About Us
ABOUT US
The Triad Movement is an independent company founded by a couple of friends with a savvy for balancing life, business and getting barreled! Founded by Joey Vieira and Nelz Vellocido, they collectively bring over 60 years of bodyboarding experience to the program.
In 1994, both earned the prestigious role as “Test Pilots” in Bodyboarding Magazine’s Gear Guide where they rode every brand of the best bodyboards in the market that year and tested, critiqued, and risked their lives on them in the winter waves of Oahu’s North Shore. The knowledge they learned on board design, water flow concepts, and bodyboard materials and features gave them both an immeasurable advantage throughout their Professional bodyboarding careers as they constantly strived to fine tune equipment. From Nelz’s hands-on re-shaping of rail and chine angles to Joey experimenting with pre-bat tail and concave channel designs, they constantly were seeking to improve, improve, improve the shapes and boards they rode.
Both Joey and Nelz competed for many years on the PSAA National Tour as well as select International Events. Nelz also went on to several campaigns on Global Organization of Bodyboarders World Tour, a grueling travel schedule of up to 8 countries a year! Collectively, they created friendships and networks throughout the bodyboarding world that still exist to this day.
Nelz’s bodyboarding career was highlighted through his passion and love for Pipeline. If Waimea shorebreak was banging or Ke Iki shorebreak doing its thing, he would also be a stand out performer, but it was Pipeline where Nelz was a regular face. Charging with the best of the best, Pipeline was the focal wave in his life. Life itself eventually re-directed Nelz to Southern California where he began working for a few bodyboard manufacturers and it is here where he learned the business and production side of things. In 2000, he was one of the founders of Elemenohpee, a bodyboard company that shook the industry for over a decade strong. Working on the corporate side of things did not slow his love for the ocean, with the use of a PWC, another dimension of bodyboarding antics known as “tow-ats” was introduced to the West Coast. Nelz, Ross McBride and select visiting bodyboarders would hit their secret spot and go absolutely nutty, 15 feet above the lip, twisting and tweaking and finding the new limits for aerial bodyboarding. This in turn led to outer-reef tow sessions on the North Shore and Nelz’s annual pilgrimage to the North Shore were all about pushing the envelope. Today, the outer-reef sessions, the Pipeline sessions, they are all still happening. Nelz is forever tied to the ocean and surf spots that have made him who he is today, whether heʻs on a SUP, surfboard, or bodyboard, his love for the ocean is eternal.
Joey’s peak years as a competitor and performer was highlighted by several successful runs on the PSAA where he consistently finished inside the prestigious Top 16. He also worked as the USA Editor for Riptide Magazine for several years as well as being a contributing writer to Hawaii’s H30 magazine, covering all the latest bodyboarding news and events. Having grown up in the Sunset Beach area, he was one of the few bodyboarders that would be out giving the Sunset inside bowl a go when things were cranking. His love of drop-knee riding made him a regular at the high-performance waves of Off The Wall, Ehukai and Velzyland where it was all about throwing buckets out the back. Several injuries to his shoulder from Sandy’s and Pipe forced Joey to sit-out a good chunk of the 2000 winter and really evaluate his ability to perform at the top level. This led him into a business relationship with his board sponsor at the time and he gave Sales Rep work a try. Joey quickly learned the ropes and built a successful rep business where he was happy to be working with people who also shared his enthusiasm for bodyboarding, new products and technology. Joey has always kept the best interest of the sport and the riders as a focal point of his business model. Although Pipeline is no longer one of his regular stomping grounds, he gets in the water every chance possible and has not forgotten how to throw DK buckets like in the old days.