Bodyboarders don’t get the respect they’re due from many surfers. The best ones are a little crazy. They’re often the first to ride a wave at a spot that didn’t look possible, paving the way for surfers to give it a crack. When it comes to heavy, barreling waves, there are a handful of bodyboarders that do it better than anyone else, and Shane Ackerman is one of them.
“There is an entire contingent of lunatics on bodyboards getting almost zero credit and consistently doing shit that no one standing up would do,” we wrote in a piece called “F*cking Spongers” a few years ago. “For years, they’ve been the unsung heroes of slabs – most of them were first discovered and ridden by bodyboarders. I like to think of them as a paving crew of sorts, paving the way for surfers on surfboards, showing them that yes, this wave can be ridden. A paving crew full of some of the most insane people on any kind of board.”
In No Holding Back, the film you see below from WeBodyboard, Ackerman puts his staggering talent on display.
“‘Just your average Joe having a crack’ .. This was his response many years ago when we brought up his superhuman ability to.. well… not die,” Webodyboard writes in the film’s description. “Things haven’t changed since then, he has always remained humble and pure in his love for the biggest heaviest slabs he can find. Shane is the human embodiment of what the spirit of bodyboarding is all about.”
