San Diego Shapers Discuss Green Surfboards

If this is surfing, where do surfboards come from? And from where I grew up, they came from either your backyard or your garage and not from a store. And that's just the way you did it, you know? If you wanted to hang out and be a part of it, you were making your own board. That's just the way it was. You didn't go buy one, so it wasn't any big deal. You just kind of followed that course or went down that path naturally as a part of just being involved with surfing in general. But it was no less automatic kind of as growing up and wanting to surf, you know? You just fell in love with the planet and you wanted the best planet you could have, so if you could build a board that was less impactful, well, that'd be a good idea, wouldn't it? The definition of shaping probably is as different as there are shapers, you know? iI's endless possibility, and I think that's a lot of why people get involved with shaping. Because of that. They want to be self expressed and they want to have a chance to maybe try something different, or new, or create something different of new. The shaping has kind of been born out of the materials used, so you're going to shape a little different with wood, wether it's balsa or any other wood. One of the things that I'm trying to work toward, at least getting, you know, pointed in a better direction, is a board that has less impact on the environment. It's not so much the material you use, it's what you do with the stuff that's left over. It's so far not even on anybody's radar in the surf industry. It's like, "Hey, I use this green resin, or I use this or that." If you really delve into it, you'll look at the fact that the factory is a trash dump. You're putting yourself at risk because you don't have the proper ventilation. It's just like any other industry, like, what do you do with the by product? The by product is everything. I've had some conversations with some friends about, "Well, could you get to a green surfboard?" And I do think it's attainable, but I think it's a mistake to celebrate just yet. You know, we're able to head in a better direction. You're doing something that's less impactful. It's not where we've gotten to building a green surfboard, but it's getting better. Definitely getting better.