How To Bodysurf With Keith Malloy

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The Malloy brothers have long been idols of mine for years. They have a very unique and uncluttered view of the ocean and surfing. Not to mention, of course, they get to roam the world checking out places most of us can only fantasize about. Keith has always been a big fan of bodysurfing, and Come Hell or High Water was an epic film and Keith's first jump into surf flick making. A home run in our opinion!!

Keith Malloy: Over the last two or three years, I've gone out and hung out with the Wedge Body Surfers, and really got to know that crew, and there's something in bodysurfing that attracts a unique individual. All these guys are really interesting and really just comical. They're not worried about if people are looking at them or impressed or anything and it's kind of like that in each area. Because it basically takes a great bodysurfing wave to attract a crew, whether it's in California or Hawaii or anywhere else, it brings this little tribe of bodysurfers together.

Point Panics

The guys at Point Panic, they definitely have a little bit more of an acrobatic style, and they don't seem to like, put their pressure on their hands in the same place as the guys at the Wedge do. Each one of them is so different that it actually makes the rider or the body surfer use his body completely differently to make the waves.

You may not be able to make a real fast down the line wave, so you're looking for a hollow, peaky, powerful little nugget of a wave. Almost like you'd want to ride across straight or something like that. The beauty is if it's waist high, you can be getting totally barreled into the most critical part of the wave, where if you're standing on a board you probably won't be there.

"Bodysurfing is a lot about surface tension and planning"

Bodysurfing is a lot about surface tension and planning, you know you're swimming around, your body's under water. But when you actually start riding that wave you need to be like 50% above the water or else it's really not going to work. You know and the way you do that is by taking off on the right part of the wave, and kicking hard and starting to get a little bit of planning surface going and that will project you down the line.

The two best tools for doing that would be wearing swim fins, which is pretty obvious and then a handplane, because it's just going to give you that little extra edge to get your speed going. This is especially true because you really do put almost all of your weight forward on your front hand. That's what is skimming the water when you catch the wave. The rest of your body is submerged or above it, but you're really planing off your hand.

And surfing, it's still about finding the proper flex in the board and the proper flex in the fin. One of the most amazing things about bodysurfing is, you can use your whole body and torque your body and flex your body. It's a pretty amazing feeling when you're able to just like, stall it out and then flatten back out, and make yourself as rigid as possible to make a barrel or make a section. Surfer: I've got basic bodysurfing tips. Do you want to hear them?