Riptide Podcast - Luke’s Lounge

t’s not always the faces you see representing the sport who are the most influential behind the scenes. With Armen, this notion rings louder than an approaching autumn Nazare season with a WNW swell brewing on the charts. Starting off in the professional ranks of the BMX world, to joining territorial boog gangs in NYC, all the way to photographing some of the worlds most famous musicians and artis...

With the IBC World Tour coming to a close in Gran Canaria for 2024, Luke and the crew thought it would be only fair to sit down and speak with the Fronton Pro winner, 2 x world champion and absolute launch freak, Tristan Roberts. Discussing all manner of things surrounding the comp, the world title race, that backflip in the final and what Fronton is like as a wave to bodyboard, this poddy is not...

As an enthralling year of IBC World Tour comes to a crescendo’ing close, Coops n Luke breakdown the 2024 Fronton King Pro in their usually fair, yet critical analysis of the worlds best bodyboarders at arguably the worlds best bodyboarding location. From crowning world champions, to local hot pots almost going the whole way to the top of competition to previous world champions showing their compet...

With the turbulent state of the bodyboarding industry and the unknown direction it seems to be hurdling in, Adrian Emerton, cinematographer and director of the yet to be released documentary, Common Thread, takes a seat on the lounge with Luke to talk about his up and coming boog flick, and how it tries to decipher the state of affairs that represents world bodyboarding on a whole currently. Touch...

Episode 90 features the soulful enigma from the West, Josh Garner, and his life long obsession with the beloved boog. With big wave Riptide covers that left him bleeding from the ears, to tackling Hawaii seasons with grown men whilst in his teens to making art and music whilst on his own individual booging journey, safe to say Josh has experienced a lot during his time on this earth. At the time o...

Tyson Ryan, a raw, honest and enigmatic individual, takes a seat on the lounge to chat shop about his life in Jack Stance, and all the moments that have spawned from pursuing this scarce discipline. From the shark infested water of the most recent DK sessions, to being state locked in W.A during the dreaded covid lock downs to diabolical reverse rocker on almost every board he has ever owned, this...

Another Comp Talk episode drops with Coops and Luke gas bagging their way through the recent IBC Sintra Pro, held at Praia Grande in Portugal, Europe. From Pierre’s late season world title charge, to argy bargy in the females world title tilt, what it means to by Uri Valado in his home country of Brazil and how to get more females involved in the sport of booging, the fellas cover it all over a fe...

Episode 87 welcomes Luna Hardman to Luke’s Lounge to dissect her skyrocketing success to the top of international female bodyboarding. With 2 x Junior Female World Titles already fastened to her competitive belt, and some quality results in this years IBC Pro Female division it’s only natural to assume that Luna’s presence in a competitive setting is going to be felt for years to come. Touching on...

GOLD, GOLD & GOLD! Sixteen year old, Jai Taylor, hits the lounge to discuss his most recent international comp success with a first place finish in the Juniors division of the IBC Maldives Pro. The conversation details the living conditions over in the comp site, the pressure surrounding the event, the feeling of taking the win, what the costs of the journey were, how the comp preparation occu...

Episode 85 of the lounge holds one of the most transformative bodyboarding stories the industry has ever witnessed. Ryan Rinnga McKinnon, Cronulla and Shark Islands heavy hitting local, spills the beans on his career as a professional free surfing bodyboarder and the events surrounding his slab hunting adventures. From crippling career ending concussions, to Tension bodyboarding fame, through to d...

In this Comp Talk episode Coops n Luke review a rather large month in competitive booging from all the four corners of the globe. With Aussie triumph in the form of Jai Taylor taking out the Juniors division in the Maldives Pro, from local East Coast grass roots success with the inaugural Headlands pro being run and won in some pulsing conditions and a recap of Coops recent boog trip to Mexico, th...

The Portuguese Prince, Steph Kokorelis, pays a visit to Luke’s Lounge to chat about his recent 18 month long stint in Aus and all the wildly enjoyable experiences that came with it. Touching on random police car searches in WA, to all day Aussie Pipe sessions on the East Coast to driving through random raging fires in South Australian outback, Steph’s time here in Oz has been fascinating to say th...

After much anticipation and a lot of behind the scenes organisation, Chris James lends Luke a few hours of his “Big Fish” energy to discuss his illustrious career on the Trad Boog. From humble beginnings growing up just outside the working class Steel City of Newcastle on the East Coast of Oz, to being sponsored by BSC in his early 20’s to then going onto starring in iconic films such as Video, De...

Episode 81 on the lounge welcomes one of Tasmania’s most talented exports, Hobart’s local male model and all round good cunt, Cohen Thomas to the air waves. Cohens recent feats in waves of pure consequence have been internationally recognised over the last few years, and it was about goddam time the boog community got to hear what makes the man tick. In this conversation Cocco and Luke touch on ev...

Episode 79 of Luke’s verbal journaling features good friend and master digital creator, Steve “Big George” Wall. Sifting through each others shared past experiences, Steve and Luke talk in length about pilgrimages to the Australian Desert, how it’s been for Steve relocating himself to Iceland and what it was like becoming the industry’s top photographer as the boog world started to go into decline...

In this edition of comp talk Coops n Luke slice n dice through every last molecule of the 2024 Bodyboard King Shark Island Challenge. From the highs, lows, needed improvements and celebrated positive outcomes from one of the worlds greatest bodyboarding comps, this one is not to be missed. Enjoy crew ✌️

With the South American leg of the IBC world tour coming to a close, Coops n Luke look over all the highlights that comprised of both Antofagasta and Itacoatiara respectively. Plenty to digest from junior world champions making a lunge for the men’s world championship, to the Brazilian storm firing up on the women’s side to DK world titles being decided in a best of three final shoot out. Need to...

Episode 77 on the lounge brings a creative to the for, who for some, seems to come from pure obscurity, yet he has worked and created with some of the best in the industry throughout his short yet illustrious career to date. Brad Schmidt’s not yet a household name, but by recently enjoying some of his most recent edits, I’m sure the Wollongong based Filmer/Director isn’t too far off it. With the “...

Riptides very own writer, and one of Port Mac’s golden child’s, Dougy Smith parks his corpse up on the lounge to discuss the happenings and goings of life as a fully fledged boog tragic. With memories of Tahitian freight trains being wrangled, navigating Port Mac’s boog politics and raising kids with minimal screen time, my conversation with Doug was broad and enthralling as I discovered what real...

Luke n Coops sink their teeth into bodyboarding competition on a whole as they pass down their opinions on how the local, national and international competition scene has been trending of late. From the IBC tour kicking off their South American Leg in Iquique, to the myriad of local comps here in Australia, plus the up and coming waiting period for the time honoured S.I.C, the fellas cover a wide...

Coal Coast core lord and self professed boog tragic, Jack Dobinson, jumps back on the lounge to chat about his up and coming new feature film - True Boog. Like a candle burning bright through that bleak November rain, Dobbo has continuously shown unbridled enthusiasm towards bodyboarding and the chase for new and undisclosed waves all up and down the east coast. His new film, True Boog, will be pr...

French born World Champion, and Canary Islands resident, Amaury Lavernhe sits down on the Riptide lounge and spills the beans on what has kept him at the top of the world rankings well into his forties. With a locally sourced diet that would satisfy the most strict dietician, whilst regularly engaging in daily stretching routines that even has the great Lewy Finnegan raising eyebrows, it’s no wond...

Cronulla’s favourite son, Benny Sawyer, sits down on the lounge with Luke for a classic Sutherland Shire inspired yarn that will have you walking away with a few more insights into the culture of their shared hometown environment. Revisiting Ben’s childhood in the shire, what it’s been like to chase slab after slab around the globe and what it’s means for him to be invited into this years SIC is a...

Episode 71 features a man who needs no introduction, the Portuguese Prince himself, the smoothest of waterman to lay rail in the Atlantic, the one and only Antonio Saraiva. We chat about style in the European boog ranks, what it’s been like to film for the up and coming Common Thread film and how many classes of scotch Antonio is going to down on his impending trip to chilly Scotland. T’was great...

Wave pool technology is sweeping the booging world in an impactful way, bringing different demographics into our beloved core discipline like moths to a flame. To celebrate this “Wave Garden” technology being brought to the city of Sydney, Luke was allowed special access into the new URBN Surf wave pool as it was still undergoing its final pieces of construction. Sitting down with Shaun Hutchinson...