Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore. Bodyboarding is also referred to as Boogieboarding due to the invention of the “Boogie Board” by Tom Morey. The average bodyboarding consists of a short, rectangular piece of hydrodynamic foam. Bodyboarders typically use swim fins for additional propulsion and control while riding a breaking wave.
The adventure starts when Monica picks you up from your location in Funchal or other place, and you are headed to the North part of the Island (locals says the waves there are perfect for Bodyboard or Surfing). The destination for today’s tour was Seixal , the waves looked scary for us and we doubted that the water is really 18 degrees, but once we put on our gear we jumped into the ocean and stayed there for more then 2 hours.
The lessons starts on the beach, little bit of theory that will become practice very soon. In the ocean Monica make sure that everyone rides at least one good wave! Once you get one good wave, you don’t want to stop with this experience, you just wait for the next one and the next one. And what the locals said it is true, the waves in Seixal are getting bigger and bigger.
After two hours your body is getting tired and everyone is getting out one by one, few of us were still in the water together with our bodyboard teacher, trying to catch just “one” more good wave. We finish the experience with some drinks in the local bar. On the way home we stopped in one more authentic Madeira place called Serra de Agua, where we had some good Poncha and Picado, more about the Poncha in another blog 🙂
