“Mythical stuff.”
Two years ago, jaws were dropped after the Oahu-based bodyboarding and bodysurfing legend Mike Stewart posted a bodysurfing clip from a B Brazilian wave pool.
Stewart, who was sixty and who has won the Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic fourteen times and the bodyboarding world crown nine times, was filmed at Boa Vista Village, a planned community one-and-a-half hours from São Paulo, where a developer has built an American Wave Machines tank in the middle of three residential towers named Malibu, Laguna and Pebble.
Some of the best tuberiders in the world including Jamie O’Brien, Shane Dorian, Mark Healey and Kai Lenny, were too quick to praise Stewart although the best response was one fan who wrote, “Protect Mike at all costs. We should be making statues of this man”.
Now, Mike Stewart has been labelled “the greatest of all time, the undeniable godfather and pioneer of the sport” after being a star-studded field to win the prestigious Shark Island Challenge a little earlier today.
In good four-foot waves Mike Stewart, now sixty-two although age has not wearied, was a popular winner.
One of the most iconic moments in bodyboarding history.
What an absolute legend You made me cry Mike
This wasn’t just a win but a win overall for the sport of bodyboarding. Mikes pure grit, courage, determination, style. And how can I not forget passion. You did it for all of us who bodyboard. You the godfather of the sport. And the flame for bodyboarding has been well and truly lit. Coming from my younger 15 year old grom self. We all admire you
What a legend! Like so many others, I grew up watching this guy; had his posters on my bedroom wall and stuck under a layers of contact of my school books. Now I’m in my 40s and have in recent years reconnected with the ocean, with body boarding but it’s like some things never change: Mike Stewart, Shark Island. Mythical stuff. Doing the sport and all its participants proud.
Importantly, the last word was left to Kelly Slater who posted simply,
“Mike Stewart is the greatest.”
