Salt’s line of skateboards have an old school design that harkens back to surfboards – which makes sense because Salt if primarily a surfboard maker! Of course the two sports are closely connected and Salt offers a line of boards for carving on the pavement even if it is on land.
The boards are made from two layers of walnut veneer with layers of maple in between, making for a hardwood deck that is still responsive for shredding. The result is almost like riding the waves but on dry land.
Warning: Graphic Content in Video and in image below.
Australian professional surfer knows something about riding on big swells. Now he’s created his own “big swell” so to speak with a rather phallic looking surfboard, which he unveiled on his FollowTheFish.TV website.
We’re not sure why someone would want to hang ten on a penis-shaped surfboard, but apparently Fisher liked the idea of hanging ten while looking… well, hung? Photo of the board after the jump
While much has been made about BMW helping develop the Team USA’s Bobsled at the Olympic Games rival automaker Mercedes-Benz has been busy developing a surfboard with Garrett McNamara. The result is the “The Silver Arrow of the Seas,” which was used to catch the massive wave breaks at Nazaré North Canyon in Portugal earlier this month.
In addition to looking every bit a Mercedes-Benz this board offers built-in telemetry system capable of measuring surfing performance. Video after the jump
From BikeRadar: The History of Mountain Biking released this week
The History of Mountain Biking is a special edition publication that charts mountain biking’s rise from the dying embers of the 1960s hippie movement in California to the tech-driven super sport it is today. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (01.25.2014): History Lesson, Flying Surf Boards, Sports DNA, Old Time Skiing
While shark attacks are rare, and drowning is actually the greater risk for surfers, there is another dark side to surfing. What exactly are the health risks for the shapers – those who create the boards? Surfer Today poised that question earlier this month, and noted that many of today’s higher tech materials – notably polymers – could put the surfboard shapers at health risks.
That’s certainly not to increase the good vibrations anytime soon, but as with our modern materials it is crucial that safety protocols are followed.
[From Surfer Today: The health risks of surfboard shaping materials]
It is hard to think that there could be much be done to foam, but Varial Surf Technology introduced this month the new Varial Foam, which is made from an advanced aerospace formula and a new chemistry to surfboards all together. The foam is reported to be 25 percent lighter and 20 percent stronger as compared to a standard polyurethane blank with a stringer.
This means that it can eliminate the need for a stringer or any other strengtheners that current surfboards require, while the compressive strength of the foam makes the board highly responsive to riders by transferring energy directly through the core to the water’s surface.
Surfboard maker Hydroflex has created some colorful surfboards and now it is looking to take its skills to the streets with a new line of skateboards. The company has created a 3D Glassing Technology that provides a stronger, lighter and most importantly a board with increased flex. It is also waterproof, which means it can endure a little rain better than most wooden decks.
Hydroflex is not looking to a Kickstarter project to get rolling with the sidewalk surfing crowd. Video after the jump
Surfboards hit the waves, but if a board breaks or pieces chip off those can remain at sea for years and years. However, designers from Netherlands – not exactly a region thought of for surfing – has created the Bióm, the world’s first certified 100 percent biodegradable and 99 percent biodegradable bio-based surfboard foam. The material is produced via locally abundant sugarcane biomass that is polymerized and expanded into rigid foam, while the foam further boasts the ultra-eco use of benign CO2 as the sole blowing agent in the expansion process.
This foam will be used in stand up paddleboards, wakeboards, skimboards, kiteboards, and other types of watercraft.
Bióm Official Website
[Via Surfer Today: The world’s first 100% biodegradable surfboard foam]
We’ve seen a lot of efforts to make surfboards a whole lot greener, and this has included boards made of recycled and reclaimed materials, but the guys at Mushroom Surfboards are growing boards – via mushrooms. In other words Mushroom Surfboards by Ecovative Design isn’t just a clever name, it is actually what the boards are made from!
The company has created a Myco Foam technology that was first developed in 2007 and uses shroom-based materials for its structure. This means the surfboard “blanks” are entirely biodegradable but also produced from what would otherwise be agricultural waste, such as plant stalks and seed husks, and mycelium. Video after the jump
Most surfboard designers tend to be old surfers, but two Delaware teens are looking to launch their own surfboard business. Delmarvanow reported: “Clay Reynolds, a 15-year-old sophomore at Indian River High School from Ocean View, and Amber Starr Davis, a 19-year-old sophomore at Delaware Technical & Community College from Dagsboro, are joining forces to create a series of custom boards for surfers and surfing fans, alike.”
Reynolds might be just 15 but he has reportedly been surfing most of his life, and has been building boards for more than a year. Davis has been painting custom skateboard decks and now it has blossomed into a custom surfboard project.
To build a board takes about a month, which for these young builders might seem like ages.
[Via Delmarvanow: A swell idea: Local teens create custom surfboards]
When we think we of BA, we think of Mr. T’s character from The A-Team. But BA Surfboards is something completely different – and they are launching an Indiegogo project to launch a line of eco-friendly surfboards.They want to create boards that are free of toxic resins and will instead use a UV curing resin that will ensure boards can be recycled when they’re not fit to surf anymore.
We wish them luck at catching some investors and waves. And we pity the fool that thinks toxic resins are OK. Continue reading BA Boards
Back in the day Peugeot produced a line of bicycles that rivaled Schwinn. Those days are long in the past, but the Peugeot Design Lab continues to innovate, and recently created a unique concept surfboard that combines original balsa wood of early planks (nose) with carbon fiber (tail). It is quite a concept indeed, and the GTi Surfboard Concept – as it is being dubbed – will be displayed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2013.
Can you see a surfboard in a big chunk of foam? We can’t but probably someone with more vision than us likely can. To that end the Chuck of Foam Challenge will kick off this September in Orlando as surfboard makers show what they can do.
Four shapers in total will take the foam and in just three hours will likely turn it into surf pieces of art at the Boardroom’s Surf Expo, September 7-8 in Orlando Florida.