So you’d like to know abit more about the WBBC, read on

The World Belly Boarding Championship (WBBC) was first started in 2002 at Chapel Porth by Martyn Ward and Chris Ryan as a memorial contest to the late Arthur Traveller, a Londoner who holidayed with his wooden board at Chapel Porth every year. From its humble beginnings with only a handful of competitors it has now grown into the World Championships we see today with over 200 entrants.

From the beginning it has been a very simple, back-to-basics comp – no wetsuits, no leashes and no swim fins. A bit of wood and a swimsuit is all you need, you don’t even need to bring money as the entry fee is free.

The first surfing of this type which we now call “Belly Boarding” (although in the UK it was just called surfing on surfboards until the arrival of the Malibu boards in the early 1960s) is thought to have started in the very early 1900s when a form of the Hawaiian ‘Paipo’ board was copied by British soldiers returning from the Great War inspired by stories of surfing from South Africa, Australia and Hawaii. 

A Generous Legacy for 2010

This year’s event is supported via a generous legacy from the estate of Mary Adkins. Mary lived for over 60 years in her family's house overlooking the sea at Polzeath. Her grandfather had noticed houses were being built on the clifftop at New Polzeath when he swam out to the Doom Bar sandbank from Padstow one day so he bought one. Her father was one of a consortium who bought farmland from Pentire Head to Port Quin and gave them to the National Trust in 1935. Apart from from four years in the WAAF in the war, mostly in Egypt, Mary spent much of her active life swimming and bellyboarding, which she loved. She also found time to win the South West Ladies Golf championship and to be a pillar of the St Minver Sunday school. Mary was from a generation which never wore a wetsuit, even in the depths of winter. She would no doubt have fared well in this competition given her many years of experience and willingness to fully embrace the elements!

We are grateful to Mary and her family for this gift.