THE SHAPE OFF!
We spent the weekend at the Rob Machado Surf Experience at Cardiff-by-the-Sea and took some photos of the Green Shape Off surfboard building contest. There were some awesome boards and great eco-friendly concept designs.
First prize winner received $2,000.00, Second prize winner received a Greenlight 6’6” Basic Eco Friendly Bamboo Sufboard Build Kit, 3rd Prize Winner received a Greenlight Eco Friendly Bamboo laminating kit for longboards. Both 2nd and 3rd Prize were donated by SPEARZ – High Performance Surf
The Organizer: Ned McMahon (&The Cardiff Chamber Of Commerce)
www.malamacomposites.com
Ned put together a group of shapers to see who could come up with the best board design using the most environmentally responsible equipment and materials. Here is the list of shapers and the boards they brought to the competition: (Note* Some of the boards were not present at the event. Either they were in a different area and we slacked on getting shots of them, or they just didn’t get them entered.)
Ned’s Board:
This board is a minimalist approach based on using sustainable materials, minimizing waste, and using clean manufacturing methods. It's a 5'8" finless design with no stringer. Using stringer wood is very wasteful with only a 2% yield of material in the typical board. The board is vacuum bagged with epoxy for no VOCs, no wasted resin dripping on the shop floor, and as little exposure as possible to anyone working on the board. It's hot coated with a non-toxic 96% linseed oil resin and finished with water base paints.
http://www.mirandonsurfboards.com/
http://elisurfing.blogspot.com/
Board:
Agave stringered bio foam blank from Malama Composites. Agave grows locally and is harvested and milled by myself. The part of the plant I use is already dead. I will use a bamboo cloth inlay on the deck to give extra strength and make the board last longer.
http://www.hollingsworthsurf.com/
Board: Hansen “Master” – The board is a 9’0” featuring art by Wade Kaniakowsky. Craig shaped the board with a soy based blank from Malama Composites. The blank is made of 48% organic soybean oils and 52% MDI base creating on of the greenest blanks available today. The tail block is made of balsa and cedar that he retrieved from the trash at a local surfboard manufacturing company. The material was the remains of balsa surfboard cut pieces.
http://www.solidsurfco.com/
Board: 5’9” x 20” x 2 3/8” “ Discus”
The concept was taken from a longboard template. But, he cuts 3 ft out of the middle, making it a 6’0” nose rider rather than a 9’0”. The board is made with recycled EPX foam from previous board outline cuts. The outline pieces are ripped down to straight blocks and then glued up to form a new blank. The board is laminated with bamboo cloth, which is a renewable and organic material. It is laminated using an Epoxy resin for low VOC’s. The leash plug is made from a corn-based bio-plastic and the bamboo fins were hand-cut and hand foiled using a 3/8” thick piece of solid bamboo. The bamboo fabric, bamboo fins and bio-plastic leash plug are manufactured by Greenlight Surfboard Supply and supplied by SPEARZ – High Performance Surf.
http://www.resinworks.net/chrisdiercks.html
Board: 5’8” x 19 ¾” “The Mush Missle”
Created using locally sourced blanks to reduce environmental impact from shipping.
Shaper: Ashley Lloyed
http://www.bingsurf.com/surfboards_ashley
Board: Custom shaped board using soy based blank. (no further info available at this time)
Shaper: JP Holman
http://www.hsdsurfboards.com/
Board: 5’8” x 19 ½” x 2 ½” HSD “Cherry Bomb”
Hand Shaped from a recycled EPS core, FSC bamboo ply stringer, hand-glued blank, hand-foiled glass-on bamboo fins from the stringer scraps and laminated with bio-epoxy (poine, linseed base) by Wyatt Hederson. Artwork and recycled surf resin leash loop by Andrea Holeman.
Shaper: Jason Keens
Board: (Board not present at photo session at event)
Shaper: Tim Bessel
http://www.bessellsurf.com/
Board: (Board not present at photo session at event)
For some odd reason, the winners of the shape off contest were not announced at the event location. Instead, they took the boards (and the prizes) to “Belly Up”, the local favorite restaurant and bar. Rob Machado was apparently performing there after the weekend long surf competition and green expo. We had to head back North to Venice Beach. So, we missed the prize announcement. If anyone knows who won the event please post it for us. Otherwise, we’ll post it once we find out.
Full Story and More Pics Here: http://theshaperoom.blogspot.com/2009/09/rob-machado-surf-experience-green-expo.html