Bioboard review from ZSS's Kai Sanson

Stoked to have built this 9'0" whip for "LA's best Surf Instructor" (by LA weekly), Kai Sanson of Zuma Surf and Swim Training. Lucky for us the board surfed really well for Kai. Here's some of the nice things he had to say: 

http://www.zsstraining.com/files/c1860ffbb559d86f3f6aac03bb039df6-16.html

Thanks Kai!

Introducing the Alaia Lite - By Gary Young

Okay, so maybe Alaias are the new SUP. Yet another hawaiian wave sliding form has been adapted and evolved to fit modern surfing. Tom Wegener was announced Shaper of the Year for 2009 by Surfing Magazine, for his reintroduction of the ancient hawaiian board. You Tube videos of pros and everyday surfers ripping on these 1" thick planks are now populating the internet faster than Starbucks in a strip mall. But how hard is it to surf one of these, let alone paddle into a wave?

Actually, it's kinda hard.

Enter the "Alaia-Lite". Our friend and shaper from the Big Island, Gary Young, came up with this version of an eco-tech, high-performance Alaia. Gary, aka the godfather of compsand construction, has been building sandwich construction boards long before Surftech created the "Tuflite". The Alaia-Lite has a foam core, wood sandwich construction, made of locally harvested and reclaimed wood from Hawaii. No fiberglass is used whatsoever. All-in, a 6'6" weighs as little as 6 lbs, shedding much weight from its solid wood cousins.

The goal here was to make an Alaia that would actually float, making paddling and wave catching a little easier. Alaias open up a whole new approach to surfing. They're finless, which means you can go really fast, making sections and surfing in shallows. Surf it laying down, standing up.....crappy beach breaks, super fast points, small lake waves. You'll have fun no matter what the condition.

Entropy is stoked to offer Gary's Alaia-Lites here in California. Get in touch, and we'll hook you up, or let you demo one.

Carve Designs / Title 9 Contest Board

Here's a handshape we did for our friends at Carve Designs and Title Nine for a special online contest. 7'4" x 20" x 2 3/4". Custom fabric inlay from their swimsuits came out looking killer. 

Thanks Ladies!

Feedback from Dave Rastovich

Just to recap: legendary free surfer, Dave Rastovich was generous enough to test a "Nomad" shape bioboard in Indo. Back in July of this past summer, we drove down to meet Dave in the dark moonlit parking lot of a local mexican restaurant in Leucadia, CA. We talked shop for a couple hours with Dave about boards, materials, and shared construction ideas. He's very informed and knowledgable when it comes to board construction and has put some serious thought into what he rides. So for us, he was one of the most ideal testers to see what our boards could do.

Dave was able to share his feedback with us after his month long jaunt in Indo. We're glad he liked the board.....here's some of the positive words he had to say:

"Just got home from Indo- had many sessions on the board .... Weight feels great! The buoyancy of the sugar foam in the water is a little more than standard PU foam, though not as buoyant as Extruded Styrofoam etc.. I felt the foam was a great buoyancy for me.

Strength was great, very few depressions on the deck from my feet, which is great, cause I usually put my feet through boards that aren't strong. Also, I rode the board at 6 ft Macaroni's, 8ft plus HT's and 5ft Kandui. These were all days that were very powerful and hollow, I didn't come out of lots of tubes and the board never broke. So I feel that the foam is quite strong in that regard as I really put it to the test over there......

SHAPE- The board went super fast. It was a little slow to throw around when hitting the lip, but down the line it went very fast and held a strong line. There is a little extra weight and size than I am used to so I think that is what made it feel a little slow off the top. Though in the tube, down the line, off the bottom and through cutbacks the board felt strong, responsive and fast.

All round I am stoked on it and feel you guys have something that is successful.....

Talk soon guys. Stoked on the craft. I will send through a shot or two...

dr "

Thanks to Dave for sharing his thoughts and helping us progress!

Entropy on Extreme Scence, KNBR 1050 AM radio

Desi and I did a fun little interview on the Extreme Scene Radio show with hosts/pro athletes Cyrus Saatsaz, Steve Blankenship, and Omar Etchevery. Super cool and entertaining guys. Desi even got to hang out and talk throughout the show. Much thanks to the Extreme Scene guys for helping us get the word out!

Extreme Scene page: http://theextremescene.com/node/92

click here to launch iTunes and download the free podcasts (see Oct 18th, Segments 1-4): http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=268150014

Hess / Entropy Collab @ Sacred Craft Show, Oct. 11 & 12

We're honored and stoked that Danny Hess included us in a project for this year's Sacred Craft show. Danny is a renowned craftsman / surfer / environmentalist who has been building beautiful wooden surfboards long before green was in.

He built this little thruster from all sustainable and salvaged woods. We're glassing the board and his hand foiled bamboo fins with our bio-epoxy. It's being auctioned off for charity. Come check it out at Sacred Craft in Del Mar, CA. on Oct 11 & 12. http://www.surfboardshow.com/

Also pictured is a 6'4" version of the Nomad we had built for Rasta to demo. Bamboo inlay.

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Update: Here's the feedback we got from Danny about the collaborative board we glassed for him (10/29/09):

"I've really been impressed with the resin. Impressive impact strength and elongation. I've been loaning this demo board out for the last couple years. It's been to Japan and Indo. Not a single pressure ding or ding of any kind. "

Under the Sun Movie

We recently co-sponsored Cyrus Sutton's new surf documentary tour called "Under the Sun". Cyrus is a really talented surfer/artist/director who's been doing some really great stuff both in and out of the surf scene. His latest movie documents the dichotomy of two surf regions in Australia....Byron Bay and the Gold Coast. Check it out: http://www.underthesunsurfmovie.com/

Here's a cool little flextail we glassed for Cyrus and his shaper, Jake Moss (Moss Research Surfboards). We glassed it in our signature Eco-System construction: Ice-9 Sugar Foam, organic hemp deck patch, and bio-epoxy resin.

If you happen to be going to the Sacred Craft show this month, they'll be screening Cyrus' movie throughout the weekend.

Entropy featured in Forbes Magazine

A writeup about Entropy in the Entrepreneur section of the Sept'08 issue of Forbes magazine.

http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2008/0901/058.html

Bioboard put to the test in Tavarua

Here's our take on the ever popular bat tail quad.....bioboard style!
Dims: 6'5" x 19 1/2" x 2 5/8"
Weight 6.5 lbs.

Ice9 Cane Formula foam, Hemp deck patch, Bioepoxy lamination. We installed the Pro-Box fin boxes (w/ adjustable fin cant) setup with Futures Vector II's Scimitar 451 fins (Thanks to Larry Allison).

This board wound up going with our friend Jay Robertson from the Big Island of Hawaii on his 2 week jaunt to Tavarua. Although this shape was more geared toward mushy, smaller wave punting, it got put to the test in heaving overhead barrels anyway. Jay said he was really amazed by the board's durability and passed it around to friends. Lucky for us, prolific surf photog and Tavarua pioneer, Tom Servais, was there to capture Jay getting some insane cover-ups (see above photos). 

Here's what one of his friends from Oahu, Dolan, had to say about it:

"..... I rode the quad fin you gave Jay and was impressed with the construction quality and design. The board was a bit wide in the tail for me and the barreling waves we had but rode fast and was able to turn it in the critical turns, again the tail made hard turns a bit difficult but that may have been because we had such good fast waves....What I can tell you is my overall impression of the materials. I am very impressed with the materials you're using and was talking it up within our group. The board was light and stiff and had a overall good aesthetic appeal. I recall seeing absolutely no deck pressures after a week of surfing hollow waves and hard turns. The material is strong and light. As an environmentally-oriented person I am willing to sacrifice a little bit of flex in the blank in order to have a more environmentally sustainabale board that is not toxic and will last longer than the typical polyester board. I have a bunch of old boards under the house I never surf because they are old beat up and have huge pressures on the deck and the like. I would much rather have a couple of good boards that last a long time. "

Bioboards for Dave

We recently built a couple of bio-boards for pro surfer and enviro-activist Dave Rastovich. These swallow tail quads were hand built by shaper/glasser DJ Dreiling and myself, specifically for Dave's recent trip to Indo where he really gets to push the limits of shapes and materials. Both boards use Ice9's Cane formula foam, and Pro-Box boxes. The one on the left was glassed with our bio-epoxy and fiberglass (2x4 oz glass deck, 4 oz glass bottom). The one on the right (green laps) was glassed in our "Eco-System" style of board building (vac bag 4.7 hemp + 2x4 glass deck, 4 oz glass bottom). Chris and I personally met up with Dave to hand off the board and share ideas about surfboards and sustainable materials. Dave was really gracious about our efforts, and we hope he'll give us some good feedback upon his return. Stay tuned.

Bio-Epoxy Resin now at www.entropyresins.com

UPDATE: We are now selling our bio-based epoxy resins through WWW.ENTROPYRESINS.COM . Please go there for more information on our sustainable epoxy system.

Thanks!!!

-Rey Banatao

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bio-epoxy, bio-based resin, eco-friendly resin, green resin, eco-friendly epoxy, surfboard epoxy, sustainable epoxy, green building materials, eco-friendly materials

9'1" Bomber Bioboard

Brought the 9'1" Bomber Bioboard up to Ventura while a little south swell was in town. Tom Jina took her out for a spin and got some fun waves.