I find sliding on top of the surface of the ocean to be an endeavour that on the best of days helps me to tune in to the oneness of things finding connection to nature, ocean, land, and sky. On the worst of days, its still pretty damn good even when its "shit"..Or too f*ing busy .
Riding ocean waves is revibrational...Meaning I find harmony in myself and with nature when I glide across the surface of water at high speeds feeling the sublime refracting and bending wave that projects me through its sometimes mind expanding slides of water....This is why I live where I live. Its why I do the things I do and go the places I go. Sure its maybe a bit of tunnel vision, but thats exactly what I am searching for...the tunnel.
So anyway, this blog is about riding rubbish and the art of turning rubbish into incredible surf-craft. You can still feel the supreme oneness of sliding on incredibly formed perfect ocean landscape when riding on rubbish! Sure, the surfing world is its own kind of waste monster. Surfing is an industry...and its also a growing industry. Every year more and more people are buying more and more surf products to prepare themselves as they go out and chase the bliss from hemisphere to hemisphere. More and more foam and fiber glass boards are being churned out of factories far and wide and shipped back across the globe to keen learners and blossoming surf-schools and surf-camps. Petroleum based wetsuits and styrofoam soft tops are the major industrial products that don't have a long lifespan and often times end up rotting away in the forgotten holes of our earth. As you can imagine, more and more of these petrochemical products end up in landfills every day. Bummer!
Now there is an alternative. We can reuse these boards and hand craft them into wicked wave riders. I can't say that I am an eco-crusader by any means, I started out recycling or up-cycling soft tops because I was poor and needed to save money on foam. In so doing I found a serious joy or "stoke" about turning a broken old soft top into a ripping new fish or mini Simmons type of wave catching machine.
Certainly recyclying soft tops is dirty business as well. Its dusty, its poisonous, and its unhealthy when I grind off the layers of fiberglass. But when I uncover good clean reusable foam...I get a buzz. I love giving rubbish a second life and lessening the impact on the earth. Its really just plane fun. I recycle board to make new boards that make stoke...
These 2 new Holy Surfboards pictured below are part of what I am calling the Recycled Rider project. I am taking old broken surfboards and making them into new fun and exciting wave riding transport devices. Its a project I have been working on for the last few years. I have made a few of these boards, and I am now excited to say that I have found the recipe for a sweet responsive, strong and more green surfboard. Whoohoooo dude...Kick ass. Apart from using recycled foam, I am also using Entropy Resins green epoxy which is a plant and pine sap based epoxy resin system that is fun and easy to work with. The up-cycled EPS foam gets reshaped, and then glassed with a very solid "Glassing Schedule". I lather on hefty amounts of 6 oz and 4 oz glass sheets on both the bottoms and the decks of the boards. I then finish the boards with 2 hot coats of epoxy resin. Also, I am using carbon fibre rail systems on some of the stringerless eps. I am also experimenting with different cloths from Hessian Fiber/ Burlap, to Linseed fabric. Fo sure Bizotch, I am stoked with new board making recipe. It does take a lot longer than the traditional method, but the end result is awesome.
So what the hell? How do these boards ride? Whats the Benefit of an Epoxy board versus Polyester? And can I tell the difference between the them in the water?
Okay, so this is when I tell you honestly how good epoxy really is. Some know some don't. When I was making these boards a bicycle fell on the Monk (the blue board). Nothing happened. No mark, No scratch, no ding. Later, I stupidly knocked my board rack when I was glassing and one board fell out of the rack and smashed on the concrete floor. Shit bro. Lucky for me, that was an epoxy recycled board that fell. Only one mark appeared on the rail, and a very light repair job. Then just yesterday I bumped my Original Guru Polyester love machine on the concrete stair going into the work shop....crack...2 big dings on the dove tail....another couple hours repairing a tiny error I made putting the board away...shit. I am starting to hate polyester. Too me thats the best aspect about these boards is that they are strong. Epoxy does not crack, ding and snap like Polyester. Epoxy boards are better for traveling, and they have the potential to last a long time when taken care of. Epoxy has less of a carbon footprint and they are not quite as stinky to work with. Sanding it sucks, but apart from that, its gold...
How do the Recycled Riders ride? Obviously every board is totally different and individually shaped. I am blessed to be testing out some of the boards on some great little waves rolling into the Algarve shore as I speak... To be honest, when I first started shaping I just wanted to make Polyester boards. One of the first shortboards I had was an light tufflight type "epoxy sandwich" construction that was pumped out of a factory in Thailand. When I switched to a Polyester fish that was hand-shaped by Morph surfboards, my eyes were wide open to the superior feel of the classic quad fish my friend shaped. So, I quickly turned anti epoxy. However, a surfboard's feel or mojo can certainly not be judged solely on the hard coating of glass used on the board.
What I have learned through making these Recycled Riders, is that an eps and epoxy construction can feel and ride equally to their Polyester counter parts. Eps foam is lighter than PU, and so by glassing the boards with a heavier glassing schedule you create a surf stick that has relatively the same weight but is much stronger due to the added layers of good glass. I have never came out of the water thinking, shit I wish I had a polyester...I am always stoked on the ride and feel of this construction method.
