San Diego company makes soy-based blanks

Homeblown Foam Systems of San Diego makes foam surfboard blanks that are 40 to 50 percent soy-based rather than polyurethane.

The eco-friendly materials add about 5 to 10 percent to the total coast of the board, the manufacturers say.

"We're the only company that makes foam this way," said Ned McMahon, whose company was featured Friday on NBC's Channel 7/39 in San Diego.

The company is working toward making a 100-percent bio-friendly board.

Watch the news report here.

Qantas may follow British Airways in limiting surfboards

Complaining of heavy lifting injuries, Qantas baggage handlers voted to follow the lead of British Airways and tighten luggage size and weight limits.

If enforced, the bans would limit size on domestic and international flights to 6'5" and 8'8" respectively, and limit weight to 44 lbs. on both.

Unlike Qantas, British Airways instituted a flat-out ban on surfboards last November, saying they were too cumbersome. Fortunately for the Brits, CrossCountry Trains launched a campaign to welcome surfers on trains going to Cornwall, a UK surfing mecca.

Too pooped to paddle?

Okay, winter's over, and you've still got an extra layer of insulation from the ham, turkey, and all the trimmings.

When you paddled out last session, were you so tired that you had to let a set of perfect waves go by before you could catch your breath?

If so, Surfitness has a circuit that you can do in 15 minutes a day that will get you back in shape. Check it out here.

(Photo courtesy of--and links to--Extreme Horizon Surf Shop.)

The wisdom of Zed

If your dream is starting a surfing business of any kind, you should read this post at Surf Nation about a caring, laid back, mystical, yet driven entrepreneur in Barbados named Zed Layson.

Surf Nation blogger Alex Wade has been inspired by Zed's example, and is kind enough to share that inspiration with the rest of us. Here's an excerpt:

Zed speaks with the quintessential Bajan lilt and gives the impression of being laid back, at ease with everyone and everything and wholly unhurried in everything he does. This is true, but there is more to the man. Behind his ready smile and charisma, Zed is tireless, energetic, perhaps even restless; perceptive, astute, always interested in people and the world.

Read the rest here.

Miami park exec holds surf camp for autistic kids

Julio Magrisso, Miami Beach parks department assistant director, had an idea to hold a surf camp for autistic children. He reached out to the autism center at the University of Miami and made it happen last week at South Pointe Park. Magrisso says he hopes to continue with the camp and make it a seasonal program.

Read about it in today's Miami Herald.

(Miami Herald photo.)

Learn more about surf camps for autistic kids at the Surfers Healing website.

Their video is here.

Charlie do surf!

SurferMag features a gallery of collectible boards that were recently sold on the auction site US Vintage Surf Auction. The 9'0" board that was used to film this unforgettable surfing scene in Apocalypse Now fetched $5,250. (You get a really good look at the board toward the end of the scene, at about 7:15.)



The biggest catch was a 12'11" Tom Blake Hawaiian Surfboard built in 1934. It was found in the basement of a home in its original crate. Winning bid: $32,669.

See SurferMag's gallery here.

Eaton Surfboards founder says adios, heads for Big Island

San Diego Union-Tribune surf writer Brad Melekian today chronicles the end of an era in the San Diego surf culture, as Mike Eaton, a fixture in the Southern California surfing scene and founder of Eaton Surfboards & Paddleboards, says "adios" and heads for the Big Island. Here's a taste of the story:

Mike Eaton, the seemingly timeless San Diego surfer and shaper, shut the doors on his La Salle Street surfboard production facility in Mission Bay for the last time. Come June 1, the 73-year-old icon, who reckons he's shaped well over 50,000 surfboards in his half-century as a board builder, will leave the Sunset Cliffs home where he's become a fixture over the past four decades and take up residence on the big island of Hawaii.

Read the rest here.

(Eaton photo)

* * *

Incidentally, as I was looking for the Eaton logo, I came across Stanley's Surfboard Logo Library at surfcrazy.com, which has nearly every surf logo arranged by alphabet. Very fun place to poke around, as is the rest of surfcrazy.com.