Okay come on. With all of this green washing in companies going around you would hope to be able to trust some sectors. With that I would hope to be able to trust the surfing realm. First of all let me give you a little history of the surf board.
First. There was Balsa and other solid wood boards. Then came fiber glass, the all time classic components and not too far after Epoxy hit the scene. As of lately hollow boards have been popular and the search for a more economic and eco friendly materials. FireWire Surfboards have been all the craze and this is my attempt to understand why.
Firewire is using a form of epoxy resin and an EPS foam (which is supposed to be better than the leading foam used in most fiber glass boards).
http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/technology.php?techid=tech#tech09
Their Argument :
Firewire Surfboards use epoxy resin and EPS foam, materials that are exponentially less harmful than traditional surfboard materials. Over a 5–year lifespan, including the construction process, a traditional PU surfboard releases 50 times more Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) than a Firewire surfboard. In recognition of this, Firewire Surfboards won the coveted EuroSIMA Environmental Product of the Year Award in 2005.
BS?:
I'm not sure how I want to weigh this argument. Yes - I agree some components of fiberglass boards are horrid BUT the ultimate turn around of the boards are drastic. A fiberglass board can last you many years beyond an epoxy pop out. I say a "pop out" because epoxy boards (FireWire) are made by a machine. They are produced in Asia and shipped back to the U.S. Not all boards are and not all fiberglass boards aren't - but FireWire they are. They have a "shaper" that has now been called a "designer" and they aren't assembling everything over seas.
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J,
ReplyDeleteMost boards today are shaped on machines are ours are no different, its just that our 'machine's are more sophisticated.
On the green issue, there's no acetone in our factory (that stuff is lethal) and epoxy resin is infinitely less toxic than polyester and cleans up with citrus cleaners. Plus we recycle our EPS waste.
As we've always said, our boards are green-er not 'green'. On the shipping issue, I think its worth mentioning that almost everyone of the USA board builders ship their boards to all the surf countries around the world. so if we look at it from a global economic perspective, we're all degrading the environment to some degree to bring our product to market, but at least our factory and product are not as toxic as PU.
J, sorry, I meant to sign off so as to be transparent.
ReplyDeleteMark Price
CEO Firewire Surfboards.