you see this guy right here flying above
the waves this is the most modern
interpretation of wave riding and he's
doing that on a body board you know
those polythene boards you saw people
riding at your local Beach in the early
2000s and some people would look at them
and say yeah but that's not a proper
surfboard well that statement yeah it's
completely false because the body board
is the closest interpretation to the
most ancient form of surfing it
stretches back to the indigenous
Polynesians and body boarders like Hugo
Pinheiro are taking the sport to places
traditional surfers can't even imagine
[Music]
you've all heard the origins of football
basketball and baseball we followed
those sports with decades and across
generations little do we know though
about the origins of extreme sports why
because most of them only rose to fame
in the 60s and 70s and yet these origins
can be traced back to eras where these
sports were just a way of life or a
communal experience but they all shake
these different cultures across the
world so my goal is to explore the
communities behind those sports and find
out how they've gone on to affect the
cultures of today my name is Andy
Burgess I'm a documentary filmmaker here
on YouTube and together with Hugo we're
gonna show you how the sport
bodyboarding is one of the most
challenging sports and why it means so
much to the culture of Hawaii I have
been traveling to oh I for 12 or 13
years the body board changed my life
completely and the countless others
that's why it's very important to know
the origin of my sport
and along the way I'm gonna challenge
shougo to ride an ancient boarder Hawaii
and in return he's gonna challenge me to
ride a body board on the North Shore of
Oahu I haven't run on body board in 10
years the waves and Hawaii huge and the
North Shore is home to pipeline the most
infamous and deadly wave in the world
so we'll see how that goes how would I
do writing pipeline how many minutes you
go underwater
you can handle yep so that's exactly
what I was thinking so we kind of know
where this story's gonna end for me
probably not in a good place
but whether this will begin and why are
we in Hawaii so what do you think of
when you think of Hawaii it's probably
sir dudes riding these a massive 15 to
30 foot waves riding them like Giants
across the ocean with this insane
landscape behind them and yeah that's
kind of right before the popularization
of surfing in the 1960s the origins of
wave riding was closer to the sport of
bodyboarding or boogie boarding is Tom
morally cooler in 1971 my perception and
knowledge of body boarding was like my
new but then when I saw what you were
doing on your boards it blew my mind
like that is why we're here today and it
just so happens that those boards are
tied back to like the ancient history of
surfing pretty crazy nowadays what the
evolution of the sport you know what the
morning is nowadays such a radical and
like extreme sport
so let me give you a little bit of
context on why so many extreme sports
originated in Polynesia why is actually
made up of over a hundred islands but
these are the main eight
although Hawaii is a US state it's like
nowhere else I've seen in America in
fact like I've never seen anywhere like
this in the world but imagine how the
Polynesians that lived here in 480 how
did they navigate this island after
traveling thousands of miles to the tip
of the Polynesian triangle in these
canoes and then they had to navigate
this insane landscape these jagged
volcanic rocks these huge cliffs these
vast expanding jungles that must have
been insane and it was so navigating by
water became a necessary way of them
getting around the island transporting
food and goods in people waves sliding
and ocean activities were a part of the
culture a part of the light this was our
playground you know what it means
everyone lived by the ocean is an
integral part so from the mountain to
the CEO's that is give us all of you
know you go up to the very top like top
of the mountain to go pick a tree to
make your airports in make your Papa's
when James Cook went into the South
Pacific and started to actually document
these different cultures and traditions
in one of his first journal entries in
Tahiti he looked at a Tahitian catching
a wave on a canoe he made an observation
that this individual as he's riding
these waves he's not doing it for
anything other than pleasure you know
that ability to be so connected with an
environment that's a whole other level
of integration into culture it's hard to
estimate but the academic consensus is
that there was around 400,000 Native
Hawaiians habits
of James Cook's arrival in 1778 and only
those at the top of the social hierarchy
were able to ride the wave and within
several decades the majority of the
400,000 natives were wiped out and many
other elements of Hawaiian society were
lost but the art of wave riding wasn't
lost for long and things started to
change on Waikiki Beach as more
Hawaiians started to take up wave riding
again the piper board became a popular
bore to ride with locals but they were a
much smaller size than the Alaia board
and they were ridden prone they were
ridden on your belly whoa that's a pun
well I want to see you shut on this yeah
crazy that's beautiful huh it's native
you know it's what my ancestors did it's
a different type of surfing it's not
like your modern surfing it's your more
flowing with the water it just feels way
more pure this is native locally grown
with mango and coir some native koi in
here and you just get your fins and it's
like a body board but made out of wood
you know what the invention of the body
board that just made waves sliding more
accessible in Hawaii we're very tolerant
of all forms of wave riding canoes pipe
Ozel iove's longboard short boards foil
boards boogie boards
I think body boarders get their respect
here in Hawaii doesn't matter what board
you write as long as you're having fun
you're enjoying the ocean and you care
for our ocean that's the main thing even
if you have no board body surfing it's
for everyone and that's something that I
was taught at a very young age do you
have any advice to him on like riding
those foundational boards of the sport
so it's it's a heavier board the
traditional boards compared to our
modern boards are night and day but at
the end of the day feel it out and have
fun you know what I mean like surfing is
all about having fun
[Music]
you know that was I you were still
writing like a buddy board it was great
yeah completely different
you can't like through the turns it's
not as nowadays new boards but so
beautiful you know like understand where
everything starts when I start putting
boarding I just when I have fun you know
writing small waves then we checked all
the magazines and we see these legends
like you know make a ripping like
pipeline on drop knee that was crazy
series and I just dream about like come
here one day and see these guys ripping
you know you know how yesterday
Hugo's talking about how Cannella is
sort of this legend and bodyboarding
that like legitimize the sport for like
people like him around the world
well I'll producing Zac he knows Kai
know and he's on a Wahoo now so we're
gonna fly to Oahu have these guys meet
talk back and it's gonna be insane
[Music]
hey better good I think you were one of
the guys that push the sport true what
is nowadays you know yeah thank you yeah
no thank you I appreciate it and that
was always my thing I was surfing piped
by the time I was like 13 or 14 years
old back then that was unheard of much
less on a body board the perception of
body boarding was just like little
waikiki kind of stuff they've never
really seen high-performance body
boarding then once the the surfers were
like okay they know what they're doing
they're like you guys got fins on that
board like no they're like what the hell
that's frickin crazy
but still there's always like that I
always had that rivalry and today I
believe that will be the biggest waves
you've ever seen in your life
what
you gotta respect ya after
whoa
but you can hear it like a mile away
getting me the nice
I grew up skating that's the closest
thing I have to this bike it's dangerous
but you're putting yourself in that
danger you know it's coming pulling off
Ford you hurt yourself something that
yeah
but you have control but you already
have a certain amount I think all the
servers
so seeing as the waves a pipe were too
big and choppy for the pros we decided
we'd head along the coast try and find
somewhere that I could finally ride a
bodyboard
putting some wax in the boards surfers
put the wax on there to get more and it
will be your board okay
and these your pins yeah this is our
normal position and work in then we just
use one arm is the time okay but when
you do that
I'm confident and go for it so after a
quick lesson from a professional I was
feeling pretty confident I was walking
with style like I knew what I was doing
I've got a couple of waves it was all
good
and then I quickly realized why these
guys are professionals
this is embarrassing and that's about
the point that I realized I should
probably leave this to the pros
speaking of furs we could make this
video without talking to the nine-time
world champion Mike Stewart that's a
mouthful they're actually really like
what suppose like this were made what
are the challenges of the sport that put
it in like that extreme sports level
because of the the refinement in
materials it added new performance
capability you add that to a wave like
pipeline a lot of parts of that wave
hadn't been explored so much like the
lip part of that wave and now this
vehicle allowed you access to experience
different parts of that way if pipe is a
pretty amazing wave of consequence it's
the most deadly wave why bodyboards work
so good in those kinds of waves or you
can take a steep drop you can take
really hollow conditions where you might
have to attend the board in certain ways
to accommodate it up until that time no
one was really doing that in the waves
so the waves you saw were probably not
as hollow not as critical not is gnarly
and guys certainly weren't doing big air
moves off of the big lips there and even
to this day like it's kind of the domain
of body boarders well lucky for us we
sat next to a five-time European
champion and bodyboarding
[Music]
so after seeing Hugo and all these other
athletes just killing it on pipe I can
understand why this wave is so
incredible for me this trip has been so
cool going to the roots of my sport
hanging out with you and all these
legends it's been really cool to come
out here become friends and it's an
interesting to watch you out on a board
is like a professional bodyboarder and
like what you do what you've been doing
for 17 years is down on the North Shore
surfing pipeline I'm gonna hike to get a
whole view of the North Shore we're
gonna bring this story to a close the
grass is up to my shoulders okay this
will do we can make this much welcome to
what I think is probably the highest
point in the North Shore where the
origins of surfing actually started
these beaches that have been ridden for
thousands of years by all types of
Hawaiians all types of ports it's clear
to see the sport of body boarding is
more than a sport is a tight-knit
community everybody seems to know each
other they all respect one another when
they're out in the water riding waves
may have started in Hawaii but it's
transcended Hawaii in Hugo who grew up
body boarding in Portugal has the exact
same connection to the ocean as the
Hawaiian riders of today and of the
ancient Polynesians I think that's
what's really amazing about this sport
it connects everybody together no matter
if you're a beginner someone who's just
ridden a few times like me or if you're
a professional athlete like Hugo the
next time somebody asked me if I want to
go out surfing I'm not just going to
assume they're talking about a regular
surfboard it could be an ally aboard a
Piper award a bodyboard it's all about
the connection to the ocean no matter
your ability from a beginner to a
professional that is fully changed my
whole perception on body boarding the
perception I have before this and
hopefully Hugo the next time I see you
I'll be that much better and maybe we
can ride away together in port school
not Nasari but maybe a small
[Music]
you
[Music]