Any surfing entrepreneurs on here?

[cashflyer]

Yes... it's a couple weeks old.


Tuesday, April 04, 2006

KAREN WILSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS


LIVERMORE, Calif. — Surfboards and nukes might seem like unlikely partners, but technology borrowed from nuclear-weapons research might save the surfboard industry from a total wipeout.

Scientists at Sandia/California National Laboratories in Livermore hope a specialized foam they developed to protect electronics on weapons from severe impacts and harsh conditions can be used to build surfboards.

A few tweaks in the formula could help fill the gaping void left in the surfboard industry by December’s closure of manufacturer Clark Foam.

Since pioneering modern surfboard manufacturing more than four decades ago, Gordon "Grubby" Clark’s California factory had produced 80 percent to 90 percent of the country’s polyurethane foam "blanks" from which surfboards are shaped.

When polymer chemist LeRoy Whinnery read news reports about Clark calling it quits, he went to his lab and started trying to alter the energy-absorbing TufFoam he had developed for encapsulating nuclearweapons electronics.

Whinnery and metallurgist Steve Goods set about making their foam lighter, to match scraps of Clark Foam they got from a surfboard shaper.

The trick is in the timing of the chemical processes that come together to create the foam. Particularly important is a delicate balance between the "blowing" reaction that gives the foam its airy, meringuelike structure and the "gelling" reaction that solidifies and strengthens the structure, keeping it from collapsing.

Despite what some environmental activists might consider unseemly roots in nuclear-weapons research, Sandia’s TufFoam has an advantage over Clark Foam in that it doesn’t use the carcinogenic chemical toluene diisocyanate, known as TDI.

"One of the main advantages of this foam is, it’s more environmentally friendly," Whinnery said.

That appeals to surfer and boardmaker Ben Sparks, of BearPaw Surfboards in Oakland, Calif., who also owns a recycling business.

TufFoam’s nuclear origins might not be as much of an obstacle to acceptance in the surfing community as might be expected, Sparks said.

"I actually would see that as a benefit — development through the nuclear program — where taxpayer dollars are funding scientists who are willing to look beyond their military applications," Sparks said. "I believe many surfers would, as well. We’re a more conservative and professional group than the mainstream Hollywood media would have you believe."

And TufFoam has history on its side as well. The idea of borrowing military technology is not new to the industry, said San Francisco surfing historian Matt Warshaw, author of the Encyclopedia of Surfing.

"World War II gave the surf world a lot of the materials it still uses," Warshaw said. Surfers have military research to thank for fiberglass, certain resins used to finish boards, and polyurethane foam.

However, Clark Foam blanks are the gold standard in the surfing industry, so persuading elite surfers to try something new has never been easy. Now they won’t have a choice.

"If they want to surf, they’ll have to get over it," Goods said.

The abruptness of the Clark Foam closure led to immediate markups at board shops and could spell doom for small surfboard-shaping shops that depend on Clark’s blanks.

But not everyone laments the loss.

"I think it may be the best thing for the industry," said Ben Bamer, of Berkeley Boardsports. He and others in the surfing community felt some of the strong-arm tactics Clark used to protect his monopoly on the industry stifled innovation.

Shapers who used blanks from other sources could have been blacklisted at Clark Foam, Warshaw said.

"If Clark cut you off, you could really be in trouble," Warshaw said. "He was almost like surfing’s robber baron. He really owned that industry."

That all changed in an instant when Clark walked away from the industry he dominated. A wave of innovations might now follow, said Warshaw.

Sandia is actively looking for business partners, and the TufFoam team has even thought of approaching Clark. The lab also has filed a patent application for the foam and is considering doing the same for the process of controlling the foam’s density.

The lighter-density foam could have other nonweapons applications as well, such as car bumpers and airplane wings, said Scott Vaupen, a business development expert at Sandia. "We invent a lot of technology for national security that has multiple applications."




Probably a good time for board makers to secure their positions with the new product supplier. And it might be a good time for some of us to start thinking of other commercial uses to capitalize on.

I'm curious about it's fire retardancy/resistance...
A lighter foam for foam-core airplane wings? And for ARF models?
A lighter foam for cabin insulation and engine bay soundproofing?

[widebody911]

Looks like we're on the same mailing list!

[Jims5543]

My brother has 6 or 7 Blanks in his garage. I told him to E-bay them.

[pbs911]

Why did Clark just give up? It seems they knew it was coming. Why not a little R&D before hand?

[cashflyer]

Originally posted by widebody911
Looks like we're on the same mailing list!

Great minds think alike....
... and get the same junk mail.

[cashflyer]

Originally posted by pbs911
Why did Clark just give up? It seems they knew it was coming. Why not a little R&D before hand?

From what Surf Mag says, that's just the way Grubby was - to do things abruptly.

From SurfMag: "Clark Foam, like many other foam suppliers in California who deal in furniture, bedding and even aerospace have been facing increasing pressure from stringent California State and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards."

From Clark's letter to customers: “For owning and operating Clark Foam I may be looking at very large fines, civil lawsuits, and even time in prison,” the letter goes on to say, “The short version of my explanation is that the State of California and especially Orange County where Clark Foam is located have made it very clear they no longer want manufacturers like Clark Foam in their area.”


The website is still up, www.clarkfoam.com, however the Laguna Niguel plant was liquidated by auction in March.


Related story:

Former key Clark Foam employees Kim Thress and Jeff Holtby, announced in mid-March the formation of a new company, US Blanks (Los Angeles, Calif.). They've selected as partners Ted Wilson of Fiberglass Hawaii, a supplier of fiberglass and resin to the surf industry, and surfboard designer Gordon Merchant.


Not that anyone would sit still on an open $200 million market, but it appears that if anyone wants to move on this, the time is ripe.... but I'm sure the Australian companies that have been trying to capture market share will be storming our beaches. The key will be to bring to market a superior product at a competitive price.

"Sandia points out that all of the chemicals used to make TufFoam are commercially available in commodity quantities. Most important, TufFoam does not contain toluene diisocyanate (TDI), the chemical used in the production of existing polyurethane foam surfboard blanks and also under scrutiny with respect to environment and fire regulations."