu for having the highest wave count despite Oriana never having been on a bodyboard before and Kyle Ward and Tayla Moore for performing a dazzling array of floaters and white water power carves!
As the sunset over the Indian Ocean and the Bintang ran dry Aidan Salmon and Yenifer Canelon clinched the title by performing a take off roll in the dying minutes of the heat. Aidan and Yenifer acknowledged the win as the highlight of their bodyboarding careers, but claimed the real winner to be the sport of Tandem Bodyboarding.
Bali Bodyboarding would like to thank the competitors, judges and contest officials for donating their time and expertise to make the event the success it was, and Anthony Pillard for donating the French Champagne for first prize. We look forward to hosting the event next year and hope to make it bigger and even more ridiculous!
