I have a confession to make … I’m no environmental saint. I drive a gasoline burning SUV, haven‘t yet converted to solar power for my home, and prefer plastic to paper. But the most egregious mulligan I commit against nature is that I own and ride surfboards. But there is hope for me; I’m driving less and researching hybrid vehicles, I’m saving up to buy a solar system for my home, and I suppose there’s something I can use other than a plastic grocery bag to pick up my dog’s “business” with. But I have to tell you, this surfboard thing is a real headscratcher … WHAT to do?! Much of the attraction of surfing is being surrounded by the elements, the rapture of the surf, clean air, and all the other natural accoutrements. The surfboard is the tool that puts you there. Wave riders on the whole are highly protective of the environment, and therein resides the great irony as the chemicals and processes in which our wave riding craft are made stand high on the list of man’s most toxic synthetic creations.
How did we surfers allow these things that take us to such beautiful places, be so bad for them? These are my eight most recent sins against Mother Nature.
Until fairly recently, standard surfboard construction consisted of three basic materials; a rigid foam blank, fiberglass cloth, and resin. Liquid foams are poured into molds where they’re “baked” to specification, fiberglass cloth is cut to fit and laid over the shaped blank to give it strength, and then resin is applied over the whole deal to add more durability and waterproofing. The underlying and oft overlooked evils in this process are the highly toxic composition, manufacturing, and application of these materials. Most surfboard blanks used from the 1960’s on up to today are made out of Polyurethane foams. These are made up primarily of two toxic compounds called Toluene Diiscyanate (TDI) and Polyether. The fiberglass cloth is treated with Chromium, a known carcinogen, and components of traditional petroleum based resins include noxious acids and alcohols that emit caustic fumes into the air as they are blended and applied to surfboards.
The objects of our simultaneous fascination and scorn. Raw blanks await the liberation of the shaper’s tools. Photo: Tenzer
In 2005, the world’s most prolific surfboard blank manufacturer, Clark Foam, announced suddenly that it would be closing for good. The Environmental Protection Agency was clamping down hard on their copious use of TDI, catalysts and solvents, and noncompliant waste disposal. This effectively rang the company’s death knell, and was a huge and unexpected blow to the surfing industry. Some Clark Foam employees had reportedly suffered from chronic and sometimes terminal ailments linked to prolonged exposure to these materials. After the smoke cleared, the positive that came of this mess was that it forced surfers and board builders to rethink not only the wisdom of allowing a single supplier to dominate the market, but it reminded everyone in a most dramatic way of the terrible poisons used to make our surfboards. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and today no stone is being left unturned in the pursuit and R&D of alternative materials.
Local surfer/shapers Derek Tsuji and Harry Luiz start up a new board via the old school route, while pondering a bright future of cleaner, safer surfboard making materials (and clearer consciences).
The ancient Polynesians used solid wood planks, called “Olo boards” hand carved out of huge trees to ride waves. Beautiful and buoyant Balsa wood has long been used to make surfboards, but the supply of this highly coveted material has become increasingly limited. The use of EPS blanks (glassed in Epoxy) has increased markedly, and recent innovations include bio-degradable organic soy, sugar, corn, and other vegetable-based foams, with compressed cardboard being tested as a core blank material as well. Eco-friendly fiberglass cloth alternatives using Bamboo, Hemp, and wild grass fibers are currently being deployed. Bio resins that use UV (solar) activation as the hardening agent in place of chemical catalysts complete the hat trick.
The local effort comes to fruition with these progressive and Earth-friendly product selections from Country Feeling Surfboards on Oahu‘s North Shore. Photo: Courtesy of Jeff Bushman
A San Diego based company called Home Blown US and Country Feeling Surfboards in Hawaii seem to be leading the charge into the future of clean and renewable surfboard materials by integrating these new and innovative technologies. I hope to have more details on the vital work of these companies in the future.
A Biofoam blank hand shaped to perfection. It looks like a regular blank, feels like a regular blank, and by all indications rides like a regular blank. Photo: courtesy Home Blown US
And so short of bodysurfing naked full-time, wave riders will continue to require man-made equipment that is durable and waterproof, while maintaining a visually aesthetic appeal and the all important high performance characteristics we’re already long accustomed to. Surfers are being challenged to descend deeper into our natural inventiveness and further validate the pro-environmental paradigm we try to present to others. Now about those darned petroleum-based neoprene wetsuits … WHAT to do?!
