Hobie's Green Shop

I recently visited the Hobie shop in downtown San Clemente and was stoked to learn that it's now an all "green" products. They've worked with all of the surf industry manufacturers to bring in only their sustainable product lines.. shirts, shoes, sunglasses, etc. It's a great concept where you can pick up some cool gear but also know that you're pushing the industry to reduce the environmental impacts of their products. Turns out they also have an online shop called Fragile Ocean.

The Surfboard Cradle-to-Grave Project

The Surfboard Cradle-to-Grave Project

by Tobias C. Schultz

As the surf community has been made aware of its own environmental footprint, theinterest in creating a surfboard from "green" materials has grown exponentially. But without a life cycle assessment of the baseline materials used in surfboard manufacture, it is impossible to make informed decisions to reduce the footprint of the sport.

What part of the board contributes the most to its environmental footprint? Which parts of the process will be the easiest, and cheapest, to improve? These are the questions the surf community needs to answer before real improvements can be made; these are the questions the Surfboard Cradle-to-Grave (SCG) Project was started to resolve.

In the Surfboard Cradle-to-Grave Report, you can find the life cycle carbon footprint of the two most common types of surfboard, polyurethane (P/U) and expanded polystyrene (EPS). By comparing the environmental footprints of future boards against these baseline materials, we can find out which new types of board are truly ‘greener.’ “It’s easy to buy an ‘environmentally friendly’ surfboard and say you have reduced your footprint—but is it a ‘green’ board just because its maker says so?” says Tobias Schultz, the founder of the SCG Project. “The only way to make a real comparison is to assess the footprint of a new type of board, and compare it to the footprint of conventional surfboards.”

Over a surfboard’s entire lifetime, it is the manufacture of a board’s foam core and petrochemical resin that make up most of the carbon footprint; these two board components account for the lion’s share of the total toxic by-products, as well. The fiberglass that makes up a surfboard’s outer skin is responsible for a tiny fraction of these footprints—less than 5%.

“This means making a board with substitutes for fiberglass—balsa wood or bamboo, for example—do not produce boards with a significantly smaller footprint, even in a best case scenario,” the SCG Report states.

The SCG Technical Report contains information on both the carbon footprint, and information on total toxic by-products; these two metrics are very good indicators for the pollution arising from a product in general. Using the recommendations presented in these reports, we can all gauge the best ways to reduce our environmental footprint.

Read the SCG reports at: http://best.me.berkeley.edu/~schultz/projects_scg.html

Contact: Tobias Schultz, tobias.schultz@berkeley.edu

J.P. Holeman Podcast

Surfider's CEO, Jim Moriarty, recently sat down with J.P. Holeman, of Holeman Surf Designs to talk about board materials and what he's doing with "Ecoboards" and how he's trying to reduce his environmental impact.

Podcasts available on Surfrider's site. "J.P. is a custom surfboard shaper in Southern California. I sought him out for a few reasons. I wanted to hear his perspective on how his world has changed since Clark Foam shut it's doors. I also wanted to hear his view on the experimentation and variety that we're seeing with surfboard design. Most of all I wanted to connect with him and understand how he has altered his worldview and his approach to living and shaping with the least environmental impact possible. Listen in as we catch up just south of Oceanside Pier... on the beach."
[Download the ".mp3" version, 31 MB] or on Itunes.

Drift Magazine covers "Green" Boards

The online surf 'zine Drift has a nice slideshow and story about the environmental issues associated with surfboard manufacturing.

British shaper Steve Croft on the Difficulties of making an "Ecological" Surfboard

Drift Magazine


MS: Tell me about the eco boards you did for the Eden Project...

SC: Yeah that was a really interesting project and helped raise awareness of how toxic surfboards are. Ten years ago when Mark [Dickinson] and I started out shaping, we put a lot of time and our own money into researching more ecological ways to make surfboards and it’s quite frustrating that this hasn’t developed further. A lot of so-called ‘eco boards’ are not that ecological really, and the technology needs to come a lot further in terms of performance. It says a lot that the boards I build for myself are not ‘eco boards’, and I consider myself environmentally responsible. Saying that, we can’t keep using products that are made from petro-chemicals. The linseed oil resin is really good, but difficult to work with. Polystyrene/epoxy materials have come a long way in terms of usability and epoxy releases at least 50% less VOC’s into the atmosphere than polyester, making it safer for the workers and the environment. I am constantly looking for new ideas and materials to lessen the impact of the boards that we produce. We are currently looking into the viability of having someone produce recycled fins for us. Any new material has to at least match, if not out-perform the current standard, be competitive in price and be necessary to the market. I haven’t yet found a satisfactory replacement for polyester resin and polyurethane blanks on the Empire boards, so I’m working on the Rolls Royce principle of building less but making them last. Hopefully people will still be riding and enjoying the boards that I am building now in 30-40 years’ time.

101 Bamboo Fins

Marlin Bacon at 101 Fins hooked us up with a set of his bamboo fins for our 5-fin board. Marlin has been making incredible wood fins for years, and recently added bamboo to his repertoire. Not only are these great-looking fins made of renewable materials, but the performance qualities and flex patterns are said to be some of the best around.

Here's his story from the site:

• "In the ongoing quest for lighter, stronger materials for building surfboards,101 Fin Company is looking to natural resources for it's fins. We feature Paulownia wood, Bamboo,Balsa, Kiri, and DyePly. Our fins are naturally light. Up to 65% lighter than rtm honeycomb fins, without sacrificing performance. We exploit the unidirectional nature of wood to give the fin strength and stiffness at the base, while allowing the tip to flex. But the real secret is in the flex memory of the wood itself. Because we hand craft our fins we are able to FinGineer a variety of flex patterns. For example,how about a 1 oz. fin made out of Paulownia that is stiff from base to tip. Or a Bamboo fin with a broad tip that flexes. Whether you're a recreational surfer, a board collector, or a seasoned pro we have a fin for you."

Go with the Grain

Ryan Johnson is our Accounting Assistant in the office. He's learned a lot of wood-working skills from his dad over the years and decided to build a wood surfboard provided by Grain. This is such a cool project: a handmade hollow wood surfboard. You basically eliminate all of the toxic materials associated with traditional surfboard manufacturing. Follow the progress of this board at his blog: Go With The Grain