POD Bodysurfing Handboards in the Media

As shown in the photos below POD® Handboards have attracted the attention of the media appearing in magazines all over the world.

We particularly like this humorous comment and very creative use for our product: "The Pod has been designed by body surfing nut Shane Vassallo. If nothing else a pair of them could help you slap your way to the front of the ice-cream queue".

Oyster Summer Magazine - Published 1996

Advertising Colour POD Handboards

• Just strap it on.
• Bodysurfing.
• Naturally.
• Available in solid and transparent colours, plus a limited timber range. At selected stores.

Studio for Men - Published 1997

POD HANDBOARDS

Ensure high-performance bodysurfing with the revolutionary POD Handboard. Moulded out of tough polypropylene and acrylic, the Pod fits your hand like a glove and lifts your body out of the water into the prime positions for speed and control.

Mode Magazine - Published 1997

Pod squad

Looking more like the landing vehicle of Agent Mulder's friends than this summer's hottest beach accessory, the Pod handboard (above) will make you the coolest bodysurfer on the beach. Maybe future generations of Australians will be born with these instead of hands.

New Weekly Magazine - Published 1997

Pocket Surfboard

Looking for a new trill at the beach? Get yourself a Pod handboard ($60). Shaped like a mini surfboard, the Pod straps onto your hand to combine the board-riding trill of skimming across a tube with the body-surfing sensation of being in the wave. Designed by the self-professed "mad body-surfer" Shane Vassallo, the Pod is Australia made, environmentally friendly and is the only surfboard that'll fit in your pocket, For more information call.

The Australian Magazine - Published 1997

Pod squad

We've done everything short of grow flippers to make body surfing wilder: some old-timers even used dinner plates to skim their hands over the waves before it was banned at Bondi.

Smaller and safer is the Pod, $60. Shaped like a mini surfboard, the Pod straps onto your wrist and turn you into a human fin, making it possible to cut across the wave just like a board rider.

Design by self-professed "mad body surfer" Shane Vassallo, it was named after a school of dolphins and is claiming respect from hard-core board riders, "They've seen what we can do out there and we're given space. It's great feeling to cruise across the wall of a wave, it's a total rush." Call Pod Handboards.

The Australian Financial Review Magazine - Published 1997

THE IMPORTANT thing to note about The Pod (above) is that it's for the hands, not the feet.Remember this, or the challenge of surfing could reach even greater heights. The Pod has been designed by body surfing nut Shane Vassallo.

If nothing else a pair of them could help you slap your way to the front of the ice-cream queue. RRP $60, Tel: 0412 892 000 for stockists.

Total Sports Magazine - Published 1997

POD HANDBOARD

You though that quality and style were disappearing faster than the suburban bandicoot? Well, TotalSPORT has some welcome news for you, Mr Negativity - the Pod handboard. Used in conjunctions with fins, this gives new meaning to the term body-bashing.

Hard and unforgiving, these will leave unsightly bruises on unsuspecting children frolicking in the break. Not that we recommend that sort of thing. Available in a range or recycled plastics or as a hand-crafted timber versions.

Distributor: Pod Handboards

Price: From $59.95

Women In Sports Magazine - Published 1998

A Pod FULL OF Fun

There are board riders and there are body surfers... and most beachgoers would say you're either one or the other. Wrong. The POD combines the board-riding trill of skimming across a wave with the sheer surfing pleasure of water on the body.

This is not just another hand held board. It is shaped like a surf board, acts like a surf board and costs around the same prices as your swimming costumes. All you need to work the POD is the ability to swim... and to have fun.

I gave the POD a test drive last month in small waves at Torquay and believe me it's not hard to get working. As you feel the wave under you and paddle with your free arm, simple pushing down with the POD against the force of the wave lifts up your body and sweeps you across the top of the wave, It is also very light which allows for helps of freedom of movement... basically you can do what you want.

The POD was design by self confessed body-surfing addict, Shane Vassallo. It is 100 percent Australian made of recyclable plastic and organic colour pigments and come is a wide range of colours.
It retails for $60 at all good surf shops.

The Australian Magazine - Published 1998

LEFT: Pod handboards, for extreme bodysurfing and ultimate wave riding, in assorted colours, $59.95, from Gowings.

Australian Style Magazine - Published 1998

POD HAND BOARD

Developed in 1992 by body-surfing fanatic Shane Vassallo, The Pod is a strap-on hand board designed to let you surf along a wave while enjoying increased speed and control. Best used with flippers. Originally made from fibreglass, Vassallo has since found recyclable polypropylene less toxic. Hand-crafted Australian cedar also available. Try Gowings, Myers or your favourite sports store.

eMag - Published 1999

Wave breaker

Six years ago, Shane Vassallo began making bodysurfing handboards for himself. "Hey dude, can you make me one too," they kept asking him, and now he has a business, Pod Handboards. The "Pod" comes in different materials - this one is pearl-transparent pigment in engineered acrylic, which changes from blue to green, depending of the light.

Your hand straps in above the pivot point and in the concave area underneath is a keel fins set in an elliptical curve; designed for speed and control as you fly across the face of the wave. The attached velcro wristband will save you losing it in a wipeout.

The Pod Handboard. Contact 0412 892 000
Recommended retail price: $59.95 to $74.95 depending on material.

Marie Claire - Published 1998 - The Word is by Alison Boleyn

The pod

Hard-core bodysurfers used to shim across Bondi’s waves with dinner plates, until they were banned for obvious reasons.

Now you can enjoy the same experience with Pod, a 38 x 20cm mini-surfboard that straps to your hands and enables you to lift your body out f the water and into the barrels and tubes.

Available in polypropylene ($60) or enviro-friendly wood ($160) from Myer Grace Bros, Gowings and surf shops. Call 0412 892 000.

Australian House & Garden 1998 Featured Wood POD Handboard

Wired Magazine - Published 1999

Flipper Than Thou (Australia)

Being digital is a disadvantage when it comes to bodysurfing, which is why Pod handboards streamline your primate fingers into a smooth cetacean edge.

Strap the acrylic aquatic appendages to your wrist and catch the wave. Pod handboard $A74.95 (US$48.50).

Vogue International Summer Magazine - Published 2000

HANDS DOWN

Remember the boogie board? Now from Australia come a new idea in bodysurfing Shane Vassallo, A maker of custom timber surfboards.

Came up with the idea of bodysurfing with what he calls "PODS": Mini Acrylic handboards strapped to the hands and wrists. www.podware.com.au

Town and Country Featured Orange POD Handboard

New Zealand Sunday Star Times - Publish December 10 2000

Little Ripper

Could it be a pocket-sized surfing revolution? Marc Hinton looks at the latest generation of wave riding’s handiest boards marking a comeback to the beach near you.

IT'S the surfboard you can put in your pocket. Your convenience wave rider. Let’s face it, sometimes small is cool, and little device called the pod would appear to fit snugly into that category.

Unpretentious, sleek and mightily effective, the pod may look as though it has been put through a sci-fi shrinking machine, but it works a treat. And, enthusiasts say, it is the perfect solution for the modern executive who has neither the time nor inclination to lug his surfboard around on the off chance grabbing an hour in the water.

At the beach people might snigger and even make snide suggestions as to the pod’s proportions, but those who have tried it reckon you can shrug that off as blissful ignorance. "It's brilliant," says former New Zealand lifesaving representative Jared Jackson, who plucks his out every now and then and let’s rip when the break is up around Auckland.

"You just have to throw a set of fins on and it allows you to get up on top of the water a bit more. It's kind of like having a little surfboard on your hand."

 The principle is simple. The pod is a hydro dynamically designed handboard which fastens with a Velcro strap to the palm of the hand and when used while bodysurfing provides propulsion, lift and control.

In short, "It’s one helluva lot of fun" confirms Jackson.

I was reminded of the pod while in France recently with the All Blacks. There, and especially in Paris, a vehicle called the Smart Car is prevalent. It is extremely compact. But bustling old city where traffic is heavy, congestion a constant and parking spaces at a premium, it works a treat.

Much like the pod. Small, but perfectly functional.

The pod, it has to be said, is not new. Just refined. It has been around for a while now, with the Taylor's Mistake handboard be popular among surf lifesavers in New Zealand as far back as the 1970s. But whereas that was a rather bulky, wooden design with a grip groove in the mid and a flat surface to plane the water, the millennium version is, predictably, much sleeker, spunkier and scientific. It even has a swish fin on the underside which makes it more of a weapon through the water.

Australian Shane Vassallo designed the pod in the mid-1990s and has been refining it since. His early models were hand crafted and made of timber and were an immediate hit on Bondi Beach, near where he lives in Sydney.

"We wanted something very convex so it was hugging to the hand and at the same time wanted something concave so it could hug the ocean wall it's going across. The fin section we believe pushes water through the centre and gives you lift as well." 

As interest grew, so did business. Vassallo eventually switched to plastic moulding and modern lightweight materials. For him it has also been a labour of love.

"When I was a kid I used to just ride thong basically. I'm a mad bodysurfer. If I could I'd spend all my time in the ocean every day. It's not a new concept but one that died out a bit when bodyboards started appear. "I'm finding now from my perspective that there's been a bit of a resurgence around Sydney, Melbourne and the Queensland city areas where people don't have the area or the inclination for boards."

The idea is that eventually as use grows competitions will start. Vassallo can see it happening in Australia and, likewise, Jackson believes surf clubs could get the ball rolling by staging competitions during the breaks in carnivals. Initially, the accent would be on participation.

But it is serious business. 

And, adds Vassallo, can take bodysurfers places and spaces they would never normally go.

"A lot of guys I know still freestyle, but when they've ridden the pod they've thought it's great. But I know for a fact that using a handboard you get more lift and speed, and certainly much better control because you can't pull your body up out of the water the same way you can with a handboard."

"With the pod's shape it gives extra planing surface and the more you pull yourself out of the water the faster you can go. I've never seen a guy freestyle go into barrel and come out of it, whereas you can do that riding a handboard." 

Jackson gushes about the pod. He still surfs conventionally when he can, but when he feels like it slips on the pod and has fun in the surf.

"The ability to get up and out of the water makes it a bit more fun. And it's a bit easier too. I guess the pod allows people who might not normally be that good at bodysurfing to give it a rip. You just need some fins to get some speed up and then once you're going you don't have to be that strong a swimmer to get the enjoyment."

Jackson recommends anyone used to bodysurfing without flippers invest in some fins and try out the pod. Before long they'll be carving it up on waves and performing all sorts of manoeuvres. 

"This opens up another world of bodysurfing. When I first became aware of them way back with the Taylor's Mistake one, we thought they were brilliant then. The pod's just a more modern version."

World bodysurfing champion Virginia Cartwright, of Dunedin, remains a steadfast conventional competitor, but she has tried the handboard and loved the enjoyment aspect. Pointedly, her children have the most fun with it, she adds. And Jackson reckons with the right push on the marketing side the pod can become a regular beach accessory. 

"I think people just need to be aware it's out there."

After all, like the bikini, the pod shows small can be cool at the beach.

Image Magazine - Published 2001

Image you’re heading to the beach this summer, try out these new toys: 

A surfboard that fits on your hand, and an inflatable windsurfer.

In New Zealand, the surfboard is being hailed as a pocket-sized surfing revolution – hydro-dynamically designed, designed, the hand board provides propulsion, lift and control in the water when bodysurfing and is ideal for wave-riders who don’t want to lug a full-size surfboard around.

The Daily Telegraph - Published 2002

Sea trial:

Plastic hand boards

POD HANDBOARDS: For bodysurfing enthusiasts.

At various outlets. With a Velcro strap and wrist attachment, these small boards have a concave bottom, small keel fin and are made from 100 percent recyclable, buoyant plastic.

Designed by bodysurfer Shane Vassallo and used with swim fins to allow elevation for greater speed and manoeuvrability.

Also available custom-made in cedar. Average retail price (plastic board): $69.95

Qantas: Wish on Q - Published 2003

Pod Hand Board & Fins, $150.00

Engineered and manufactured by Pod in Australia, the Pod hand board is designed for extreme bodysurfing, with the fins suitable for body surfing or body boarding.

The Pod hand board simply straps on and features a pivot point and keel fin. Made from 100% recyclable plastic.

Dimensions 37 x 19.2cm. One Size.

The fins are lightweight with deep channels to produce good wave-holding stability. The gills have been designed to ensure rapid water and sand release from the foot pocket.

Made by the new Pod method of construction, a patented technique that involves laminating the naturally buoyant compounds together.

Shoe sizes are available in Small (fits male size 7-8), Medium (fits male size 8-9) & Large (fits male size 9-10)

Each purchase comes with a free Pod bag to hold your handboard and fins.