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Welcome to the 6th edition of The Bodyboard Report! 🤙
“Our sponsor contracts both ended at the close of 1998,” Jay Reale said.
“It was clear things weren’t looking good if we wanted to keep going as pro bodyboarders. I started applying for jobs, and Vicki got to work building a website.”
What stands out straight away is that their whole story doesn’t start as just a business idea.
It starts as two pro riders trying to figure out how to keep living the life they loved once the money in the sport started drying up.
This week we take a look at Jay & Vicki Reale's remarkable journey from garage heroes to warehouse warriors.
From taking the plunge to flying high.
As of April 2026, eBodyboarding.com celebrates 27 years at the heart of the global boogie business! 🤙
This is the story of the internet’s bodyboarding superstore since 1999.
Let’s dive right in!
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The Reale Deal 🤙
Jay Reale grew up in Ocean City, Maryland, and came through as one of the first professional bodyboarders to emerge from the East Coast of the United States.
Along the way, he stacked a serious competitive record, winning four Eastern Surfing Association titles, a US amateur title, and two Morey Boogie national championships.
In 1987, just a year after finishing a degree in Earth Science and Secondary Education, he made the move to California to chase the sport at its highest level.
From there, his career expanded beyond competition. He travelled the world on tour, wrote for bodyboarding magazines, and worked as a commentator for Fox Sports and ESPN, staying deeply embedded in the industry from multiple angles.
He competed across all the major circuits at the time, including the GOB World Tour, the Australian tour, the USBA Tour, and the BIA Tour, building a career that spanned more than a decade before stepping away from competition in 1998.
Somewhere in between all this, Big Daddy Boogie found himself lovely and tenacious gal from the land down under.
Her name is Vicki, and she’s also a pro bodyboarder…
Go on, Gleeso! 🤙
Vicki Reale née Gleeson grew up in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, and started competing at just 16 years of age.
She quickly rose through the ranks to become Australia’s first women’s national champion and went on to win multiple World Flowboarding titles.
Throughout the 90s, she was one of the leading figures in women’s bodyboarding.
Vicki soldiered forth as Australia’s top female rider during a period dominated by the powerhouse Brazilian scene.
She was a regular finalist on the world tour, consistently featured in reader polls, and became one of the most recognisable faces in the sport, helping to shape the Australian women’s scene at a critical time.
Her presence and performances opened the door for the next generation, inspiring riders like Kira Llewelyn and others to push further into the sport. Kira was the first non-Brazilian to win the world title in Women's Bodyboarding history.
While a world title eluded her, Vicki remained a constant threat on the international circuit and picked up multiple event wins along the way.
Somewhere in between all this, Vicki found herself love’s Reale Deal.
His name is Jay, and he is also a pro bodyboarder…
The Reale story…
By the late 90s, both Jay and Vicki could see the shift.
Sponsorship money was shrinking, contracts were ending, and the reality hit pretty quickly that being a professional bodyboarder was not going to sustain them forever.
They had some savings, not much runway, and a real decision to make about what came next.
Jay looked at the obvious path first. He had a degree, so he could have gone into teaching. He tried to get into the surf industry on the sales side, sending out resumes, but nothing came back.
At the same time, something else was happening in the background that turned out to be the real signal. They were getting emails from bodyboarders all over the world.
People in places where you just could not get decent gear, asking simple questions like which board should I buy, what works best, how do I get it.
And that’s where the idea started forming.
Then a key moment. A conversation with Tom Morey, who basically told them, you guys should start an online surf shop. That was the spark. Everything lined up at once.
The internet was just starting to become a thing, e-commerce was still early, and they realised there might be a real opportunity there.
It wasn’t an obvious move.
There were plenty of people saying it would never work.
That nobody was going to buy bodyboards online.
That it was a flash in the pan idea.
But they didn’t overcomplicate it. They worked it down to a simple number.
If they could make just $100 a day, they could survive. That was the target.
Vicky had some basic computer skills and built the first version of the site herself on a very early days platform. Nothing fancy. Just functional.
They reached out to brands they knew personally to try and get products to stock.
Some supported them straight away.
Others refused, worried that these two movers and shakers were going to undercut traditional surf shops and disrupt the market.
So right from the start, they were dealing with resistance from inside the industry, not just outside it.
At that point, Jay hedged slightly. He took a sales rep job with BZ Bodyboards just in case the world’s first bodyboarding online store didn’t work.
But almost immediately, the conflict became obvious.
Jay would be selling to surf shops while also building a business that competed with those same shops.
That forced a decision. Go all in or don’t do it at all. 💪
Jay chose to quit the job almost immediately and commit fully to the business.
That was the real turning point.
They started small. Out of their condo. Garage as the warehouse. Personal savings used to buy a small amount of inventory and a single magazine ad to launch the site.
Everything was timed around that ad drop so they could get initial traffic.
The first order came in on day one.
Then nothing for a couple of days, which made them think the whole thing had failed.
But once the magazine hit and people started seeing the site, orders began trickling in. Not huge volume, but steady enough to prove the concept.
From there, it was gradual.
More orders. More product.
More brands coming on board over time.
The garage filled up and along with the blessings came a new problem.
They had to move out into a small warehouse. 🚀
And the interesting part is that none of this was driven by some big grand plan.
It was iterative. Each step was just solving the next immediate problem.
More space. More inventory. Better systems.
Even the name evolved that way.
They originally called it something broader because they did not want to limit themselves.
Then realised they actually needed to lean fully into bodyboarding, especially online, and rebranded to eBodyboarding, which at the time also played into the whole internet era naming trend with the “e” prefix.
Within a few years, the Reales went from operating out of a garage to moving into a proper warehouse, then eventually buying their own building once the numbers made sense.
What you get from their story is not some overnight success narrative.
It is two riders who saw a gap because they were living inside the problem.
They took a calculated risk at the exact moment the industry and technology were both shifting, and then just kept building step by step.
That’s the core of it.
Over the course of 27 years the Reales added 2 kids and 2 more brands to the family.
As proud owners of eBodyboarding.com they also own and operate Tribe Boards and Junior Guards.
Ad to that a popular YouTube podcast called The Reale Deal Show, along with an informative How to video library, one thing is certain…
Jay and Vicki made a Reale big contribution to bodyboarding!
Happy b-day month to eBodyboarding.com and congrats, and thank you, to Jay & Vicki for 27 years of boogie excellence.
May there be many more to come! 🥳🍹
Cool Runnings! 🤙
Be sure to check out the latest hot offerings on the 👉 eBodyboarding Deal Page!
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Some Reale fun facts…
About Jay and Vicki 👇
Jay is still operating like a full time athlete. He surfs or bodyboards most days of the year and has completed more than 70 triathlons, including 11 Ironman finishes, along with over 35 ultramarathons.
He also has a strange second career in game shows. He’s appeared on everything from The Dating Game to The Weakest Link, Whammy, Bullseye, Master Minds, and even Pet Star with his dog.
Outside the water, he’s done community theatre, performed in musical productions, and even sung in the Disneyland Candlelight Choir.
On the media side, he’s written for just about every major bodyboarding publication and moonlights as a commentator for the IBC World Tour.
The East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame welcomed Jay Reale in the "Legends" category as a Class of 2026 inductee!
Vicki’s profile went well beyond competition.
She became the first female bodyboarder to land the cover of Riptide Magazine, appeared on Baywatch, and featured in a Pepsi commercial that aired across Australia and New Zealand.
She was a consistent fan favourite, winning multiple reader polls and appearing in more than 15 publications worldwide, along with TV appearances in both Japan and the United States.
Like Jay, she’s stayed committed to fitness, completing multiple triathlons, the LA Marathon, and several half marathons.
She’s also deeply interested in investing and continuous learning, which has carried through into life after competition.
In 2002, Vicki Reale’s impact on the sport was formally recognised with her induction into the Australasian Bodyboarder Hall of Fame.
Wrapping up this session…
eBodyboarding didn’t start with a grand plan or a perfect launch.
It started with a gap, a bit of instinct, and two riders backing themselves and each other, when the sport stopped backing them.
From little garage to big warehouse.
From dial-up internet to a global customer base.
Here’s to 27 years of showing up, every single day. 🥳🍹
Not hype, nor luck, but consistency.
If you’re building something of your own, there’s a lesson in that.
Start where you are. Use what you know. Back it properly.
If this one hits home, please pass it on.
Bring your crew in 👉 Share and invite them.
Because the culture only grows when the right people are in it.
Same time next week. 🤙
Keep searching… 🌊
And as Jay & Vicki would say: “See you in the surf!”
PS: 👉 The Antofagasta Bodybaord Festival just kicked off on the 29th.
Read more about it in The Bodyboard Report’s 1st Edition 🌊
Previous publicatons. 👇
Disclaimer: The Bodyboard Report is published for informational and entertainment purposes only. All images, media, and referenced content remain the copyright of their respective owners and are used for editorial commentary and community sharing. The Bodyboard Report does not claim ownership of any third party content.