the 6'6" Utility

Recently built 2 versions of the Utility shape. An EPS/Epoxy version, built for Wil of OneL Productions, uses our latest carbon-fuzed epoxy resin. As you can see, we are now able to get the resin to be bright white, rather than the previous black.








The bioboard version is glassed in 100% organic hemp and a bio-epoxy resin partially derived from plant materials. Given the camo look, I'm calling this one the "Eco-warrior" in honor of Suneil who we originally designed the shape for. Suneil also happens to be a real eco-warrior for The Nature Conservancy.




Dims:6'6"x20_1/2"x2_5/8"

My Homebreak away from Home

There's nothing better than surfing your homebreak on a good swell. Yeah, other spots may be bigger, more hollow, less crowded .... whatever. There's a spot in Hawaii (sorry I can't say exactly where) that we've been visiting for the past few years and there's this super-fickle reefbreak that only goes off on a BIG swell and in the narrowest of swell windows. In the years past, it always seems we just seem to miss the swells that make this place go off, so we usually have to find other spots to surf. Well, this time we finally got lucky and our visit was timed perfectly with a nice sized Hawaiian swell (i.e. North Shore was double to triple OH). This swell was able to wrap through for some fun-sized shoulder-head high surf, all day on friday.

I was able to test our 6'8" bio-epoxy/hemp board which made the quick pitching drops nicely. The EPS core keeps this board fairly light given the bio-glassing treatment and was super maneuverable and loose. Being a regular foot, I'm never great at surfing backhand. So we left this board with some friends who are full-time watermen and truly believe in the boards we're making. We're hoping they can give the bioboard a run for its money in some pure Hawaiian juice. Looking forward to hearing what they have to say. Thanks to the O.P. crew for helping us out with some R&D!
Saturday, the swell declined fast so we took to the SUPs for some fun, knee-high lefts. We rode the S.O.S. (Sean Ordonez Shapes) 11'11 and 10'10 Big Red and Big Blue shapes. Really versatile SUP shapes that can be surfed off the tail. http://www.sosshapes.com/2006/home.html


By Sunday, it was flat, so we took to the 6 man canoes, and were able to see and HEAR a group of humpbacks who had been hanging out off the coast for the past few weeks. Truly an incredible experience, especially to hear them communicate. Here's one our cousin Pete caught on his camera. Thanks to Danny for the paddle out.

Bioboards at ISPO 2008

Got back last week from Munich, Germany where I spent the week at the ISPO 2008 Show to represent the prototype bioboards we designed and built. We're happy to say the boards were a hit and were nominated as a finalist for two awards, the Brand New Award and the Volvo EcoDesign Award. ISPO is pretty much the biggest sporting goods show in the world.... kinda like ASR on steroids. Everything and everyone in the action sports community was there, from pro-athletes to manufacturers to brands to concepts, complete with Euro-style fashion shows. Got lots of good feedback from the European action sports community, including many German river surfers. Even pro-snowboarder and new enviro-spokesperson for Rossignol, Jeremy Jones, stopped by and wished us luck. The Volvo EcoDesign Award was an impressive all-day event, with seminars and an Oscars-type awards show. We were honored to have been nominated for the boardsports category, alongside well-known brands like Arbor and Salomon. Below, you can see our board sitting atop a Firewire board. We were up against big companies with big budgets, so we really appreciate the ISPO and Volvo committees for recognizing our effort.

http://www.ispo-sportsdesign.com/award/categories/board-equipment.html

The reception for the concept boards was great and I got to hang out with some really cool folks, especially the guys from Finisterre, Folha Seca, and Kapitol Reef who were also nominated for the same awards. Finisterre makes some dope eco-conscious technical outerwear geared for the surfer. Cool vibe to their brand as well. Folha Seca is a Brazilian crew who designed a biodegradable skateboard using an open source approach to ecodesign.

Stay tuned!

Hello World Wide Web. 6'8" Riki Pro

The Riki Pro 6'8" was hand delivered to me personally by Rey back in may of 07'. Since then it was force fed to the open water's of ocean beach. The board handled the power of the beast that is O.B. (a few scar's and grazes tell a slightly different story for me however).

P.S Just got the 7'6" from Suneil yesterday and had fun at Fort Point.

Go Bears

6'2" Bioboard Fish (aka Anti Turdfish)

Dims:6'2"x21_5/8"x2_11/16"
Core: Biofoam
Glassing: Resin Research Epoxy, Bottom Bamboo, Deck Bamboo w/ Bamboo deck patch

We wanted to evaluate the bamboo glassing kit made by Greenlight Surf Supply, an eco-friendly surfboard supply company. The kit came with a DVD that went into great detail regarding how to glass using their bamboo cloth, which is similar to t-shirt material. The process is pretty involved and time consuming, with many additional steps when compared to glassing by traditional fiberglass methods. The boards come out slightly on the heavy side, as the cloth really likes to soak up resin. Interestingly, the cloth is streched taught over the boards, which supposedly create tension in the laminate. The boards seem pretty tough. Kudos to Greenlight for providing a "green" alternative to normal fiberglass.

6'1" Flying Fish a.k.a Nanofish

Dims:6'1"x21_7/8"x2_3/4"
Core: Austin Foam EPS
Glassing: Carbon-Fuzed Epoxy, Bottom 6 oz., Deck 6+4 oz

This one was glassed in a new resin formulation we're testing.

6'1" Modern fish (aka Turdfish)

Dims: 6'1"x21_7/8"x2_3/4"
Core: Austin Foam EPS
Glassing Schedule: Resin Research Epoxy, Bottom 6 oz., Deck 6+4 oz.

Neil and I sat down and designed this one together on APS3000 for LA type crappy surf. Custom graphics by Neil and Luki provide a statement about the sad current state of affairs in Santa Monica Bay. Optional quad setup but may go best as a twin.

Quad

Quad
DIMS:5'9_1.2"x18_11/16"x2_1/4"
Rider: Shayne, 5'8" 160 lbs.

(EPS/Epoxy version)
Core: Austin Foam EPS
Glassing Schedule: Carbon-Fuzed Epoxy, Bottom 4+4 oz., Deck 4+4 oz.

(PU/PE version)
Core: Surfblanks Australia - green density
Glassing Schedule: Polyester resin, Bottom 4+4 oz., Deck 4+4 oz.

Like many of the popular quads floating around today. A fast small to med wave board and for aerials. Also made one out of PU/PE and same glassing schedule for comparison. Shayne definitely preferred the EPS/Epoxy in terms of liveliness and drive.

6'0" Hemp Biofoam Shortboard

DIMS:6'0"_x_18_15/16"_x_2_3/16"
Rider: Aron, 6'0" 180 lbs.
Core: Homeblown Biofoam
Glassing Schedule: Epoxy, Bottom 6oz hemp, Deck 6oz hemp + 6oz hemp Deck Patch

Aron could throw it around in small wave conditions and liked the flex and drive of the board. He's banged on this hemp board pretty well, and it's survived. Even the leash plug is made of biodegradable plastic from Greenlight Surf Supply.

7'6" Super Egg (aka Aquapussy)

Dims:7'6"x22_3/16"x2_15/16"
Core:EPS
Glassing: Epoxy, Bottom 6+4, Deck 6+6 +4oz Deck Patch
Deck Art: Rey

Had fun shaping this one. A big guys' funshape, or a mini-longboard for the smaller guy.

Feedback from Oz Dude, 6'6" Shortboard

I had the 6'6 in Australia. I only rode it on the 3 or 4 days that it was overhead (kind of a step-up board for me) but it worked great. I need to ride it a bit more in some decent size surf to get a feel for it... feedback to come.

I leant the board to a ripper in Australia. He really liked the board and got some good barrels. His criticism was that the front rails were a bit unforgiving.

My little bro is going to surf it a bit... I'll let you know what he thinks...

Aidan

6'8" Shortboard (aka Riki Pro)

DIMS:6'8"x19_3/4"x2_3/8"
Core: EPS
Glassing Schedule for LT Version: Carbon-Fuzed Epoxy, Bottom 6, Deck 6+6
Glassing Schedule for XT Version: Carbon-Fuzed Epoxy, Bottom 6+6, Deck 6+6+4

Board was designed to be a big man's all around shortboard for small to OH conditions ala Clarke Tamariki, hence the name. This board was glassed in both a heavy (XT) and lighter (LT) schedule to see how the 2 extremes held up under Clarke's feet. Clarke was an All-American water polo player at Cal, and is now a regular at Ocean Beach. Clarke lives to surf, and the combination of him ( 6'4" 225+ lbs) surfing heavy Ocean Beach makes for a good test pilot for our durability.

******
Light (LT) version made it to Chile w/ Suneil Thomas. See link to Shayne Ferber's photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferber/sets/72157600289907417/show/

Here's Suneil's quote: "Those photos are great. Such an amazing story too. Vasco hadn't really surfed in like 5 years (he grew up in Marin and used to be pretty good). He was totally struggling on these crappy Surftechs and then got on the Riki Pro and started crushing it. He can be Entropy's "Jarred" from Subway story."