The Father Of Bodyboarding- Thomas Hugh Morey

Introduction

Thomas Hugh Morey is an engineer, inventor, musician, entrepreneur, and popularly known as the father of bodyboard and bodyboarding. At the point, when he was only a kid, Morey figured out how to bodysurf on his dad’s back. Later he innovates a few mechanical advancements that have vigorously influenced the present improvements in the surfing world.
At present, he owns TomMorey.com and patrons riding rivalries, for example, The Tom Morey Invitational.
In 1971, he first introduced bodyboard in Hawaii. He named it boogie board. Since then, the boogie board becomes the trademark of bodyboard and bodyboarding sport.
Bodyboarding or surfing, regardless of what you call it, the invention turned out so popular and opened the route for an upset in boardsports.

What is Bodyboarding?

Bodyboarding is one of the most famous water sports these days. In case you haven’t attempted it yet, you should add it to your adventure list to try it next summer. However, what is bodyboarding precisely?
Basically, the answer is that bodyboarding is the specialty of riding waves while in an inclined position (resting on the board). Yet, this seems similar to surfing; it is entirely a different form of riding waves. In surfing, you’ll be in a standing position while riding the waves. Despite the fact that bodyboarding is generally known as riding waves in an inclined position, other bodyboarders invented different forms of bodyboarding, particularly drop-knee and hold up.
Appropriately, the Polynesian citizens were the initial ones to ride a wave utilizing their paipo sheets in an inclined position. They have been doing this for quite a while, even before stand-up wave riding or riding ever appeared.
After that, the bodyboard, also called boogie board or belly board, was created by Tom Morey in July 1971, in Southern California. The Detroit-conceived innovator needed to surf, so he used foam blank instead of using paipo sheets for comfort and security. And the rest is history.

Below, we will brief you on the history of Thomas Hugh Morey and his contribution to the surfing and bodyboarding world.

Thomas Hugh Morey – The father of bodyboarding

Thomas Hugh Morey was born on August 15, 1935, in Detroit. History remembered him for designing the world’s first bodyboard at the age of 36. However, this imaginative youngster was not new to water sports.
He completed his graduation at the University of Southern California in 1957, major in Mathematics. Later, he utilized his expert abilities to build up a few surf-related advancements. He joined Douglas Aircraft as a process engineer. There, he was acquainted with some notable post-war materials.
He left his engineering job and established his own brands, with waves as a foundation motivation for business. That’s why he moved to Ventura, and yet, it was not a pit stop.
Morey, along with Karl Pope (his business partner), established a company named Morey-Pope Co, in 1964. Together, they came out with verities of ideas and technologies that popularize surfing in the U.S.A. and some other countries. Such ideas are: an infusion formed compatible fin; the Trisect, a three-piece surfboard; an empty aluminum honeycombed surfboard; a wax substitute called Slipcheck; and the Snub, a surfboard with a turned-down rail.
Morey also invented: the sunken nose pocket (1954), the Wing Tip (1955), the compatible blade framework (1964), the paper surfboard (1965), and finally, the bodyboard or boogieboard(1971).

Those things influenced surfing the game it is today. Morey and Pope additionally arranged the first surfing contest in the United States. The title of the contest was named “$1,500 Tom Morey Invitational”. It was held in Ventura in the mid-year of 1966. In a statement, Pope mentioned him as a visionary person.

At first, he built up a six-foot board with skegs, with an epoxy glass base and delicate polyethylene deck. However, the plan didn’t catch the market. So Morey came up with a different plan, and it became easier to make. He just cut a nine-foot bit of foam into two pieces.

On the seventh of July, 1971, the bodyboard had been concocted in Hawaii. In the same year, Tom Morey headed out to California to introduce his recent notable creation to the surf business. He finally made an agreement with G&S Surfboards.

At first, Morey called it the S.N.A.K.E., in full form: Side, Navel, Arm, Knee, and Elbow. However, “Boogie” sounded better. As soon as placing a promotional ad in Surfer Magazine, he began accepting orders in his letter drop.
Within a few months, he started getting more than dozens of orders every week. In 1977, Morey Boogie sold 80,000 units and recruited 100 workers in Carlsbad and Mexico.

The first Morey Boogie Board was 45 inches in length, 25 inches wide, and 2.25 inches thick. The board had an absolute load of 3.75 pounds.

The early Morey Boogie Boards were formed by Tom in his lawn, stuck together and polished off with tape. They were sold at $37, yet later, Tom comprehended that glue influenced his well-being and began selling a unit (center, tape, and skins) for $25, and without the glue.

To those of us that have committed our lives to ride bodyboards, Tom has consistently been viewed as a living legend or a living god. However, I may add that his innovation and ground-breaking influence on surfing impact a large number of youths.

Yet, Tom Morey was an innovative guy; he had a long-term drug addiction in his life. In 1977, he sold his company and moved to Hawaii. There, he was attracted to the Bahai Faith and stopped taking drugs and alcohol. He worked as a surfer consultant there.

In 1985 the Moreys moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington, and started working for Boeing. In 1992 Tom got back to southern California with a vision to re-entering the surf business again. At that time, Wham-O was the largest proprietor of Morey Boogie manufacturer and sole distributor. Morey started consulting there. In January 1999, he established his own organization again. Now it is – TomMorey.com and transferred his name to Y.
From 1999 to 2007, Morey was involved in the continuous improvement of delicate surfboard innovations. He carefully assembled all sheets in a little workshop in Oceanside, California. One of his notable innovations was the Swizzle. Basically, it was a metaphorically formed longboard plan. He promoted and sold the sheets under the brand name Y.
At the end of 2007, Tom united with Catch Surf of San Clemente, California, to carry his innovation to most customers. Tom’s progressive new surfboard innovation melds the security and solidness of soft surfboards with a hard surfboard presentation.

Tom Morey is still alive and perfectly healthy. Recently, he came up with another bodyboard or boogieboard, named Tendem Boogie.