Bummer, dude! Impending surfboard shortage. Really.

[KamaAina]

http://starbulletin.com/2005/12/06/news/story03.html

Hawaii's surfing community suffered a punishing blow yesterday when Clark Foam, which supplies about 80 percent of the world's foam blanks used for shaping surfboards, was shut down for environmental and fire safety violations.

The closure of Clark Foam's manufacturing facility in Laguna Niguel, Calif., is expected to make surfboards more expensive to make and purchase, according to Hawaii surfboard businesses....

Louis Melton, sales and marketing manager for Honolulu-based Fiberglass Hawaii, said Clark Foam's closure will put a sizable ding into Hawaii's surfboard-making business, which includes at least 30 shapers, as well as other businesses involved in surfboard production.

"It's enormous and it's catastrophic, but, at the same time, is anything really that bad?" Melton asked.

Hmmm... potential replacement for Scotty? The loss of 80% of his supply is "not really that bad"? :eyes:

Cowabunga! Perhaps the surf community will go retro and rediscover the days when longboards were made from 100% nontoxic wood.

[mike_c]

1. oooooooo...

...wipe out.

[Cleita]

2. Also, back when I was a kid, surfer dudes often made

their own boards. It was less expensive as the boards were all handmade back then.

[Ready4Change]

3. I thought wood boards were also super heavy.

I seem to recall reading that, in the days of wooden boards, there was a major risk of injury from colliding with your own or someone elses board, as they were often quite heavy. The advent of fiberglass covered foam cores created boards that were not only light, but which also rested higher on the water, allowing them to skitter away from an impact, rather then digging in the better to clobber you.

But, having never surfed a wave, wadda I know?

[oneighty]

4. I mixed my own foam

made my own blanks, shaped them and glassed them. What a mess.

fun fun fun

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