The waves and the riders were on fire all the way from Brazil to Australia!

Who will be crowned champion in Brazil today?

My money’s on Tristan!

Good luck to all you legends in the making!

Let’s go Sunday funday! 🤙

There are waves that test you, and then there is Shark Island. Jutting from the southern reaches of Sydney's Cronulla headland, this notorious slab of barnacle-crusted reef has been humbling the best bodyboarders on the planet for nearly three decades.

Over mere inches of water, it throws up some of the heaviest, most unforgiving barrels on the east coast of Australia, waves that offer no negotiation and no mercy for hesitation.

This week, it delivered. A building east-southeast swell out of the Tasman, clean offshore winds, and a window the organisers had been watching for months.

it all came together. The Bodyboard King Shark Island Challenge 2026 ran across Sunday 24th and Monday 25th of May in conditions among the best the island has ever produced for competition: pulsing 8-to-10-foot walls of raw Southern Ocean power, dredging through the reef with the kind of ferocity that only arrives a handful of times a year.

The Shark Island Challenge first started in 1997 as a very informal local event organised by Nathan Purcell and Mark Fordham.

12 locals vs 12 invitees, competing for prize money that wouldn't cover a week's groceries today. The wave spoke for itself, and word got out fast.

The SIC winner history reads like a who's who of the sport.

Matt Percy (1997), Steve Mackenzie (1998), Mike Stewart (2000), Guilherme Tamega 3 years running (2002–2004), Ben Player back-to-back (2007–2008), Ryan Hardy, Dave Winchester, Mitch Rawlins, Andrew Lester, and Ben Sawyer in the 2024 revival.

The event has a long history drawing in the likes of Mike Stewart, Guilherme Tamega, Mitch Rawlins, Ben Player and local legend Andrew Lester (see the madness).

All celebrated champions, all shaped by the same merciless reef.

After a 7-year hiatus, the SIC returned in 2024 with renewed fire and again in 2025.

The contest's return created renewed enthusiasm among competitors and fans globally, with the 2026 edition carrying special significance as the sport rebuilds momentum.

If 2025 belonged to one moment in bodyboarding, it was Mike Stewart standing on the Cronulla headland processing the impossible. Stewart, 25 years after claiming the 2000 SIC and solidifying himself as bodyboarding's GOAT, turned back the clock for his second title at Australia's premier bodyboarding wave.

Mike Stewart was 62 years of age at the time… and come to think of it… just celebrated another year this month of May. Congrats, Mike!

Parachuted into the competition 5 days prior to the event, with the call to greenlight a July 4 start and fellow Hawaiian Jeff Hubbard unable to make it, organisers were blessed with a rare bit of luck!

Stewart was in Australia working on another project and was available. He had to scrap his way through, surviving a quarterfinal countback to reach the final, where he grabbed the early set waves and held on as Lewy Finnegan and Dave Winchester surged with spectacular late scores.

"This has to be the highlight of my whole life. Don't give up on the guy that doesn't give up." For a man renowned for his stoic demeanour, the mask slipped just for a second, revealing the raw passion the all-time great still carries for this sport.

In 2026, he was back at the island again, drawn into Heat 5 alongside Tanner McDaniel, Liam Lucas, and Sam Strachan, the most anticipated heat on the card.

One of the most significant developments in the modern SIC era has been the formal inclusion of a Women's division. For most of the event's history, Shark Island was an exclusively male proving ground. That has changed and the 2026 edition made a powerful case for why it should never go back.

The women's field featured five elite competitors going head-to-head in one decisive heat, with no second chances. Nerves of steel and smart wave selection just as important as raw talent.

Leading the charge was Brazil's Isabela Sousa, the 5-time world champion, and one of the most technically accomplished bodyboarders of her generation.

The SIC invited male and female athletes to push the boundaries of what's humanly possible on a bodyboard, over inches of water rushing off barnacle-encrusted rock.

Isabela did exactly that, delivering a clinical, dominant performance in 6-8ft surf that left no doubt about the result. Facing her were Western Australian powerhouse Ebony Schell, trials winner and dark horse Jane Keel, Lilly Pollard, and rising talent Sophie Pickering.

Sousa was untouchable.

The SIC's own Instagram said it best:

"What a clinical performance by the 5x World Champion Brazilian bad-ass."

The Women's division at Shark Island is no longer an experiment.

It's a fixture, and it's raising the bar.

Day one opened with clean, pulsing 8-10ft surf and a Cronulla crowd that turned out in full. Michael Ostler and Cohen Thomas both scored high nine-point rides in the final heat of the day.

Dave Winchester, a former SIC champion, threw himself over the ledge on multiple occasions with the kind of casual authority that only decades of experience can produce.

Local Shaun Pyne read the island with the instincts of a man who grew up on it, taking out his heat with barrel-riding precision - entered into with a whipping fast forwawrd spin - that had the headland roaring.

🥇 Ben Sawyer (Cronulla, NSW, Aus)

🥈 Dave Winchester (NSW, Aus)

🥉 Cohen Thomas (NSW, Aus)

🥇 Isabela Sousa (Brazil & 5x World Champion)

🥈 Ebony Schell (Aus)

🥉 Jane Keel (Aus, Trials Winner)

The Bodyboard King Shark Island Challenge is bodyboarding's most visible proof of concept to the wider world.

The SIC is recognised globally by the greater surfing community to be one of the most dangerous and honourable contests to be a part of, holding stead as one of the most challenging waves in the world.

Ben Sawyer winning on his home reef.

Mike Stewart being Mike Stewart.

Isabela Sousa standing as Women's Champion at one of the world's most demanding slabs.

The wave does not care about your world ranking or your social following.

It takes everything you have and gives back only what you earn…

Congrats to the Ben & Isabela, and much respect goes to the sponsors and organizers for reviving this epic event that once again captured the true spirit of our beloved sport. 🤙

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