The first surfboards ever ridden were heavy wooden planks, some weighing in at 100 pounds, the reserve of only the strongest and most athletic of watermen. Things moved forward quickly from the 1950s onward, with the advent of polyurethane foam, fibreglass and resin to create the lightweight and manoeuvrable surfboards the vast majority of surfers ride today. Wooden surfboards are often seen as more of a novelty than a serious surf craft, but this perception is changing.
Shapers Changing Their Ways
Some surfboard shapers are looking back to the roots of surfing and seeing how they can use the knowledge and technology of this generation to create affordable wooden surfboards as a real alternative to conventional foam and fibreglass boards. Grain Surfboards, based in Maine, have been crafting wooden surfboards since 2005 and pride themselves on using organic epoxies and creating quality boards to last a lifetime. MKSY Surfboards in Brisbane, Australia, are taking advantage of the waxy, non-absorbent qualities of Paulownia wood to create a variety of responsive surfboard templates.
Even surfboard industry giants Firewire have created their very own hybrid wooden surfboard, using a method they call Timbertek. By using an EPS foam core encased in Paulownia wood and sealed with bio-resin they are combining the best of both worlds. With hundreds of shapers across the world finding more sustainable ways to create surfboards using wood, are foam and fibreglass surfboards days numbered?
Fad or the Future?
To say that we’ll all be riding wooden boards again in the next 10 or 20 years would be going too far, but there are plenty of indicators that wooden surfboards are making a real comeback. The need to find sustainable alternatives to the toxic, unsustainable and non-biodegradable materials used in foam and fibreglass surfboards is definitely upon us. Many surfers are acutely more aware of environmental issues than other groups of the general public because the environment is their playground, the limitless source of their stoke.
The main drawback of using wood in surfboard construction is the time it takes to work it, resulting in a considerably larger price tag at the end of the process. While this may put some surfers off, it’s worth remembering that a wooden board will have a much longer lifespan than a foam and fibreglass board. As more and more shapers explore wooden surfboard construction, techniques and machinery will develop to make them cheaper to make, but the demand needs to grow now if surf industry leaders are going to back the wooden surfboard trend.