Comments on: What the fuck is wrong with bodyboarding!?

By: admin

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:06:00 +0000

We just wrote this the way we see it, to each of us his opinion. Mags close for sure but usually not in niche sports / hobbies that are doing well, specially when the rates for ads are not very high and there’s not even a need for more than 15 advertisers to make usre the mag can survive. As we said earlier this bitter piece of an article is definitely not targeting core independent brands which we know have truely been supporting bbing and will continue to do so. No need to write a list of these people and brands, they know who they are and they have all our love and respect.
If you’re all happy with the way the sport is and the way it’s going that’s awesome. We’re not stoked and felt we had the right to express ourselves. Having worked in the surfing & bbing industry for the last 10 years at least, we’re definitely not making up things.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:34:56 +0000

Magazines close. Not bodyboarding magazines, but all magazines.Do you know what happened to Newsweek? Do you know what it takes to make a magazine these days? About all the rest…bodyboarding is a tiny industry, and the global recession is forcing every brand to clam up and try to survive. You guys fire a lot of shots, but very few on target, really.

Keep up the good work, though. Cheers.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:12:37 +0000

Pretty disappointing bitter read. ‘the sport sucks, no style or attractiveness compared to stand up surfing, let’s be honest’
You dont know all the details regarding why certain magazines closed. Yes they know how to make an amazing magazine, that doesn’t mean they are any good at the business side of things and haven’t burnt almost every advertising relationship they ever had. Missed that part out I guess…

By: Spongercity

Spongercity — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:54:58 +0000

@ Grand Flavour: Why? It’s quite accurate actually.

By: Grand Flavour

Grand Flavour — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 02:17:59 +0000

Worst evaluation of our industry I’ve ever seen.

By: mac

mac — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:27:54 +0000

There are many thing wrong. The coverage, the costs of bboard gear and more.

First, the coverage of the contests is still bad. Many of the contests are during my working hours, but I would like to see results. But I cannot see live feed or facebook at work, so there is no way of keeping track of scores. it is very irritating. Then the updating of the IBA website, it lags behind, very behind. When I go on facebook, many bodyboarding related sites will post IBA info before it is on their site, or on their facebook. That is not professional at all.
The same goes to many bodyboard companies. You buy a board, on the wrapping is their webpage, but if you go their, it litterly hasn’t been updated for YEARS (or it will say for months or more than a year that a new site is coming soon.)
How can anybody new to the sport think that the companies are serious with their buisness.
Then there is ofcourse also the money question. Yes I would like to buy a bodyboard branded wetsuit. But well, where I am, most of the time you will be wearing atleast a 5/3 (rather 5/4) suit. And I do not know any of the bodyboard brand that have a suit that thick. And then in the summer, I use a 3/2 suit. And well, for the money of one bboard brand suit, I can get a surfbrand suit and a new board. Guess what I will choose.
Also it should be more available. People do not want to hear this, but to generate more money, it has to go more mainstream. Bodyboarding brands should be available in normal sportstores, not just bodyboarding stores or online.

Then there are the comps, well the complaining and moaning about them (the Sintra one in particular). just complaining at it on FB does not do any good. Yes the waves there can suck (but then again they can be excelent, I know I have had them). But there is alot of money brought into the sport through NON bodyboarding companies there. And they have many years. What if there are more brands interested in bringing money into bboarding. But all they aks is to have a comp closer to where there HQ or something is. Well if I was one of them, and did some research and saw all the whining, I would think I’d better invest my money somewhere else.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:59:22 +0000

The two largest bodyboard brands in the US are owned by a toy company called Wham-o. They make Morey and BZ bodyboards(#1 and #2 in the US). I haven’t seen any contribution from then in contests in awhile. They do sponsor Hubb and Dubb. But even for Hubb, I haven’t seen his churchill hubb fins on the shelves in a long time. I don’t think they are in production since moving the molding to indo, so he can’t collect royalties on fin sales.

The Morey and BZ boards aren’t made locally in Oceanside, Ca anymore. Yamo, the hubb board shaper for BZ, was laid-off a year after they moved to indo(mez) a year before. Customx, also in Oceanside, is the largest independent board maker in the US. I don’t know if they are sponsoring contests. They do sponsor more riders than BZ and Morey.

One issue is low turnover of boards. I see guys in the lineup rocking boards made over 10 years ago. Surfers can break a board on the first time paddling out and lose there $500 investment. A bodyboard costs half that and lasts forever.

I think the industry needs to make a thinner board that is what the pros like because of the snap to the board. Wouldn’t last as long but would offer more performance, increase board turnover, and increase revenues. I don’t any surfer than has a board from 3 seasons ago here on the North Shore,Oahu. They just don’t last that long. But I have 3 bodyboards made from extruded polypro that haven’t even been ridden yet because the boards they are supposed to replace are still in great shape.

The only company that can afford R and D at this point in MEZ. I haven’t heard anything about a carbon fiber board. I’d drop $1500 for a flexing carbon cored board if the performance was justified(fast, responsible, flexible, super light). Sounds like Science boards are test riding some new flexy cores on the North Shore right now. So any new innovation will come from MEz at this point. Keep them coming Nick!

I personally don’t expect Wham-o to change their game plan. It was sold to a chinese company and they don’t realize that it is a flagship company that held up the US community of bodyboarding. Right now Wham-o receives name brand recognition without infusing within the industry some much needed marketing funds and lucrative sponsorships.

I understand the “buy the labels that support bbing” anthem. But the industry needs to change as well. Thinner, higher performing boards would go a long way to improving the dynamic. Buying 2 boards a year at $500 each vs. One $250 board every 3 years… Weak sales. The industry wants growth. But I don’t think that needs to translate into more heads in the water vs just having the existing riders pay twice as much for a higher performing board.