00:00Just off the coast of Cronulla sits a rocky outcrop, famous for its heavy barrelling waves.
00:09It's home to the Shark Island Challenge, which sees the world's best bodyboarders test their limits.
00:16It's quite unique to any other wave around the world. It's handmade for bodyboarding.
00:21I don't think you can describe it. I've tried many times. I don't know. It's just a surreal feeling that.
00:26The challenge was relaunched in 2024 after a six-year break.
00:31I really feel like bodyboarding went through a bit of a recession, so to speak, and now it's starting to rebuild itself and getting back to its grassroots.
00:38Behind the scenes, three Australian bodyboard shapers are keeping alive what's become a niche craft.
00:46There were large-scale manufacturers at one point, and then it kind of trickled down to just the custom board shapers.
00:52Mark Rousseau has been shaping boards for more than three decades and works with pro bodyboarder Michael Osler.
00:59The shape and contours must be fine-tuned to boost performance for each individual.
01:05They might lack specifics in terms of their tail finish, or they want the board to do something it's not doing,
01:11and I'll recommend a few features that they can add to the board.
01:14Up the coast, in Port Macquarie, Glenn Taylor is also transforming blank pieces of foam into high-performance bodyboards,
01:23a craft he first started 35 years ago.
01:27I guess it's more just the love and the passion of bodyboarding that keeps me going,
01:31and there still is a demand for custom-made bodyboards.
01:34It's not as popular as it was back in the late 90s, early 2000s.
01:39Over at Port Stephens, bodyboard shaper Adam McHugh says the industry and sourcing materials has become tougher,
01:47but it still has a strong future.
01:50The bodyboards that I make and sell, they go all over the world.
01:53I sell to California, I've sold to Canary Islands, I've even sold to Israel.
01:59There's a grassroots push to get more people to give bodyboarding a go.
02:04That includes attracting more women to the largely male-dominated sport.
02:09I'll see you ladies out there.
02:11This year is the first time there's been a women's division in the Shark Island Challenge.
02:16Attracting more young people is also a priority.
02:19We are putting a lot of time and effort into generating grass-root stuff for kids,
02:24because that's where the future of our sport is.
02:26Barrelling ahead into a new era.
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