The Surfboard Re-Evolution
Words by Damon Bereziat Photography BRP Photography
< 20
Surfers appear to live as one with their environment. A reasonably healthy bunch, into self-preservation and fun, in tune with the elements. If human wave-riders could be compared to any saltwater counterpart, it’d be dolphins, no two ways about it. Dolphins don’t need so much as an existential thread whereas the upright wave rider will require at least a pair of shorts, bikini or neoprene wetsuit. A surf-craft of choice or four, with most intermediate surfers requiring a ‘quiver’. Here’s where a contemporary surfer’s clean green free-andeasy image gets a little sideways. Traditional surfboards are comprised of toxic materials derived largely from petrochemicals. There’s an expanded polystyrene core or equivalent, fibreglass skin, polyurethane and epoxy resins, hardeners, plastics, paints and god knows in the mix. It’s impossible to work with this stuff (for long) without dedicated PPE. Inhaling fumes created when ‘glassing’ a board will shorten a life, and the ultra-lite itchy dust must be contained, bagged and tagged. The process is improving but waste is still an issue. Most of it ends up in landfill or worse. Whatever surfing means to the individual, it is growing exponentially. Since 2015, nearly 6 million surfboards hit the US market alone. Australian manufacturers contributed 45000 units, Mexico around 300000, but the most mind-bending statistic is a staggering 4.4million originating from China, with other Asian exports making up the numbers. Manufacturing surfboards is much more profitable when labour’s cheap and there’s lax, if any, environmental protection laws. On the Sunshine Coast it’s estimated around 50000 crew surf. With the population predicted to hit half a million by 2050 the line-up’s going to look a lot more crowded. Not everyone that grew-up or has chosen to settle here is keen on the hypermodern late-capitalist debt-fuelled consumer-culture of all that glistens. The coast isn’t as green as it once was with tall, gentle trees coming off second best in one-punch coward attacks from brutal bulldozers working in packs, remote controlled by the sinister white-shoe brigade. ― about ―
“No one can count how many foam, fibreglass and plastic surfboards there are in the world.”
