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Welcome to the 18th Edition of The Bodyboard Report! 🤙

Every few years, bodyboarding tries to build itself a proper house.

Then the roof comes off, everyone scatters, and a few years later someone starts pouring a new foundation.

With The Bodyboard Report, I set out 4 monhts ago with a similar end game in mind…

The idea is to unite the riders from every coastline, help preserve our beloved sport, and to give us all a global mouth piece and distribution layer.

To achieve that is super simple 👇

Imagine how big and strong we can be if everyone of us just pays if forward…

Just once… each… We’ll cover and conquer the globe before Christmas.

What if the brands and travel agencies start handing out presents for doing just that?

Appreciate you taking a moment for this poll👆

But, this edition is not about The Bodyboard Report persuing global domination…

This is about the latest attempt.

Same 3 letters as before.

Very different blueprint.

Important work!

I hope to help where I can! 👇

The name APB is not new. It is 34 years old.

Surf organiser Randy Rarick helped establish the Association of Professional Bodyboarders in 1993, giving the young sport its first real international governing body.

Until then, bodyboarding revolved around standalone events like the prestigious Pipeline Championships rather than a unified tour. Within a year, the organisation evolved into the The Global Organisation of Bodyboarders. The GOB World Tour, laying the foundation for modern professional bodyboarding.

Guilherme Tâmega became the face of that era, winning 6 world titles between 1994 and 2002, with Andre Botha taking 2 of his own.

By 2003 The GOB had given way to The IBA, The International Bodyboarding Association, which ran the tour for the next 10 years. Jeff Hubbard and Ben Player shared that decade between them with 3 world titles each.

Then, in 2014, the APB name came back. Mike Stewart and Alex León rebuilt it from scratch, and for 6 seasons it carried the sport through one of its most stacked eras.

Pierre Louis Costes, Jared Houston, Iain Campbell, Amaury Lavernhe and Tristan Roberts all won world titles under that second APB banner.

3 different organisations and 3 different names, all chasing the same dream of running a world tour that nobody could unfortunately quite afford to run forever…

By late 2019 the money had run out again.

Alex León stepped down as The APB’s CEO in October that year. Terry "Teza" McKenna, the org's operations manager, held things together for a few more months before he too walked away in February 2020, saying he was tired and ready for a change.

What happened next was almost cinematic. A new group calling itself The International Bodyboarding Committee led by Danny Hernandez, launched live during the webcast of the 2020 Lurin Pro in Peru.

While people were watching the broadcast, the APB logo on screen was swapped out for the IBC insignia, mid stream.

Then tragedy struck and the world shut down as COVID hit weeks later, and bodyboarding's new governing body could not run a proper season. For the first time in decades, no world champion was crowned in 2020 or 2021.

The APB name did not disappear completely. It hung around quietly as a nominal athletes union while the IBC took over running the actual world tour, a job it still does very well today.

On 7 July this year, the APB came back. Properly this time.

Not as a tour operator. As something bodyboarding has never really had, a global governing body with its sights set on Olympic recognition and the overall progression of the sport.

The new Association for the Progression of Bodyboarding is based in Cronulla, the same city the old APB Tour called home, and it is fronted by the same 2 names who were there for the last chapter's ending.

Mike Stewart is Mr. President and Teza McKenna, the man who once called bodyboarding "a sleeping giant of action sports," is the treasurer.

They are joined by Ricardo Estupién, a 3 time European champion from the 1990s, running European operations, and Art Fisher serves as legal counsel.

What is important to understand is that the APB does not want to replace anyone. It wants to work alongside the IBC, which already runs the world tour, alongside the ISA, and alongside the IOC itself.

The goal is bigger than any single tour ever was. The APB is lobbying to get bodyboarding included at the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, where surfing already has a confirmed week that doubles as an Olympic qualifying path toward LA 2028.

Beyond that, The APB is eyeing the Brisbane 2032 Olympic cycle.

None of that is confirmed. It is a campaign, not a done deal.

These are big, important jobs.

Perhaps in the past, and even currently, running a world tour while at the same time tackling these important “progression” tasks, is a bit much when spread thin?

You know… like the mother with the 4 kids that works 60 hours a week…

Now we have a wealth of experience with laser focus. That, I believe, is a very good thing, and these are the boys making it happen for all of us! 👇

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.