25. Brian Wise
The
Wiseguy was known in the 90’s as a bit of a hardass in competition, someone
whom you wouldn’t necessarily enjoy having in a heat because you’d know he’d
hassle the hell out of you. That same intensity went into his riding. His very
peculiar style was focused on big waves and power carves and he pretty much
made the carve-to-spinner combo a staple. His reverse spinners blew chunks of
water, he rode big waves and true to his reputation of going big, look to his
waves at the two Pipe contests which he competed in which the waves were
massive. In one he got a ten second beatdown and in this year’s Pipe contest
his air drop is on more than a few people’s desktop backgrounds. On land he’s
mellowed out considerably, finding Christ and living in Hawaii… in the water
he’s still one of the most fearless guys ever to hop on a sponge.
24. Alexandre de Pontes
The
beginning of the Brazilian revolution occured thanks to this man. Xandinho rode
big, boosted and had style, poise and charisma. He also liked big hollow waves.
Sound familiar? Xandinho fell victim to a car crash and the sport lost one of
its best ambassadors. But the deed had been done… the doors to the world stage
had been blasted down, and thanks to him Brazilian hellmen have been wreaking
havoc on the world of bodyboarding ever since.
23. Pat Caldwell
Co-inventor
of the El Rollo, lanky, long, kooky and crazy. Pat is a hell man and for a time
he just wanted to get demolished by the biggest waves in existence. His
closeouts at Waimea still hold water as some of the craziest slabs I’ve ever
seen anyone willingly take on the head. Apart from that, Pat was recently
elected as the new General Manager of the IBA World Tour. Pat is a guy who
loves the water, loves big waves and the influence of him and other judges and
riders on scoring criteria are helping push bodyboarding to the next
level… which is several feet above standup surfing’s BS melodrama.
22. Kyle Maligro
Maligs
rode dropknee the way you wanted to ride dropknee, rode standup the way you
wanted to ride standup and rode prone the way you wanted to ride prone. The
most talented of the original Kauai Classic Team, Kyle is one of the top 3
riders to influence my brother in his approach to riding prone and dropknee. In
a time when people were scrounging ugly ass reverse rollo attempts, Maligs was
launching them so perfect that you were torn between loving him for being so
good and hating him for making it look so easy. If I needed to use one word to
describe Maligs I don’t have to think too much… seamless.
21. Chad Barba
16th
century hermits have shit on Chad Barba when it comes to living off the beaten
path. Made famous for his exploits on the Inside and Crave the Cave, Chad’s
Kong-sized-balls approach to the Wedge and huge Puerto showcases that on waves
hellmen would pull into to score the barrel of their lives, he’d be gunning to
hit the end section and soar 15 feet in the air.
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