WHOMP is making its World Premiere in Coolum, the first bodysurfing documentary to chase waves from Sunshine Coast to Shipstern Bluff Tasmania, and it’s screening right in the heart of the global bodysurfing community.
Due to wet weather, the public premiere of WHOMP has been rescheduled to Tuesday 6 May, and will now take place as part of the official IBSA World Bodysurfing Titles Awards Night.
New details:
– Tickle Park, Coolum Beach
– Tuesday 6 May | From 6pm
– Double feature: WHOMP (30 mins) + Come Hell or High Water (42 mins)
– Presented during the IBSA Awards Night
– Free entry | Food trucks + Coolum Beer Co bar | BYO beanbag or camp chair
Produced by an all-female production team from YesAndFilms, the documentary features the Sunshine Coast, scenes from the annual Coolum Wedge Bodysurfing Festival, and features a rogue’s gallery of fringe-dwelling water lovers from across Australia.
WHOMP is a joy-soaked dive into bodysurfing’s wild fringe. The film captures wave-chasing eccentrics, childhood nostalgia, and ocean-fuelled adrenaline in a 30-minute blast of cinematic beauty, larrikin humour, and salty rebellion.
WHOMP follows big-wave daredevils, quiet ocean dwellers, and community heroes like Indigenous bodysurfer Jarrod Bridgeman, who shares his deep cultural connection to Country through saltwater.
Told with a blend of breathtaking surf cinematography, cheeky animation, and laugh-out-loud moments, WHOMP charts the highs and risks of the sport, including Daniel Carr’s near-fatal wipeout. Women’s voices are front and centre too, including bodysurfer Caitlin Callaghan, who took on monstrous waves at Tasmania’s Shipstern Bluff armed with only fins and a handplane.
It’s unexpectedly moving, even for those who’ve never caught a wave, tapping into something primal in anyone who’s ever loved the ocean.
WHOMP director Wendy John said, “Bodysurfers are a warm, quirky bunch and we’ve given them voice in a scene that too often dominated by board riding.”
“There’s no ego in bodysurfing but there’s stacks of froth! To premiere WHOMP here, where some of it was filmed, during the World Titles, with the community that inspired it, is absolutely magic.”
