Body Boarding: Reflections on Being Cool and Not Cool, on Having Fun and Not Caring

Dwayne Body boarding at Hermosa beach.

How do I explain this? If you are really cool, you surf. If you're a kid, you boogie board. If you're from So. Cal., you surf. If you're a transplant, you boogie board.

"Uh Christin, boogie boarding is what kids call it," my So. Cal. boss once told me with a sardonic grin. "If you're over twelve, you 'body board.'"

But really there's not difference between what I do on a boogie board and what a kid does. Surfing takes athleticism and real skill. You have to have balance, strength, and speed. Body boarding, on the other hand, is easy. You just plop your body onto the board and let the waves carry you in. That's what kids do.

I have seen a native Californian "body board," as it were. And it was pretty impressive. Dwayne and I stood on the peer and watched as he bounced along the waves with the surfers. When he caught the crest of one, he popped up on one knee, as if he were proposing to the ocean, and rode almost to shore before skillfully dismounting the wave.

After three summers of body boarding, I still can't dismount the waves. I end up riding all the way onto the sand like a beached seal. More often then not, I end up scrapping my knees and writhing around in the sand trying to get up. Just the other day I slid onto the beach, only to find myself blinking at two sets of veiny feet. I looked up to see two tanned, very cool, frat guys looking down at me. Yeah, there's no cool way to roll off your boogie board.

All that to say, Dwayne and I love body boarding! We know we're not cool, but we have tons of fun doing it. And until either of us learns how to surf, we'll just keep riding the waves home on our little neon orange and blue boards!