Jul 27 2009

Surfers Knock on Wood in the Name of Sustainability

Posted by: Kory Raftery

It happens all the time in music, fashion and life: What once was old again is new. 

In the case of surfing, some people are dropping into the wave of environmental consciousness on their "retro" wooden boards.

Historians say the earliest surfers were riding wooden logs as far back as the sixth century.  Before wetsuits, rash guards, stickers and surf wax, there was the surfer, the ocean and the board - a trifecta of harmony.  Heavy wooden sleds were a mainstay until the foam revolution of the 1950's and 60's when surfers began to eat the forbidden fruit in the name of performance.  Foam and glass boards were our original eco-sin.  The environment has paid ever since.  

When wooden boards were virtually scrapped from the surf-scene, they were most commonly replaced by lighter, polyurethane foam. That foam is first shaped and then covered with fiberglass cloth and polyester resin. These petrochemicals emit harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere.  Even worse, there is no sufficient recycling program for old or broken foam surfboards.  Sure, you may find some in the dorms of UC Santa Barbara or UC Santa Cruz as makeshift tiki-bars.  A few serve as lawn chairs in front of surf shops  But our landfills act as graveyard for the vast majority of foam boards that have no rides left to give.      

In the last few years, many in the surf industry have decided to repent by looking for more sustainable materials. You can now ask your local shop about biofoam, carbon fiber, and eco-friendly epoxy. Environmentally conscious finishers are turning to oil-based resins for use in the glassing process.  But a few board architects are looking back to surfing's history for the key to building a more sustainable future. 

Maine based, all-wood Grain Surfboards are now being ridden from the east coast of the lower 48 to the north shore of Oahu. The boards still must be glued and glassed but are constructed of nothing but wood.  Foam purists question their responsiveness, but owners of the company say the boards are more than just rideable.

"It's a mistake to think wooden boards can't be performance boards," Brad Anderson told me from his shop in Maine.  "But comparing them to competitive foam boards is like comparing stock car racing to Formula One."    

In California, shapers like Ryan Lovelace and Danny Hess are seen as visionaries, or possibly re-visionaries when it comes to shaping wood surfboards that rival the performance of traditional foam and glass. Both are watermen in the best sense of the word.  Both use recycled surfboard foam in the innards of the board to keep the flex up and the weight down. 

Lovelace and his partner at Timberline Surfboards, Raphael Wolfe, do their shaping and woodworking in and around Santa Barbara. Hess hones his craft in his hometown of San Francisco.  But you can find his boards in shops from Cannon Beach, Oregon to Brooklyn, New York.  While they each have their own opinion on what types of wood to use and the optimum wood-to-foam ratio, their visions align when it comes to the robust strength, stability and lessened environmental impact of wood.

Hess' website states, "Each surfboard has a lifespan far longer than a conventional surfboard because the wood does not fatigue and break down the way foam can."
 
Lovelace agrees.  "If you take care of it, you can surf every day on a wood board for 25 - 30 years and never ding the rails or break it in half," he told me.  "So while they are a bit more expensive (to make and buy), you get a far better return on your investment."

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