Surfing Waves

Australian surf journalist Nick Carroll recently published an intriguing bit of hearsay about the WSL. His thesis reads: Pro surfing’s owner and governing body may soon begin to regulate the equipment ridden by its elite competitors. In other words: tell…the top 34 to ride boards that fit a certain eco-friendly criteria.

http://www.surfingmagazine.com/news/will-wsl-introduce-surfboard-regulations-ct-surfers/

I applaud all efforts to make sustainable surf products. If the WSL makes this happen, we will see more products like Firewire’s TIMBERTEK which use a combination of sustainably grown Paulownia wood deck skins and bio-resin.

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It doesn't sound like that will happen. But certainly for surfers who often claim to ecological minded to be riding surfboards made of non eco-friendly stuff is hypocritical. The WSL is supposed to be about the best surfers but to limit their equipment will change it to the best surfers riding a board made of certain materials.

If they did manage to make it happen the ripple effect on hundreds of thousands of surfers who must ride what the pros do would be dramatic. I never thought that leather would be replaced in football boots, but today's players use boots made from purely synthetic compounds as do millions of youth players around the world. Only the geezer refs or team medical staff run around in real leather anymore.

Can ‘going green’ actually produce a modern high performance surfboard? It turns out that the answer is ‘yes’, because products like recycled foam blanks and bio-resin epoxy laminates have equivalent strength, durability and superior flex properties. Surfers and Shapers are giving extremely positive reports of how boards surf (and shape) using these materials.

http://sustainablesurf.org/featured-pages-parent/ecoboard/guide-to-eco-surfboards/

If you’ve ridden an eco board, can you tell us how it compares with a traditional board? There are benefits to riding green.

Environmental impacts from surfboards & surfboard production can be broken down into two basic categories: their CO2 footprint and the toxicity level of the materials used to make them. For example, using data from Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies of surfboards, the estimated CO2 footprint of a typical surfboard made in the USA is surprisingly large. A 6’0 shortboard weighs about 5.5 lbs, however it causes over 600 lbs of CO2 to be emitted during the lifecycle of manufacturing, repairs, and disposal.

SustainableSurf.Org - Same link

If pro surfers felt there was an advantage to using eco friendly boards they would be using them but they aren't. I think perhaps a way to go with surfboards is to find materials that can be recycled so old surfboards don't pollute the environment

my opinion on this matter is that it is perhaps exagerating. an eco friendly board huh? ok when a board breaks an washes away its one board in the whole atlantic.also surfing isnt a commercial sport wether we like it or not.

now i understand the company wants to represent a good examle and im down with that. and if we can make an eco friendly board hey good man i support that. if they can manage to keep same quality and skill doesnt decrease because of the board then its good.

i see a connection when they tried to make skateboards iron cause wood is a nature rich resource that we shouldnt kill. but hey its not like wood. it bends and stays the same its heavy. and it doesnt have the wood pop.

i think these eco friendly boards can only prevail if they result in the same high performance like the surfboards we have nowadays.

but the whole picture together. surfboards only serve a minimalistic threat to the nature.
LOL there are surfboard full of plantweeds on them and fish lay eggs on it. just like they do with treelogs.

Well if we could dump all our old surfboards in the ocean then that would solve the problem

Would wood be good? it should particularly the hardwood balsa tree, if the glues and resins were none petrochemical that would be good as it should.
Paulownia is a good tree and doesn't need resins.
The pith of some cactii works.
Then there is air miles flying comp to comp ( conflict of interest here for me I fly to Indonesia often).
Drive a car to the beach? Yep my give back...... taking a large bag of rubbish off the beach and foreshores every trip, and elsewhere walk or bicycle to my local when it is on.
My real comment is do what you can to clean up your own act and the imediate surrounds of where you live!
Read a book called "The One Straw Revolution. " see if that empowers you to do what is necessary.