Personally I’ve made a few, it seems their is a lot of jive back and forth about their place in surfing. Is it all hype and marketing or are green boards really something to strive for???
I can say that while both of these boards are green, I’m not 100% certain they outperform say a red or blue board or if they are infact any better on the environment…
I would like to hear a bit more about your “green” process. From what i have seen, it is a bit more expensive than standard board building techniques, so it is probably a long way from major brands using it (which os where it would have the most impact). But as far as the backyard guy goes, i’d like to try and be more environmentally responsible as i can.
Really digging the twingle btw.
Here’s a few green boards I’ve made. 2 are reshapes from older boards, one was an EPS that I streamlined, the other an old windsurfer I got for $20. The really green ones are the ones I made from EPS packing boxes I get mailed to me every other week. That foam would have been trash, but I made boards instead, and one is currently my best performance short board.
I’m currently making boards from blocks of EPS foam that used to be a floating pier. I can get 3 boards from a single $5 block.
I’ve made a few green boards in my day but my personal opinion is that red boards go faster.
I nearly spewed my drink laughing.
C’mon guys. Please give a little warning or something.
(That twingle looks wicked fun, too.)
Never made a green board , there,s no demand . probably because green is associated with starbucks .
I agree. Did you make it for you, or for a customer? Either way, is there a ride report?
Cause no one goes to Starbucks?.. probably why they are everywhere.
Thanks guys!
Board was made for a good friend (we made it together, it was his first board shaping/glassing experience) - he was primarily a longboard guy but got sick of seeing me with a twingle and said I gotta get one.
Waist to head high he is having a blast and it’s really allowed him to open his wave positioning. He really digs it.
Back to green boards!
Mini simmons are proof that a surfboard not need look aesthetically pleasing to work well.
The Twingle is certainly unusual looking, but nothing about it is unaesthetically pleasing. It just looks right, and fun.
I always had issue with the short lifespan’s of hgh performance surfboards, so i always got triple 6 glass jobs when ordering them, and was seriously irratated when my wished were not considered.
Hollow wood contruction uses a lot of gloves, sandpaper, mixing cups, and masking tape, but the end product will not wind up in a landfill, or littering beaches.
Exactly
14 footer draped with processed tree bark that does not kill the tree. Low VOC epoxy resin, Low VOC water based urethane color work.
That’s not a bad lick, when you consider that the design dates from 1970/71.
Race Green = Bad Mojo. Ever heard of Niki Lauda? Lotus Racing?
I dig the HWI punch dude!
I went pretty deep down the “green” rabbit hole quite a few years ago.
My take away from it all was… durability = green.
A PU board from the 1970s that is still ridable today is MUCH “greener” than probably most boards today marketed as “eco friendly”, as they likely aren’t built durable enough to still be ridden decades from now.
It doesn’t matter if you can fully recycle the materials, which for nearly all surfboards, you can’t. The act of breaking it back down into recyclable components takes even more effort (read: environmental resources) so keeping it in it’s intended form and usable as long as possible is the best option.
If the end goal is to not affect the environment in a negative way, the best bet is to first look at what you eat and what you drive. Those have the 2 largest daily impacts.
That’s not to say it’s not a worthwhile effort to use more sustainable materials, but if the end goal is to actually improve the playground we all love so much, for us to try to and do it by changing what our surfboards is made of is making a negligible impact.
A negligible impact , really ? How many surfboards are made in the world each and every year , sadly millions .
Yeah but unfortunately swaylocks member lawless isn’t likely the guy making those millions of boards. So while us backyarders and handshapers can pursue eco friendly boards, the guys who make the big production runs go for the profit friendly boards, often at the expense of the environment. Even big name surfboard makers who advocate for the environment are known to have their boards produced in countries with a pitiful environmental record, not to mention working conditions.
And even at that, if all the surfboard makers in the world suddenly went eco-friendly (whatever that is), the pollution from plastics, chemical waste, nuclear waste, carbon waste, etc etc will not be affected, so again there are bigger issues. I agree with lawless that board longevity is a huge step toward minimizing waste in surfboard production, but its plain to see the industry at large isn’t really headed in that direction. Lightness and flex are the big selling features right now, which are almost a guarantee of a limited lifespan for a surfboard.
I think a certain balance and realism is required, yes our planet is facing some major environmental issues, but we gotta realize as backyard surfboard makers most of us are not gonna solve those issues by changing up our boardmaking ingredients.
The packing box ones are awesome. I have been loving the old reshapes lately.
And the Eps wall panels used for buildings and architectural features, offcuts from this have made great boards.
Im a big fan of what Tom Wegener is doing. His “corky” build process is rad.
HD EPS core, Paulownia stringers, depending on what he wants with flex, vacbagged paulownia veneers on the bottom, oiled. then cork rails and deck, sealed with a waterbased acrylic. No glass at all.
http://www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/blog/shaping-classes-learn-make-corky
His instagram is awesome.
he has worked with ryan lovelace and tom curren recently.
