Words and photos by: Simon Buck

One of the pioneering brothers talks about all things Bonzer, one of the most influential board designs in surfing history.

“There’s a line in a Talking Heads song that goes, ‘Never for money, always for love.’ That says it all really.” In a single sentence Malcolm Campbell has just encapsulated the whole ethos he and his brother Duncan have been working by for the past 37 years. The song he’s just referred to is “This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)”, and for over an hour ‘the place’ has been the bar at a Newquay surf lodge where the softly spoken, unassuming Californian has been holding every ounce of my attention.

From stories about the nascent days of Bonzer production in early 1970s California to explaining the technical elements behind the complex design’s performance, I’m starting to suffer from information overload. The tape is running out and at any minute my Costcutter biro will dry up. Trying to process the sheer volume of information has been an intense process, but there’s a reason why this exercise has been anything but a chore. Malcolm’s passion and enthusiasm for his craft and his drive to actively evolve surfing through his work is contagious to the point of being toxic. He doesn’t do this by shouting loudly about what he and Duncan have done – and, indeed, continue to do – for the surf industry. That wouldn’t be his style, obvious to anyone who has ever met him. Instead, he prefers to work away quietly on developing and improving on the established Campbell Brothers designs, most notably the Bonzer 5.

The sons of Jack and Gloria Campbell, Malcolm and Duncan grew up with their sister Ann in Oxnard, California during one of those golden eras of surfing. Jack was a huge influence in the young brothers’ early shaping days. A photographer by profession, dad was also interested in engineering and design, especially relating to marine and aircraft. With his knowledge of hull and wing construction, he suggested the boys apply some of the principles of hydro- and aerodynamics to their surfboard shapes. This led to the development of two of the most significant innovations in board design, which most surfers today take for granted: the three-fin setup and single-to-double concaves.

Today, there’s no doubt that Bonzers have a number of high-profile devotees. Many are professionals who ride them recreationally, outside of their ‘day job’, during times when eagle-eyed sponsors will be less sensitive. Taylor Knox, Rob Machado and Dan Malloy are three well-known names who openly endorse the merits of Malcolm’s creations. Taylor is a great ambassador for the Campbell Brothers’ creations and has been riding Bonzers recreationally for years.

“Because of the way they handle, there’s less to think about in setting up for each turn or worrying about them breaking out or losing power. That means I can concentrate more on what I want to do and put all my focus and energy into the moves. For me that really suits my style of surfing. They’re fast boards, and I love the drive and power they produce without losing any of the freedom of a thruster.”

Rob Machado is another who believes the addition of Bonzers to his quiver is only a good thing. “I was stuck riding thrusters on the tour, but when I left it opened up avenues of surfing I’d always wanted to explore. I had a Bonzer built but didn’t ride it for maybe a year or two. Then I decided to take it on a trip to Chile. I rode it on the long left points, the perfect environment to test it, and I really got to appreciate it. I feel Bonzers are the perfect combination of the benefits of the speed of a single-fin with the edge holding and turning of a thruster.”

Both these surfers have obvious admiration and respect for Malcolm and Duncan; the words ‘generous’, ‘giving’, ‘humble’ and ‘great guys’ are often repeated. Dan Malloy sums it up simply: “We’ve never been paid a dime to ride Malcolm’s boards, yet we still ride them all pretty often. The only reason that I can imagine this would be is that they are great surfboards.”

Simon: You started shaping surfboards when you were in your early teens living at home. How did your family background influence your approach to what you were trying to achieve?
Malcolm: My mom was an artist and a painter, and my dad was a photojournalist. Basically, we came out of a creative family environment. Growing up in that environment helped us become individuals. That’s where it comes from, individual thinkers – artistically, creatively, politically. When we made that first three-fin Bonzer in 1970, that first bottom-turn was so dramatically different than anything else we’d ridden or made that we immediately realised this was something worth pursuing. That turn changed our lives because [up till then] we were kids making surfboards and having fun with it.

And that inspired you to think about it more seriously?
Yeah. The further we pursued it, the more we realised this was an opportunity to contribute to surfing, which meant so much to us at the time. We were just kids learning to surf, learning to shape and build boards.

So although shaping eventually became a way to pay the bills, it’s as much, if not more, about making a difference?
It’s all about reciprocal maintenance. Surfing provides so much joy – it’s our means of expression in terms of art and philosophy – but it’s really about giving something back to surfing. As far as our lives go, there has been no separation between working and our philosophy of life. All my best friends come from our involvement in surfing – my wife, hence our kids, everything.

By regarding what you do as your art, and by the very fact that most art conveys a message, is there a specific message you’re trying to put across in your work?
Yes. It’s that all of us, as people, are not who we are but what we actually do. Since we have some degree of notoriety, surfing has become our vehicle to communicate with a wider community. Whether it’s directly through making the best possible surfboards or using it as a platform to speak about things that we really care about.

Is it difficult to combine work with the responsibility of consistently delivering the message?
Shaping surfboards is my job, and it’s my obligation to shape the best surfboards that I can. It’s also my responsibility to educate myself in as many areas as possible in order to be able to contribute toward a more peaceful and just society. That’s the fundamental aspect of what Duncan and I are about. In that regard, I sign ‘Peace’ on every board and have being doing so since around 1972. Not in a trivial ‘Peace, man!’ way.

Is there a danger that the message could be misconstrued, projecting an image of the Campbell’s as ancient hippy shapers living in the past?
That could be perceived, but I would say to them that every surfboard we make is, in a sense, a prayer or a salutation for peace. Every time someone looks at that there’s the possibility that within their mind they will spend that instant thinking, “What are they talking about?” or “What do they mean?” It’s a small thing, but over time it can magnify.

It’s obviously something you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about?
Well, we can say that we want to make the world a better place, but how are we going to do it? There’s not a whole lot in a physical, big sense that one person can do, but if a lot of people can be focused on things in their immediate sphere, this can produce a better ‘consciousness environment’. We are activists at heart, and we sincerely want to make the world a better place. At the very minimum we try to make our lives an expression of our philosophies and ideals. Within the work sphere, Duncan does this with Cafe Haleiwa and with the Bonzer Front surf shop along with his daughter Megan. I do it through shaping surfboards, and now that my kids are grown up I hope to expand my activities a bit. All you can do is the best you can do. That’s a small thing we put forward; it’s the idea of no separation. There is no separation between our surfboards and our philosophy, the way we live our lives, and the way we try to interact with society.

“Campbell Brothers Surfboards” … as brothers what do you bring individually to the company?
Duncan is more of the promoter than I am, which is good, we need that balance. Basically, I stay as invisible as possible – stay back and shape the boards. Duncan helps to keep the Bonzer in the public eye and available to the pros, but the bottom line is that the Bonzer speaks for itself. We wouldn’t be a thorn in the side if the boards didn’t work.

Is that how you see yourselves, a thorn in the side of the big players in the surf industry?
I’d like to think that we are agitators for change. The fact is, since 1973, when the Bonzer was exposed worldwide by Bing Surfboards (the venerable California surfboard label), only a couple of companies have put a Bonzer in their lines. It does beg the question as to why this has been the case. Production difficulty has been one of the excuses, but the industry dealt with the Alan Byrne Deep Six channel design, so hell, I don’t really know what the problem is. There are a few guys, such as Bill Hamilton, Gary Hanel, Rich Pavel, Fletcher Chouinard of Patagonia’s Point Blanks, Doc Laush of Surf Prescriptions, and a few others sprinkled around who have built them.

Is it a global mindset against them?
Not consciously. Over the years I personally have shown many top shapers how to shape Bonzers, but only a couple continue to pursue it. In 1990 there was an article in Surfer magazine in which we talked about how surfboard design could really move ahead if people openly discussed and shared their ideas and designs. That’s what we were doing – sharing the ideas we were working with to push design ahead. In fact we did a lot of work with Pat Rawson in ’88 to ’90, and that’s where the single-to-double concave thrusters came from. While working with Pat we showed him our five-fin as well as what we were doing with our single-to-double concave Bonzer bottom on our thrusters.
When the thrusters first came out, we took a hands-off policy to wait and see how they panned out. We’d been making three-fins for 10 years prior to that, and then some friends said they wanted to try thrusters. We said, “Okay here’s the deal: We’ll make them, but you’ve got to let us put our bottom on them because it’ll give them more drive and more speed.” This was 1981, and we’ve never made a thruster without a single-to-double concave since.

After this, we met with Rawson and shared our ideas with him. He had all these high-profile guys riding his boards – Tom Carroll, Gary Elkerton, Robbie Page, Bobby Owens, and others – and trying those thrusters with our bottom, and the boards worked great for them. With Pat’s influence and our behind-the-scenes work with him, the design spread … because those surfers were from all over the world. The modified single-to-double concave bottom has become the predominant bottom design.

What was he putting on the bottom before that?
Most people had a slight vee, and Pat was working with Maurice Cole and his reverse vee. These boards had vee forward of the fins and flat in the tail. Simon Anderson was a rider first and foremost, and he had success on a three-fin of his own design 10 years after the Bonzer’s conception. Simon wanted to stabilize his twin-fin with a center fin. The thruster comes from the twin-fin, the Bonzer from the single-fin.

They come from a different place in terms of design necessity or inspiration. Lots of guys in Australia were making and riding really short boards – 5’6”s and 5’8”s. We were doing that as well. The first Bonzer was 5’4”, and we added keel-shaped side fins to give the short single fin more speed and control. A lot of our influence in terms of style and approach was from Australians like Nat Young, Wayne Lynch, Terry Fitzgerald, Ted Spencer, David Treloar, that whole crew. The name ‘Bonzer’ was actually a serendipitous thing. My dad came across it in an Oxford English Dictionary, and that gave us the name.

You saw faults with existing designs?
Since the boards were so short, they had trouble making the waves, so our desire was to make a short board that had the drive, speed, and holding power to ride larger waves. We had such wide tails on those boards, and that’s why you needed to increase the edge control, hence the long-base, low-profile, keel-style Bonzer fins. We lived in a place that was out of the glare of the media so we didn’t have any direct influences. In our area there were very few surfers; at high school there were only a few other people that surfed. The local scene was very small. We were able to grow up and surf and build boards without a whole lot of external influences, and that allowed us the space to be creative without any peer pressure. It was a great test tube. We had fantastic waves and happened to be friends with guys who turned out to be extremely good surfers.

Among your friends is there anyone of note who won any competitions?
Some of us did a little in the local Western Surfing Association (WSA) amateur competitions, but nobody took it too seriously; everybody just surfed for fun. I know he’s my friend, but I maintain that Russ Short was as good as anyone in the world at that time. We have footage of him in Mexico in 1977, and I don’t think anybody else would’ve been surfing any better on those waves. That footage blows the minds of pros as well as everyday surfers. When you dissect what’s going on with that board and what he’s doing – the speed, the manoeuvrability, the timing – it’s amazing. We’ve got our own films from back then but it’s all on beachbreaks. You’ve got individual moves and tube riding, but there’s no time to really connect and get a long wave with a lot of turns. In the Mexican footage, Russ is doing everything – bottom turns, cutbacks, tube rides, nose riding – everything on that one wave. If you watch the board and compare it with footage of single-fins at that time, there’s a quantum difference.

Can you explain how the Bonzer system works?
The primary purpose of the Bonzer system is to efficiently organise water flow. We have done this by designing fin and bottom systems that work in a synergetic fashion in order to maximize the use of the energy that is created by the water passing through the tail area of the board. To fully explain this can be a bit tedious, so I’ll try to be as clear and succinct as I can. When you’re doing a turn, the water travels diagonally across the bottom of your board. The Bonzer side fins have a base totaling 9-3/4” on each side, and a maximum depth of only 2-3/4”. The angle, combined with the shallow depth of the fins, allows the fins to come in and out of the water with little resistance. This makes rail-to-rail transition much easier, which in turn allows you to keep your board on the rail with much less effort.
While turning, the fins on the inside rail are fairly vertical in the water, providing very refined edge control. As the water races across the bottom, the outside fins deflect it down and back through the tail. We have always looked at the water that escapes off the outside rail as unused energy. The combination of the Bonzer concaves and the long base of the side fins redirect far more water through the tail area than other designs. This maximizes the use of the force that is created during turns. The fins are essentially an extension of the concaves and, since water adheres to curved surfaces, there is very little disturbance as the water passes through the fin area. This dramatically reduces drag. Basically, we have tried to create surfboards that you can get more out of with less effort and energy input. It’s all about reducing entropy, which needs to become the emerging paradigm of the 21st century. Sorry about that last bit, but with us it is never just about surfboards. I can’t help myself.

So what are the fundamental differences between Bonzer and thruster performance?
If you watch a Bonzer, you can see it gets up and down the face quicker, performs floaters with much more control; it’s maintaining the speed through cutbacks, being able to stay on the rail longer. Thrusters tend to want to settle back flat. If you watch any film of thrusters, there’s always a setup turn, especially on longer waves – guys will come back down after re-entry, and it’s rarely just one turn and back up the face. It’s back down, slight setup turn, then the big turn to go back up the face. That’s a style that’s developed but has been dictated by the limitations of the fin system. It’s a whole other can of worms discussing how style has evolved in relationship to the particular designs. Some of what are now considered moves are actually recoveries from where the boards are just maxed out. People go up off the top radically, then will turn to come off the top and get that bit of sideways motion before they come back down. That’s evolved into lip slides and so forth. You can do that on a Bonzer if you want to, but you don’t have to. You can get up and right back down the face quicker, and you’re basically ahead of the game. The other thing you notice on thrusters is that two thirds to three quarters of the way through a cutback, especially on a wave with less juice, the board wants to settle back down flat. You’ve got to do that secondary little turn in the cutback to get yourself around and back up on the white water. With a Bonzer you can maintain your speed through the cutback.

You can obviously apply physics theory to qualify how the Bonzer system works, but a lot of design modification must come from the riders themselves?
Well yes, although it’s hard to quantify what’s going on with surfboards. Almost all innovations with surfboards are due to intuitive design combined with experiential results. There’s so much variation going on with surfboards, in terms of variety of waves, variety of surfers, changing densities of water, etc. It’s very difficult to get accurate tank testing. Basically the data that everybody gets is through experimentation, practical usage and application of the resulting experiences.

So the more people you can get to use them in more conditions the better idea you can have?
The Bonzer still thrives simply because it works for all kinds of people in all conditions. Now with more top surfers giving our boards a go, it’s showing that they are more than able to stand up to tough scrutiny.

Do you think for Bonzers to do well on the open market they’d have to be seen to do well in the competitions?
At large, yes. For general public acceptance, yes – competition would send it over the top. We maintain that it is possible for the boards to do well in contests, but it’s going to take somebody with the guts to really go out and do it. A lot of people feel that because your approach is slightly different on a Bonzer, you’re not going to get scored as well. It’s visibly different. It’s cleaner, and there’s not so much water flying around because the water flow out the back of a Bonzer is much more refined and controlled. It may not look as crazy in terms of initial impact, but when you watch what’s going on it’s just as radical but much more efficient. I really think a difference in perception is on the horizon and that bodes well for the Bonzer competitively.

Obviously we’re hoping that we’ll gradually see more and more top surfers checking the boards out and riding them recreationally as well as competitively. In the last few years we’ve made boards for guys sponsored by other people, so they’re not going to be riding them in contests – Taylor Knox, Rob Machado, Dan Malloy, Mick Fanning, Brad Gerlach, Joel Tudor, Tyler Warren, Nathan Hedge, Mikala and Daniel Jones. We’re hoping that someone will step out and ride them more seriously in contests.

It does seem like it will take a minor miracle for the thrusters to be usurped in the immediate future though?
In terms of performance, Duncan and I both agree that thrusters have been a great design. Obviously, they’ve got three fins. We’re not dismissive at all of the thrusters; you can’t argue with the level of surfing that goes on with those boards; it’s absolutely incredible how much surfing has evolved using them. But our basic premise is that it’s a three-fin triangulated system, which we pioneered, so we have no axe to grind. We just feel that there are inefficiencies inherent in that fin setup, and we feel that the Bonzer, all in all, is a much more efficient and versatile system. That’s the whole point of using the fin system and bottom design in tandem – working together in synergy.

The high technology and glossy R&D associated with some manufacturers doesn’t seem to sit well with your approach?
I met with one of the partners in the design of Future Fins at a trade show in Japan. They’re doing all kinds of really neat stuff with various fins and tricked-out foils – some really complicated stuff. I think his name is Vince. He’s a very bright person, and I believe he has an engineering background; he’s doing some great work. But the fact is that if you take the fine, triangular keel shape of an original Bonzer side-fin, which is basically a slab of fibreglass, and stick it on your board in the proper position, you’ll make that board go faster and turn better. It’s pretty low-tech, but it has a high-tech result. It’s very simple, and you don’t need an engineering background to make your board go better. You don’t need high-tech facilities to mould all your fins. You can be a kid with a piece of glass, lay up 13 layers, cut out either a five-fin setup or an original Bonzer three-fin setup, and sand them by hand with a sanding block. Stick those on your surfboard and you can improve its performance – for pennies. Anyone can do it in their backyard.

That’s where I stand on hi-tech. It’s about the whole system, not about an individualised foil. Definitely foils can make boards work better, but the dramatic difference that you’re going to get is not going to be as much as if you stick Bonzer fins on it. Again, the challenge is there to any shaper: Take your favourite board, stick the five-fin system on it, and see how it goes. You may not like it better at first; it all depends on how open people are to feeling the change and putting a bit of time into learning it. The people that get into Bonzers seem to be a bit more open-minded in general than what we’ve experienced over the years. We’ve made major changes, and we’ve been a major influence, but it’s been behind the scenes. You have so much preconditioning that it keeps you looking at other things. You’ve got to be open minded – not so open minded that your brains fall out, but you’ve got to be open to new experiences.

You feel that’s the secret of progressing surfboard design in the future?
It’s the nature of things. Originally, in the ’70s, there were people making all kinds of crazy stuff; it was a really fun time. Especially the early ’70s, because people were making all kinds of wild stuff – flex tails, different tail shapes, different types of fins. Then surfing got bigger, and professional surfing began to change the nature of things. Advertising dollars changed what would go forward in terms of design, so it was a bit of a double-edged sword. You can’t just make stuff for the sake of making it. Back then, people were truly experimenting because there was a whole open new field; the boards were shorter, everything was wide open and as things did or didn’t work, they became a bit more refined.

You’ve never followed the route into large-scale production as many of your contemporaries have.
I’ve been shaping since 1968. From then until March 2007, I’ve always had a secondary job in order to continue to make Bonzers [Malcolm shaped for Al Merrick at Channel Islands from 1985 to January 2007], but they’ve never been my sole means of support until this year. So in terms of the passion that we have for the design, there’s very little connection with money, otherwise we would have quit doing it years ago. I could have made all kinds of other surfboards under ‘Campbell Bros’ and had a much bigger business, but we’ve chosen to stick with the Bonzer because we truly believe it has the potential to continue advancing performance and driving progression through design.

To make a unique statement the boards have to be unique themselves?
Yes, the Bonzer experience is somewhat unique. We haven’t kept making them just because we’re stubborn and egotistical. To do what we’ve done and stay focused has taken passion. I ask people, “Why would I spend two thirds of my life making and riding surfboards that weren’t as good or better than anything else around?” You’d have to be masochist or an egomaniac. For the small amount of notoriety over 30 years (and even less money), ego doesn’t play much of a part. We’ve just been really focused on what we want to do, and it’s been a very personal thing for us.

My dad was the original inspiration for doing the three-fin. Along with him working together on the original design, there was our small group of close friends: Russ Short, Charlie Womack, Cliff Collinge (Duncan’s best friend and an incredible surfer and airbrush artist), and another friend, the photographer Craig Fineman, who shot all the photos of us. They were such an integral part of the Bonzer project. My dad passed away in 1976 when he was 58. Cliff died of cancer in 1993 at 38, way too young. My mom died that year as well. Charlie, who was an inspiration for the five-fin in 1983, died three years ago near Santa Barbara when a huge landslide covered his house. Shortly before that, Craig passed away after a long illness. It’s a shame that the people who were such a big part of the Bonzer experience aren’t around to share the bit of notoriety and the credibility that the boards are now getting. Again, this is such a personal thing in terms of our lives.

Do you feel that ‘Campbell Bros’ stands for more than just you and your brother – more like a brotherhood, a tight-knit community?
It was a really close-knit group of people who were together for a long time. I think it’s somewhat a unique circumstance because it required a number of people that were willing to live on the outside of what everyone else was doing in surfing. They rode different boards and just fit in with the nature of the area. Oxnard was out in the hinterlands of Southern California surfing during the ’70s. Now, since around 1990, a second generation of close friends has provided the energy and support to keep the Bonzer experience vibrant.

Do you think that Bonzers will suffer because of the Quad?
No. I pay little attention to what anybody else is doing. I have tremendous respect for the tried-and-true craftsmen in our business, but I have to admit that, as far as design goes, I pretty much keep my head down and stick to my own path. The point is, the Bonzer has survived every single design change and every fad. Thrusters aren’t a fad; they have developed into a mainstay. At the ripe old age of 37, Bonzers can still be taken out and ridden at the same or a higher level of performance than any design that exists. In terms of where other people go, I’m not concerned at all. We’re not in it to say we’re the be-all and end-all; we’re in it to provide the most versatile high-performance surfboard possible.

When I say ‘versatile’, it’s important because the Bonzer can be made to any shape and size to ride in any surf with the same fin system. From kneeboards to tow-boards to high-performance contemporary shortboards, longboards, and sailboards, the exact same fin-system can be used. You don’t even need to change the size of the side fins – just alter your centre fin. It works on anything in any condition, so it’s basically the Bonzer.

In a way, I kind of feel in the center of the cyclone; it’s the calm in the centre because it’s been there from the beginning of shortboards, and it’s still there now. It’s the performance that dictates whether it will be around or not, and it’s not going away. The volume of boards that we sell is just a relationship to how many guys get on it and find it enjoyable.

Where do you go from here?
My fundamental concern is making custom boards and to continue to refine our designs. As long as everyday surfers enjoy the boards, we’ll be okay. It would be great for a couple of top surfers to put Bonzers to the test in the competitive environment. If this doesn’t happen, so be it. I do think that if someone went out and showed the judges something a little different in terms of more speed, better use of their rails, and more efficient transition between manoeuvres, the judges would take notice and reward them.

What would you like the Bonzer’s legacy to be?
That it be seen as an archetype of the modern shortboard by pioneering the three-fin concept and the introduction and development of the single-to-double-concave bottom. In a human sense, though, I’d like the Bonzer to represent what can be done if you are passionate and stay focused on a dream. A few years ago Billy Hamilton said to me, “I can’t believe you guys stuck with it all this time, but I’m sure glad you did.” I can’t begin to tell you how much that meant to me. The Bonzer experience is and has been a ‘quiet revolution’, and that’s the way I like it.

Simon Buck is an award-winning freelance photographer based in the eastern badlands of Norfolk, England. A regular contributor to the surfing press, he lives with his fiancée, Rachel, and is the proud owner of two Campbell Bros Bonzers, which he claims to ride terribly. Visit: simonbuckphotography.com

Words by: Tom Pohaku Stone Photography by: David Pu’u

You know, people ask me, “How did you learn to surf?” and, “What was your first surfboard?” Well, that can be a long tale on both ends. My story isn’t so much about who taught me to surf or to make wood boards; rather, it is about those who inspired me to do those things. From a very Hawaiian perspective, I was born to surf. The ocean is in my blood, and my entire life has revolved (both knowingly and unknowingly) around that component of my cultural self. Of course, surfing is nothing new in the Hawaiian Islands. Surfing was (and is) just something Hawaiians did daily. It is as much a part of our life as hula and our language. Hawaiians are an ocean people – it is only natural that we did, and still do, gravitate to the waves.

Change came with the missionary disapproval of such frivolous and lascivious pastimes and was compounded by our great dying. We Hawaiians were willing to give up our native practices to believe in a god that would give us everlasting life, to change the very essence of our way of life for ‘salvation’. Little did we know that we’d be giving up more than our ancient traditions, that our culture would be sold to the highest bidder (tourism), and our lands would be ripped away from us. One could even say that surfing and the Hawaiian lifestyle was the focal point of tourism, and surfing is still what brings people to these islands today. Despite the changes my ‘ohana (extended family), like many other Hawaiians, were still enjoying the happy side of our culture – surfing, unknowingly preserving our way of life for future generations.

Have I come full circle in my surfing? Not really! I feel like I’ve just been reestablishing my connection to my surfing roots, my surfing mo’oku’auhau (genealogy). I believe that when I finally started asking questions about what it meant to me to be Hawaiian I began to understand why I had problems fitting in with the contemporary mainstream of surfing culture. Shoot, anyone who knew me back in the day might say I had trouble fitting into contemporary society in general!

I was never interested in the money or fame that can come from a professional surfing career. I have always been driven by the desire to just surf. That being said, I do live in this world. I’ve got bills and a family, so … you do what you’ve got to do to survive. I’m just striving to create a harmonious relationship between the things I love and the things I need. I’ve managed to create a balance (in spite of the unpredictable) through education, through my work at the University of Hawai’i, through my role as an educator and scholar.

In the days before contact, it was not unusual for Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) to drop everything when the waves came. Our lives revolved around surfing, and that has been no different for me. I am up with the dawn ready to go if I know the waves are there, with all my boards (including at least one koa board) loaded into my van the night before.

My surfing has been a continuous journey of learning, with some things definitely coming full circle. Surfing on 100lb koa (or mango) surfboards or the lightweight wiliwili board is something rooted not just in the traditions of my culture, it also has its origins in my early childhood.

Why, with all the new technology, would anyone want to ride a surfboard that weighs a hundred pounds or more? Well, it’s about the environment you grow up in. I just happened to come into my own in surfing at a very young age and at a time when one era was ending and another beginning. I spent a lot of my younger days on the beach at Waikiki. I was told that, before I could actually surf, I had to be able to carry the surfboard (wooden) from the old lockers there on Waikiki Beach to the ocean.

I remember when I used to stand in front of those lockers and look up at those giant wooden and foam monsters. I can vividly remember the desire I had to ride them, to learn to surf. Everyday, I would come down to the beach and try to lift these huge surfboards, and everyday one of the old-time Waikiki Beach Boys would be standing nearby watching to make sure I didn’t injure myself or the board. As a kid I remember watching the surfers of the time lift the boards from the lockers and walk away to catch the waves, then I would sit down under the hau tree and just stare at the board rack, dreaming, full of longing … until one day I just walked up to one of the great boards and found within me the mana (spiritual power) to lift the board just high enough to slip it out of the rack.

Somehow I managed to slowly drag that board through the sand until I hit the water. Out of nowhere it seemed, a Beach Boy (I think Blue) came running over and grabbed the board from me and said, “Boy, you sure you ready?” I still remember saying the only thing I could: “I going surf now!”

In my memory, it seemed that all the Beach Boys gathered around laughing and helping me, telling me how best to ride dis wooden surfboard, but I neva even hear dem, all I wanted was to go catch da wave.

Eventually I made my way out to a spot between Baby Queens and Canoes, and there I caught my first wave. I learned very quickly that to steer these boards, you had to use the motion of the water and time your directional turn by using one hand or the other, depending on the direction you wanted to go. One great myth that has been perpetuated erroneously is that surfers from that era used their feet to turn the boards, not so. When the foot was used, it was by dropping to a prone position and dragging the entire leg to make the board change direction.

Over the next couple of years, I borrowed boards from everyone on the beach including the famous Hawaiian wrestler Curtis “The Bull” Iaukea. Curtis’ board was the widest board I ever surfed – it was like a sidewalk! Eventually, I started pestering my Dad, Mom, da entire ‘ohana for my own surfboard. It was driving dem crazy, and den my Dad would ship me off to other places in Hawai’I, like the Big Island, Molokai, Maui … just about everywhere. The reasons for this were part cultural; it was so I would learn from the ‘ohana. I was taught about ranching, about fishing, hunting, and family lore. It was all about cultural survival and carrying on the traditions, which has now put me at this point in my life. But, at that time I thought they were just trying to keep me off the beach and away from surfing. So, every time I came back to O’ahu, I would head out to da beach all day, and sometimes I neva come home for days. My Dad always would show up eventually and drag me off da beach, and I would just cry. I neva tink dey knew why I wanted to be dea no matter how much I tried to explain it to dem.

It was one of these times that my Dad came to get me dat he wen stop and talk with Berry Napoleon on da beach before throwing me into the car, but dis time he wen talk to me about surfing. He asked me why I kept coming to Waikiki Beach wen we live over in Kailua and I could surf there. My reply to him wuz, “Cause I can use da surfboards hea. Cause I no got one board of my own fo go surf Kailau.” My Dad just said that we couldn’t afford one, but I neva understand at that time. Today, I know we were very poor (money-wise), but as one kid living and growing up on da beaches and in cars dat wuz da bomb life. Back then finances didn’t matter to me, but I so get it today. Still, some of the best memories of my youth are of growing up living on da kahakai (beach).

Eventually da ‘ohana moved into a small home in Keolu Hills (Kailua), and one day my Dad comes home wit dis log. I neva know wot it wuz about, but he looks at me and says, “You wanna board den you going get one.” Right there in my head I was saying, “Okay, what color and size of surfboard, and most important what brand – Wardy or Hobie?” But dat was not to be. My Dad just worked on dis log almost everyday, and I was always watching him and asking, “Wen we going get my surfboard?” His reply wuz da same every time, “No worry, pau soon.”

Den one day he wen say, “Your surfboard is pau, ready fo you to ride um.” Oh the excitement I felt at his words. I wen outside, and my Dad looks at me and say, “Dis your new surfboard.” I looked at this wooden board and everything in me died. This was not the surfboard I wanted, and I made that clear to my Dad, who did not take my response happily. I hated that board then in the way only a small child can hate something that he thinks isn’t the coolest, newest thing on the block.

How I wish I could take that moment in time back. I wish I could have the wood board in my hands just one more time to admire and to surf. When I think about that board now, I see one of the most beautiful surfboards I had ever seen. But it is gone, and I can’t change that today – one of a few regrets in my life. All I have today is what my father gave me: the knowledge imbued by just hanging with him while he made that board.

I frequently hear from people that my boards are replicas, and that is a true statement for two of them. But the reality is, I don’t copy any other board made before (unless requested specifically); I don’t work from a template, or predetermined dimensions. The boards I make are born of the wood; they are dictated by the grain, the size of the log, and are created in much the same way my ancestors would have made a board – with the resources they had on hand.

The type of board I like to make are the kiko’o style boards out of koa and mango. I do make the alaia boards out of wiliwili for the younger generation, and I did have some 14ft wiliwili surfboards that were just great to ride. I am looking forward to making my first true olo surfboard in the next year since I have acquired the koa wood thick and long enough for this purpose. Now that’s something I have to say about people who are constantly talking about making olo surfboards. There is no true olo surfboard outside of the museum (the Paki collection at the Bishop in Honolulu). It is not about length, rather it is the combination of length, thickness, and style that an olo board is constructed – and the cultural symbolism of the olo to the people, and their relationship to the Ali’I (royalty), the gods, and the ocean.

Making wood boards is what I do it because it calls to me. It is about carrying on what my father gave to me, and the knowledge of my ancestors. It is something I feel that should not be forgotten as surfing becomes more corporate and technologically advanced. I want to put to rest a lot of myths about how you ride a finless wood board and on what type of waves our kupuna could or could not surf. Be clear, my ancestors surfed on almost any type of wave that we ride today, and in places we would not even attempt to ride today.

What carving and riding these traditional surfboards means to me is that I can continue to surf, even if I should ever not have the fashionable boards, and still enjoy the ride, sliding across a wave. I am secure in the fact that I can continue to surf and still enjoy it without it costing me a lot of money. I believe this is important for the generations to learn here in Hawai’i. You don’t need a store to have a surfboard. This is going to help the younger people appreciate what surfing is all about and to know that they can surf on a board from another time and have fun doing it.

It’s also about learning to surf and appreciate how well those who gave us this sport truly surfed. I am amazed at what it really takes to surf any of these wood boards, but it is important to me to be able to carry on the traditions and origins of surfing. It is a practice that originates from these islands. Though people may disagree with me on this, I will always ask: Where are the artifacts to support the idea that surfing started anywhere else in world? We are talking about an implement made exclusively for standing on and sliding across a wave.

Surfing is my life, and I will surf until it is time to check out of this reality.

Tom Pohaku Stone became one of the hottest surfers of the late 1960s and ’70s and an elite rider of Pipeline and other significant waves. His journey to reconnect with and celebrate his Hawaiian surfing heritage has been a great service to all surfers. He is a Professor of Hawaiian Studies at University of Hawaii.

This year’s award winners are chosen from nominees that you, the readers, said we should consider. Every year an ever-expanding list of people, groups, companies and assorted surfing entities begins to bulge in our in-boxes, and every year we call upon our judges (previous winners of the Emerald Path Award so far: Chris Hines, Glenn Hening, Matt George and Mark Massara) to join us in reviewing the list and selecting a nominee in each of seven categories.
US Editor Drew Kampion and I then tally up the votes and discuss the way the cards have fallen. It’s sometimes clear-cut, but often ambiguous. When we have agreed on the winners, we seek the approval of our judges again, then make these announcements.
Here are the final verdicts. Thanks to you for your nominations, to the judges for their time and considerations, and to all of the nominees for making the surfing world an ever more positive place to be.
- Alex Dick-Read

Individuals Who Surf
Winner: Dave Rastovich
Dave Rastovich got half the votes, and former Midnight Oil front man, surfer and now Australia’s Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett got the other half.
Peter Garrett has only recently been elected to a position of real executive power, so we figured it would be smarter to wait to see how he does in this role. Most environmental activists effect change from without, but he has his hands on the levers of power, so we want to watch and see how he uses them.
In light of this, Dave Rastovich was our preferred choice for the award. We had some initial issues with the fact that, however bohemian and off-the-wall, he’s a mainstream surf pro working for one of the big surf companies. But we feel he deserves great respect for using his position of privilege and mass appeal to send out some powerful, positive messages, at some personal and professional risk.

As a founder of Surfers for Cetaceans, which aims to stop the slaughter of whales and dolphins worldwide, Rasta has shown that he sticks with his principles and lives by his beliefs. Earlier this year he was in Taiji Bay, Japan where they annually murder thousands of dolphins and pilot whales. Rastovich led a small group of protestors who snuck into the bay and paddled out through the bloody water to try and stop the killing. Risky business. Through clever maneuvering the crew managed to narrowly avoid being assaulted, arrested and worse. The slaughter was only slowed, not halted, but the intended message went far and wide.
Rastovich is closely associated with the wonderfully radical Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which believes in direct action to protect the planet, and as one of Sea Shepherd’s most high-visibility crew-members, he’s spreading their philosophy into demographics that don’t normally make space for things like front-line activism.
Even within Billabong, Rasta has spearheaded the enlargement of their organic and PET surf clothing range, which they might easily not have bothered with.
So while at first glance Dave Rastovich may seem to be just another talented surfing pop icon, he’s not. He stands out from those who dare not risk their contracts with anything more radical than a late take-off, and thus he is a worthy recipient of this award.

Dave Rastovich responds: “I am not alone. I might be the only young surfer you see doing this stuff, but that certainly doesn’t mean I am the only one. I have a young friend in Australia who is just 15 years old and has already addressed environmental ministers from all the countries who are involved in the whaling issue. She’s a little dynamo who just doesn’t understand the older generation that’s so bent on environmental destruction. I was joined in Japan by Hayden Pannatierre, a Hollywood starlet, just 18 years of age; and Isabel Lucas, a 22 year-old Aussie actress who didn’t even flinch when I asked her to come with me into the bloody waters of Taiji Bay to try and stop the annual dolphin kills. And then there’s my wife, Hanna Fraser, a mermaid, artist, and model who tirelessly works on exposing oceanic issues. And what about the amazing young activists-in-waiting who have contacted me since our action in Japan, vowing to go to the front-line when it comes to issues like dirty beaches, toxic rivers, and over-fishing in their local areas?
I gratefully acknowledge the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as my chief inspiration and also the greatest environmental inspiration for other young surfers around the world. Their no-bullshit style resonates with us, and I think it’s realistic to say that you¹ll see an army of compassionate, fearless surfer/activists rising up in the near future, modelled off Paul Watson’s strategies. I humbly accept this acknowledgment from The Surfers Path, and hope that our support for each other continues. I am far from being a completely neutral, non-destructive human being, but I am doing what I can to balance my destructive impact on this world. It always lifts my spirit to read an issue of TSP and know there are so many other great surfers also giving back to Mother Earth.”

Surf-related Nonprofits and Organizations
Joint winners: Save The Waves and Wildcoast

Save The Waves (pictured left) and Wildcoast took more votes than the others, although the Hawaiian anti-Superferry protestors and LEAP (Local Empowerment Assistance Project, based in the Hinako islands ­also had one each. The judges agreed that STW certainly deserves the award because they have consistently and intelligently fought hard to protect surf spots all over the world. They do this by working closely with local groups wherever waves are threatened, by direct action, in-depth research, and multimedia savvy. Their film about the battle to protect waves in Madeira, Lost Jewel of the Atlantic, as well as their ongoing work in Chile where pulp mills and sewage are threatening pristine coastlines, were singled out by some of the judges. Founder Will Henry was also singled out for special praise for his tireless efforts.

It was widely agreed that Wildcoast (pictured right) also deserves recognition, not just for its day-to-day work as an active nonprofit, but also for taking on a truly enormous but important mission ­ bringing the plight of the ocean environment to the attention of all Latin Americans. Ther’¹s a lot of coast between Tijuana and Southern Chile and if the oceans are going to recover from past/present abuse and avoid it in future, the message really needs to hit home in the cultures that inhabit those shorelines. Wildcoast has had an impact already, from its heavy pressure on both sides to clean up beaches around the US-Mexico border, to convincing the government to halt a recent shark slaughter in Mexico, to educating the public about the importance of turtle eggs, a delicacy in parts of Central America. By mixing clever media maneuvers that reach all across Latin America, with local, community-based action, they are already succeeding in raising ocean consciousness around the Hispanic world.
We want to acknowledge the spirit and energy of these two nonprofit groups, and encourage them in their missions.

Surfboard Manufacturers
Winner: Gary Young

While Greenlight Surf Supply got one vote, the clear winner here was the Big Island’s master bamboo board-builder, Gary Young. It makes sense to give him some serious recognition because wood, bamboo and other alternative surfboard materials have hit an all-time high right now but Gary Young has been weaving his bamboo magic for decades, certainly way before ‘green’ became mainstream. Of course in that time Young has inspired numerous others to either work in the same material, or think in the same direction. We’re working on a full profile of the man in the mountains of the Big Island, so look out for that in an upcoming issue.

Surf-related Accessories
Winner: Matunas Surfboard Wax

Matunas won the most votes in this category, and while we love last year’s winners Betty Belts and all their community and environmental work on Bali (stand by for a new clean-water scheme over there), all the judges were happy to go with a wax company that’s hit the mainstream without leaving a toxic petroleum trail in its wake. (Consider the global impact of millions of deck-rubbings every day -­ no man’s greatest Earth-crime, but a classic example of how the small things that we do to damage the planet can change if we put some thought into them). Other companies are making serious efforts to address this issue (Wet Women and Funky Puffin were also nominees), but it’s clear that Matunas is leading the field.
Surf Media
Winner: Sliding Liberia by Britton Caillouette and Nicholai Lidow

Sliding Liberia took the most votes in the Surf Media category. This extraordinary film touches a lot of nerves with its blend of beauty, horror, humanity and surfing. It mixes harsh reality with great storytelling, moving characters, cool waves, great filming, and a message of oneness. The film has garnered great praise within and outside the surfing world but we’re particularly glad to be able to recognize Sliding Liberia because it comes from a seed that we helped to germinate way back in TSP-52 when we published Nicholai Lidow¹s first rendering of his Liberia story.
Special mentions were also made of the website Phoresia.org, which offers great news, features, and angles on all things green in surfing; and the film Lost Jewel of the Atlantic by Save The Waves.

Surf Travel
Winner: Sumatran Surfariis

Sumatran Surfariis -­ a no brainer according to the majority of judges. Chris Scurrah and his partner Christine Fowler have been running surf trips around Sumatra for almost 10 years. During that time not only have they initiated a whole lot of pleasure and tube-time, Scurrah and his team have also kept a low-key aid programme going that has included vital post-tsunami and earthquake relief and ongoing general assistance to communities from the Mentawais to the Hinako islands. It was unanimously agreed that Surfariis’ consistent dedication to the people in whose area they operate, without fanfare or publicity, shows an exemplary approach to mitigating human need in surf zones where extreme poverty and natural disasters prevail.

Surf Retailers
Winner: Loose Fit

The folks at Loose Fit surf shop are clear winners of this award for the second year, both in terms of votes from the judges and for their unrivalled attempts to fuse environmental awareness into a surf retail business. It’s a tough one to pull off, but are there any other shops that can lay claim to so many initiatives, from carefully-chosen stock to planting a tree for every board sold? Loose Fit appears to offer a viable blueprint and inspiration­ to surf shops everywhere that want to acknowledge retail’s role in the great chain reaction that human consumption is having on this planet.

Surf Apparel Manufacturers
Winners: Patagonia and Finisterre

Surely Patagonia wins, hands-down? The company has been and remains a pioneer in more than just the surf and mountain realm ­ its ethical approaches to its products, strategy and day-to-day operations have had a huge influence on business worldwide. However, some judges voted for a shared prize with Finisterre, a comparatively small outdoor clothing operation based in Cornwall, UK. It was agreed that Finisterre represents something important: If Patagonia is a pioneer, Finisterre represents the best of a new breed that has taken its lead directly from the Guru of Ventura, California.

Since starting up in 2002 Finisterre has grown into its own distinct brand, developing new initiatives (‘Offset The PLC’, researching new fabrics particularly through ‘biomimicry’, pulling production out of China and moving it to a women’s outreach project run by nuns in Colombia, and using the most recyclable materials possible). They make every effort to ensure that the lifecycles of their products remain completely transparent and accountable (i.e. where the raw materials are made, what of, who assembles the goods and how are they shipped, etc.) and they’re fast developing into a serious player­ they recently won an Observer Ethical Award and were chosen by Al Gore as an example of young, ‘green’, business excellence and asked to speak at his events. We think these are all great achievements worthy of our recognition.
So, this year, a joint award in this category: Patagonia and Finisterre – representing both the inspiration, and the best of those so inspired.

THE EMERALD PATH AWARD
Winner: Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson received more votes than Peter Garrett but offered similar concerns to Mr Rastovich’s selection: how mainstream, how predictable, how politically correct! What about the little guy?
Well, we were concerned too, but, as with Rasta, believe that while such questions will inevitably arise, JJ is reaching a LOT of people and, unlike most rock stars, he’s using his position to spread a message that we fully support. His Kokua Music Festival (a joint effort with his wife Kim) raises hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for local/regional community recycling schemes, as well as raising awareness for the Islands’ serious environmental issues.

Johnson’s recording studios use solar power, recycled materials, and create minimal waste. His album sleeves are made of recycled materials, his concert tours are as low-impact as possible, etc. These are approaches that millions of his fans and many among his colleagues in the music industry have taken note of. For example, Jack’s ‘green’ concert tour agenda has been taken up as a blueprint used by other bands who sympathise but couldn’t quite get their shit together, and has already caused numerous live venues across the world to change their rules on power-supply, recycling and waste disposal.
JJ is, in part, a reluctant rock star. As every profile says, he’s happiest surfing with his friends or hanging at home with his family. Maybe this has helped him glide through the turbulent waters of music stardom with such ease and grace, leaving behind him a clean, green trail that millions of people are noticing. Folk like him can affect great change, and we think he’s done his level best when, really, most wouldn’t have bothered.
So, while the GWA won’t forget the Herculean efforts of the little guy, we are proud to acknowledge the positive work of gentle giants like Jack Johnson.

­Jack Johnson responds: “The Surfer’s Path is a magazine that makes you feel proud to be a surfer,” Jack said on learning he’d received our award, “Not just because of the imagery and vibe, but because of the topics they choose to focus on, and the integrity of their production. I am honored to be associated with such a great publication.”

Images by: Hilton Dawe and Branden Aroyan; Artwork by: Rick Reitveld

Like almost all aspects of modern life, surfing has an environmental cost that, until recently, was rarely considered. Ours is a ‘natural’ sport, ‘close to nature’ and somehow seen as ‘pure’. In many ways this is true, but in reality much of what we ‘need’ in order to have fulfilled surfing lives is extremely damaging to the planet.

The Green Wave Awards are an attempt to encourage change in the surfing world by putting a positive focus on people, institutions and companies that are actively working to make surfing a more sustainable, environmentally conscious pursuit.

In it’s first year the GWA attracted thousands of nominations from readers, which ranged from individuals who pick up beach litter every day, to large international corporations that factor sustainability into the core of their business. In the three years it has been running, the response has been phenomenal, and it’s clear that the GWA has become recognized as a key agent of change.

The Awards:

“For exceptional environmental and humanitarian achievement in 2007.”

Green Wave Awards categories:

Individuals Who Surf

Surf-related Non-profits and Organizations

Surf Apparel Manufacturers

Surfboard Manufacturers

Surf-related Accessories

Surf Media

Surf Travel

Surf Retailers

The Emerald Path Award:

An overall winner from any category whose outstanding achievements deserve special recognition.

See the 2007 nominees here!

See the 2006 Green Wave Award winners here.

Thanks to all the readers who sent nominations in this year.

Surfboard Manufacturers

Gary Young – pioneering work in bamboo board-building.

Greenlight Surfboard Supply – the greenest technology available for making boards, whether pro shaper or DIY.

Sannyasi – manufacturers of environmentally sound surfboards, in cooperation with Greenlight Surfboard Supply.

Solarez/Wahoo International – resins for more environmentally sensitive surfboard production.

Homeblown – low impact high quality surfboard blanks.

Hess Surfboards – low impact, high-end hand-made boards.

Ice9 – surfboard blanks.

Grain Surfboards – high class high-performance wood boards.

Ocean Green – Sustainable vision, ethical practices, visionary ecofoils from Nicaragua; 2006 GWA winner.

Individuals Who Surf

Tom “Pohaku” Stone – inspiring the rebirth of ancient Hawaiian board building and riding. Maui, Hawaii.

Tom Jones – Stand-up paddled from Oregon to Mexico raising awareness of pollution and child abuse. Newport, California.

Dave Rastovich – leading anti-whaling activist, ¬pro surfer, environmental advocate. Queensland, Australia.

Ainea Kimaro ¬– African scientist leading development of Biogas fuel – which could help stop sewage pollution as well as offer sustainable power alternatives. Kigali, Rwanda.

Rich Hoeppner – Founder of People for the Preservation of Kaua’i set up to stop Superferry. Kauai, Hawaii.

Dave Curtin – founder of HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere), working for the people of Darfur. Malibu, California.

Peter Garrett – Australian Environment Minister, Midnight Oil frontman, whale protector. Sydney, Australia.

Vipe Desai – instigator of Project Blue – a corporate eco campaign through his agency Propaganda Headquarters – Laguna Beach, California.

Jack Johnson – Kokua Foundation and music that transcends (from a solar-powered studio in ‘green’ packaging). Haleiwa, Hawaii.

Will Henry – Writer, photographer, and founder of Save The Waves and a dynamo of coastal environmental activity.

Santiago Aguerre – Co-founder of Reef and creator of the Liquid Nation Ball, which earned over $250,000 for SIMA’s Humanitarian Fund at last September’s 4th annual event.

Surf-related Nonprofits & Organizations

People for the Preservation of Kaua`i – movement to stop the Hawaii Superferry from coming to Kaua`i.

Save The Waves – working to protect surf breaks all over the world.

Kokua Foundation – education, action and awareness-raising on Oahu, Hawaii.

WildCoast – protecting the coasts and spreading an environmentalist message in the Hispanic world.

Surfers Against Sewage – dynamic campaigning for clean oceans for all water-users.

Surfrider Foundation – international network of chapters working to protect the oceans and coastlines.

SurfAid International – making huge strides in bringing better health to the people of the Mentawais.

Groundswell Society – seeking a values-based influence on modern surfing.

LEAP – Local Empowerment Assistance Project helping people help themselves – Hinako Islands, Indonesia.

SIMA Environmental and Humanitarian Funds – Surf Industry Manufacturers Association’s extremely charitable arms.

The Surfrider Foundation Clean Water Classic – the biggest surf contest in the Pacific Northwest and the biggest SF fundraiser, too.

Ainea Kimaro – African scientist in the field of converting human and biological waste into biogas – big props for water quality worldwide.

Surf-related Accessories

Matunas Surf Wax – non-toxic biodegradable wax that sticks.

Betty Belts – clean, safe, fair and beautiful, produced in Bali and California.

Wet Women Surf Wax – eco-intelligent surf wax.

Funky Puffin Surf Wax – eco friendly surf wax made from Jersey Beeswax.

Surfboard Pack – Environmentally-conscious packaging solutions.

Surf Media

Justin Myers – nature and surf photographer in Oregon who shoots for Portland Monthly.

Phoresia – website for an environmentally and socially responsible surf life.

Sliding Liberia – a film about Liberia and surfing by Britton Caillouette and Nicholai Lidow.

Lost Jewel of the Atlantic – a film about the wrecking of Madeira by Save the Waves’ founder Will Henry and Vince Duer.

Surf Travel

Sumatra Surfaris – Humanitarian and environmentally proactive tour company incorporating community service into their trips.

Holidays with Purpose – travel company that offers community aid work as well as waves, Sumatran islands, Indonesia.

Surf Retailers

ZJ Boarding House – The best mom-and-pop success story ever, Santa Monica, California.

Loose Fit – possibly the world’s most environmentally active surf shop, Devon, UK.

Surf Apparel Manufacturers

Northcore – technical boarding gear with social responsibility.

Finisterre – actively striving for the best outdoor surf gear with the lowest environmental impact.

Zoozoo2 – organic t-shirts and recycled fashion.

Rapa Nui – organic surf clothing from ethical eco friendly fabrics.

Patagonia – surf and mountain based leader in corporate common sense.

See the 2006 Green Wave Award winners here.

Individuals Who Surf

Blake Mcelheny: Headed a successful campaign to save 1,129 acres of natural land surrounding Oahu, Hawaii’s famous North Shore, surfing’s historic ‘Mecca’, from an unpopular and destructive hotel development.

2005 winner: Shaun Tomson (Surfer’s Code), Santa Barbara, California

Surf-related Non-profits and Organizations – Joint Winners

SurfAid International: Surfing-rooted medical charity working in the remote islands off Sumatra, Indonesia, where surf tourists are virtually the only outsiders, to bring basic public health and malaria prevention to thousands of villages. In the year of Boxing Day Tsunami SAI was first to help in many areas unknown by other agencies or authorities.

Surfzone Relief Organization: A de facto relief organization set up to bring immediate help to victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami in remote parts of Sumatra and its surrounding area. In many places, surfers such as those who pulled SRO together, were the only outsiders who knew the area well enough and cared enough about the residents to bring emergency aid when it was truly needed. SRO was notably successful in saving lives.

2005 winner: Surfers Against Sewage

Surf Apparel Companies

Patagonia: Without a doubt a leader not just in the surf industry but in the wider world of commerce as well. Sustainability is sewn into the fabric of the company and it clearly deserved unequivocal recognition as a guiding light.

2005 winner: Patagonia, Ventura, California, USA

Surfboard Manufacturing Companies

Ocean Green: A small company with big ideas, willing to experiment and take a risk in the search for a board made of something other than petrochemicals and non-organic compounds. This is now real growth area, especially since the demise of Clark Foam in 2006.

2005 winner: HomeBlown (US & UK) and Sustainable Composites/Movevirgo (Cornwall, UK)

Surf Accessory Companies

Betty Belts: Another small company aiming to make a difference with products and manufacturing systems that show real concern for the environment and company workers while making popular, beautiful fashion products.

2005 winner: Surfboard Pack, Los Gatos, California, USA

Surf-related Media and Publishing Entities

Eco-surf Project: A website that acts as a useful hub, offering news, ideas, information and contacts that might help make surfing a more environmentally sensible pursuit. It’s non-profit arm also offers grants for sustainable surf-related projects.

2005 winner: Worldsurfradio.com

Surf Travel Companies

BoardX: Travel pollutes and few companies in the industry are willing to admit this. BoardX confront it in their internal working systems and by imposing an “Earth Tax” on themselves, which in their first year alone raised 2,000 euros for surf-related charities.

2005 winner: Global Boarders, Cornwall, UK

Emerald Path Awards – Joint Winners

Glenn Hening: Visionary co-founder of the Surfrider Foundation, which works to protect coastlines, waves and beach access around the world. A committed campaigner for the environment for decades, an author of numerous books and reports and founder of the Groundswell Society, which aims to look at surfing in a creative, sustainable way.

Chris Hines: Another visionary, and co-founder of Surfer’s Against Sewage which, under his stewardship single-handedly forced the UK government to stop dumping raw sewage into coastal waters. As Sustainability Coordinator for the Eden Project Hines is also leading the charge in the search for environmentally sustainable surfboards.

2005 winner: Mark Massara & Matt George

See the nominees for the 2007 Green Wave Awards here.

Surfers have a reputation for being at one with Mother Nature,
but beneath our feet there’s always been that dirty little secret.
The boards we ride are toxic at every level of the production
process, rendered as they are from oil-based products. Eco-friendly
surfboards are few and far between, and often just a choice of the
“lesser of evils”.

A measure of this reality is due to the complex relationship
between the men and materials that birthed the surf industry. As the
sport evolved from pastime to industry, some watermen became
household names, synonymous with the lifestyle. Men who surfed,
who understood the interplay between equipment and waves, began
building lifestyle empires. Well-known shapers became celebrities.
Some became global brands while others developed loyal local
followings. In either case, their surfboards became status symbols,
hovering between utilitarian tools and magical talismen. They spoke
not only about how you rode, but of your standing in the line-up.
In the stratified world of surfing, owning a hand-made custom
board has always counted for something.

The resulting industry (large-scale and cottage) has supported
the lifestyles of thousands of people from board moguls down
to shop clerks. Unfortunately, most of them relied on Gordon
“Grubby” Clark to make their wet dreams come true. The founder
of Clark Foam worked with partner Hobie Alter to perfect
manufacturing techniques to mass-produce polyurethane foam
blanks that were cheap and readily available. Clark Foam’s ability
to produce large quantities of blanks to meet increasing demand
changed surfing forever, helping to turn an eccentric pastime
enjoyed by a few hundred beach bums into a cultural tsunami
pursued by millions.

Gordon Clark dominated for decades in a culture that regarded
changes to surfboard construction materials and methods with
suspicion – even as a threat to their way of life. So Clark Foam’s
sudden closure last December sent shockwaves through the global
surf community, immediately interrupting the supply of new
surfboards. Industry observers estimate Clark supplied up to 80%
of the blanks used in Southern California, shipping a thousand
blanks a day to shapers throughout the region and to distribution
centers around the world.

But according to Grubby’s “exit fax”, sent to his customers
on the day he shut his Orange County factory, three former Clark
Foam employees were on full Workers’ Compensation Disability,
“evidently for life,” thanks to health issues related to the blankmanufacturing
process, and he faced a third action from the
widow of an employee who had died of cancer. In fact, inhaling
TDI (toluene di-isocyanate) particles has been proven to cause
severe and chronic lung problems and is linked to cancer. Clark
openly admitted that “our official safety record as an employer is
not very good” and that “we do emit TDI into the air.”

Mark Massara, the Sierra Club’s Director of Coastal Programs
and an avid surfer, makes no secret of his antipathy towards Clark.
Massara sees Clark’s closing as an overreaction to government
regulation. “He either received extremely bad legal advice, or he
was saying ‘fuck you’ to the industry,” Massara said.

Since then, in a world suddenly bereft of Clark Foam,
commercial shapers have been reassessing their construction
options, exploring how to survive in a competitive climate that
favors economies of scale and mass-production over craftsmanship,
while creating goods that are environmentally friendly – not merely
to improve their balance sheets and avoid legal actions, but to meet
the demands of customers concerned over the health of the planet
and the people who build their surfboards, customers willing to pay
a premium for greener goods.

Such survival tactics are proving to be prescient. For example,
during the recent increase in oil prices, post-consumer products
and eco-labels have become all the more desirable. A combination
of rising fuel costs, stricter environmental regulations, and changing
consumer expectations are spurring the demand for greener
alternatives. Slowly, very slowly, people are kicking their old habits,
replacing oil-based clothes, surfboards, and gear with products
made from renewable resources.

Patagonia, the technical goods and apparel retailer, has long
managed to mix high ideals with good products, selling highend
gear to affluent consumers. Environmental stewardship
is more than just window dressing for Patagonia founder and
chairman Yvon Chouinard. His company has benefited from being
eco-friendly, generating $240 million in sales for 2005, while
committing 1% of its pre-tax revenue to environmental causes.

Over the past two decades they’ve donated some $22million to
environmental organizations. Point Blanks, Patagonia’s surfboard
division, was born out of Chouinard’s personal frustration with
fragile polyurethane boards. He enlisted his son Fletcher with the
task of building more durable boards: the longer a surfboard lasts,
the better for the environment.

“Initially we had no idea just how toxic surfboards were,”
Fletcher commented, who, through trial and error has mastered
the technique of shaping the polystyrene blanks now at the core of
Patagonia’s boards. Although Fletcher takes no credit for the shift
in the production process, he considers polystyrene blanks to
be a step in the right direction. Commonly found in packaging
materials, polystyrene is described as engineered air. Reputed
to be lighter and stronger than polyurethane, polystyrene is
recyclable whether in a solid or foam state, factors that can cut
down on waste during the shaping process.

Mark Brown, a Santa Barbara environmental consultant and
surfer, thinks polystyrene represents a small shift in the transition
to greener surfboards. There are risks and trade-offs involved in
these technologies, he writes by email. “Composite technologies,
which are at the root of all surfboards that mix materials in
bonded layers, have a checkered history.”

If noxious foam poses a health hazard to shapers, the toxic
fumes glassers inhale are a nightmare, presenting environmental
and potentially life-threatening health dangers. Workers exposed
to fumes during the glassing process run the risk of illness
ranging from lung disease to reproductive problems.

Fortunately, scientists and academics are rethinking
chemistry from the molecules up. Brown sees a promising future
for epoxies extracted from sugar cane. According to the USDA,
more than two million tons of sugar cane is produced annually,
making it cheap, easy to obtain, and a renewable source. Lab
studies indicate that sucrose-based epoxy is capable of remaining
stable even when exposed to sunlight and saltwater, and lacks
bisphenal-A, a chemical found in petroleum-based epoxy that’s
linked to sterility in mice and humans.

Envisioning a brighter, greener future is a full-time job
for Chris Hines, Sustainability Director for the Eden Project in
Cornwall, UK and co-founder of Surfers Against Sewage. “It’s
all too easy to say, ‘We’re not there yet so I’ll stick with my
old technologies.’ Any step forward is better than where we
are now,” he writes by email. Hines has no doubt that green
boards will be entering the line-up in the not-so-distant future,
envisioning a day when retired surfboards are suitable material
for garden mulch.

As ancient Hawaiian surfboards were carved from
hardwoods, Hines took a step back to the future in imagining a
new generation of surfboards fashioned from natural materials.
Dubbed ‘eco boards’, his design team at the Eden Project has
created earth-friendly prototypes fashioned from locally-grown
balsa wood, hemp and a plant-based resin, offering a glimpse of
a greener horizon.

Hines readily admits eco boards aren’t commercially
viable just yet. Balsa blanks cost roughly $400, significantly
boosting the cost of finished boards. And until balsa
outperforms petroleum-based surfboards, there won’t be too
many converts at the pro level either. But Hines sees balsa
blanks as an incremental step towards surfboards that are both
sustainable and meet the requirements of surfers who ride at
the highest level.

“Building a better board isn’t
a matter of scarcity, but a design
challenge,” he writes. “If we can blow
popcorn, we can blow (plant-based)
surfboard blanks. This is a far simpler
step than the history of flight, which in
less than a century went from no flight
to man on the moon.”

Hines believes a new generation of eco-friendly boards
will arise from shapers comfortable with risk and uncertainty,
comparing the challenge to big-wave riding. “Riding Mavericks
was once thought impossible until Jeff Clark summoned up the
courage to do it.”

Ben Cross, 34, is one independent shaper who embraces
Hines’ message. Building the next generation of eco boards in
Gloucestershire, England, Cross sees the demise of Clark Foam
as an opportunity for his fledgling company, Sannyasi (from the
Hindu term for mendicant), to grow. He’s experimenting with
a mix of MDI (methyl di-isocyanate) and plant-based foams and
natural resins to produce greener, lighter surfboards. While
Cross hasn’t renounced the use of plastic entirely, he’s seeking
out greener alternatives wherever possible. By combining
traditional construction techniques with modern materials, he’s
hoping to change the industry from within, taking surfing back
to its roots in the shaping shed.

Will the surf industry decide to clean up its act, or will it
continue to offshore the manufacturing process, shifting the
burden of environmental damage to developing nations? Will
we soon see broad acceptance of a new kind of surfboard, one
based on more sustainable principles? One thing is certain: the
search for a cleaner ride is underway, and that, considering our
history of complacency, is good news.

Enrique Gili is a freelance writer living in Southern California. He reports
regularly to the Path on environmental developments.

Illustration by Rick Rietveld

Sustainability is the name of the game. If it ain’t sustainable, it ain’t viable. That goes for global economic paradigms,
and it goes for agricultural practices in our local farmlands. It goes for sustainable relationships in our communities and
between employers and workers, and even between nations. And sustainability is the name of the game for surfing, too.
Hence our conversion to 100% post-consumer recycled paper and non-GMO soy inks, and these Green Wave Awards.

A simple “call for nominees” last autumn brought a surprisingly large wave of response. We were heartened and
humbled by the breadth and depth of the surf community’s commitment to positive change, and were faced with the
resulting challenge of sorting through your recommendations in seven categories and coming up with the winners.

Of course, in a game like this, we’re all winners. And all efforts towards sustainability are vitally important. In the end,
even with the assistance of the organization SustainAbility, our selections for Green Wave Awards are subjective. We’ve
done our best to balance the scale of the effect with the scale of the commitment, the scope of the effort with the purity
of the intent. All we can say for sure is that these are our best efforts at making tough choices, and that – because of the
efforts of each and every one of these nominees – we are all winners. – Alex Dick-Read & Drew Kampion

SURFBOARD MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

Not an easy one to judge mainly because surfboards aren’t, in any
way, eco-friendly. Not yet, anyway. One nominee, blank manufacturer
Homeblown, takes a step away from the industry norm by using MDI
(methylene diphenyl di-isocyanate) formulas, rather than the more
poisonous TDI (toluene di-isocyanate). This means that each blank
they produce pollutes the atmosphere less, and it makes Homeblown
a much safer environment for its workers than most blank-making operations.

Three nominees are using epoxy resins, instead of the more
common polyester resins, to make their boards. Epoxy offers several
advantages for board makers: extruded polystyrene foam blanks,
required in the epoxy board-building process, emit fewer VOCs
(volatile organic compounds) than the usual polyurethane blanks; the
resin itself emits roughly 75% fewer VOCs than the usual polyester
resin; and epoxy boards tend to be much stronger – proved by Point
Blanks’ Fletcher Chouinard after a year of testing different materials
– so the boards last longer. Fewer broken boards means less boards
get made and fewer end up on landfills.

All of these moves are praiseworthy. To some degree they all offer
boards that are slightly less damaging to the environment. But in the
end, all of the above represent ‘least worst’ options. MDI blanks are
still toxic, just less toxic than TDI blanks, and epoxy boards, though
tougher and slightly less damaging, are still polluters. So we settled
on a board maker that, while tiny in scale, demonstrates active effort
towards offering us not ‘least worst’ but ‘excellent’ options.

WINNER: OCEAN GREEN SURFBOARDS

“The ultimate goal of Ocean Green is to produce custom
surfboards … made entirely from natural materials.” Ocean Green,
in Cornwall, UK, stands out for the central role it gives to this
important quest. They “aim to replace each of the surfboard’s
three base materials with an environmentally-friendly alternative
that has equal or better qualities for the job.” So far, they can cover
two of the three bases. Their Ecofoil boards replace foam blanks
with sustainably-grown hollow balsa blanks, and all their boards
are glassed with organically-grown hemp cloth.

Balsa, if grown and harvested properly, is clearly a greener
surfboard core. Hemp is renewable, biodegradable and,
according to OG’s own material tests at the University of Bangor
in Wales, “hemp composite … is stronger weight for weight than a
fibreglass equivalent.”

So is the future hemp? Should we all be riding balsa? We don’t
claim to know, but it’s clear that these guys are offering a greener
alternative already, and, as important, they’re demonstrating
commitment to a radical, risky approach. These guys are tiny.
Imagine if surfing’s biggest companies put the equivalent effort
into producing boards “made entirely from natural materials”.

www.oceangreen.org

SURF TRAVEL COMPANIES

It’s hard to be green in this scene and while we have heard about
‘eco-surf camps’ in some parts of the world, none were nominated
this year. In fact with only two nominees the choice was limited and
we toyed with the idea of not giving out an award for this category. We
quite liked Errant Surf’s Grom Exchange programme but couldn’t see
that, by giving some of the UK’s top young surfers a free trip to one of
their destinations, they were really qualifying for a green award.

BoardX, a surf travel company in Belgium that caters for
windsurfers and kiters as well, was nominated on the basis that,
being an internet-based company, they use no paper for letters, or
envelopes, or paper invoices. They also say they only use Terra Wax
(surfboard wax made from natural products) in their surf camps. But
when we noticed that they are imposing an “Earth Tax” on themselves,
and saw that they had already given over €2,000 to the Mentawai
Islands health charity SurfAid, we decided they deserved some
recognition for their efforts.

WINNER: BOARDX

A surf-travel company that’s really doing something to help people
at the other end of the travel experience.

SURF-RELATED MEDIA AND PUBLISHING ENTITIES

This was another category that appeared to be fairly thin. We love the
surf-lifestyle magazine Stranger, which is printed on recycled paper,
but being local only to surfers in Cornwall, its impact on the surf world
as whole was deemed to be limited. Irishsurfer.com is many things,
and an admirable site, but didn’t press our ‘green’ buttons. In fact,
two stood out from the rest, one of which was Wetsand.com, the surf
forecasting site, online shop and information resource. Wetsand.com
deserves a mention not just for signing up to the 1% For The Planet
scheme (1% of profits go to environmental organizations) but also for
its role as an information resource for people wanting to learn more
about issues affecting the environment.

WINNER: ECOSURF PROJECT

Actually it is a non-profit organization, but its main
incarnation is as a website that works as an online
resource for anyone interested in, involved in and
concerned about making surfing less damaging to
the planet. We hope it will take off. You only need
to look at the popular board makers’ website, swaylocks.com to
see how useful these kind of online talking shops and information
exchanges can be. EcoSurf Project provides news, information
and links and as a nonprofit, it also has grants to offer for projects
within the industry that will help make us greener. Log on,
exchange knowledge, schemes and skills. You never know what
may emerge.

www.ecosurfproject.org

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INDIVIDUALS WHO SURF

It’s incredible, the remarkable efforts being made by so many surfers
to bring sustainable, green consciousness to the world nowadays!
Our list of nominated individuals is a most impressive testament to
the thousands of unsung heroes out there, and it has been extremely
challenging to reach a consensus on a winner. The very range
of their activities was daunting – from Donna Frye, the California
environmentalist and wife of surfer Skip Frye, who very nearly became
mayor of the City of San Diego; to Gary Young, the “green” bamboo
board pioneer, who’s been at it for years; to Javier Fernandez Urbana,
the Peruvian publisher and eco-campaigner; to Russ Lesser, Body
Glove’s tireless worker for marine conservation; to women’s legend,
Linda Benson, who’s passing on her wisdom to the next generations;
to Malibu great, Bob Purvey, who’s become an activist clean-water
campaigner and filmmaker … the list is virtually endless, and that’s
the good news. The tough news is that there could only be one Green
Wave Award in this category.

WINNER: BLAKE McELHENY

Oahu’s so-called Seven-Mile
Miracle is one of surfing’s
great world resources; it’s
our Yosemite, perhaps
surfing’s greatest World
Park. Yet for years it has
been threatened with
development. Now, thanks
to a consortium of private
and government resources,
mobilized and spearheaded
by the North Shore
Community Land Trust, it
looks like the 1,129-acre
Pupukea-Paumalu property
(the green valleys and bluffs you see in all those Pipeline photos)
will become state and county parkland. As president of the NSCLT
and a tireless champion of this effort, attorney and lifetime surfer
Blake McElheny has earned our Individual Green Wave Award.

McElheny thinks the award should go to Larry McElheny (his
dad) and North Shore patriarch Peter Cole, who rallied residents
to the defence when the owners, Obayashi Corporation (which
purchased the land in 1974) unveiled plans for luxury residential
subdivisions in the 1980s.

Blake also thinks this award should go to Jack Johnson, and
we have to admit that Jack and his wife Kim certainly deserve it
– for all their phenomenal work via their Kokua Hawaii Foundation,
plus Jack’s soulful surf films and music. Touring in Japan last
year, Johnson took time out to call on the folks at Obayashi Corp.
to pitch the idea of selling the property to a coalition assembled
by the NSCLT (including the City and County of Honolulu, the
State of Hawaii, the US Department of Defence, the US Army
Garrison Hawaii, private contributors Brushfire Records, the
Freeman Foundation, Sole International Corp., the Quiksilver
Foundation, and Patagonia, and surfers like Kelly Slater). He
explained, among other things, that both Pupukea and Paumalu
have long been sacred lands of the Hawaiians, and they certainly
are for the surfing community.

For labouring persistently over the past decade to ensure that
the sacred valleys and ridges above Sunset Beach and Pipeline
are not developed, we think this award should most deservedly
go to Blake McElheny.

SURF-RELATED NONPROFIT ORGANISATIONS

How can fantastic organizations like Wildcoast, Surfers Healing,
SANE and Surfers Against Sewage, be compared, measured against
each other? It’s ridiculous to distinguish between such fine works,
but heartening to know that nominees in this category are generally
not in it for the accolades. Most individuals who participate in these
organizations, and thereby the bodies themselves, are driven from
the heart.

In the end we settled on two groups that crystallized around
events in the last 18 months. In this case, helping people in a part
of the world that we surfers often tend to see in one, paradisaical
dimension: Indonesia. We think these two spontaneous acts of
compassion, leading to effective, life-saving action, best sum up
what can be done, at a human level or a wider environmental level,
when surfers really give a damn.

JOINT WINNERS: SURFAID INTERNATIONAL (SAI) and SURFZONE RELIEF OPORATION (SRO)

Five years ago, Dr Dave Jenkins gave a damn when he saw children
dying from preventable diseases only yards from luxury surf charter
yachts in the Mentawai Islands, so he set up a healthcare network
in the area, which has since saved countless lives. After the Boxing
Day tsunami in 2004, his organization became one of the most
effective groups operating in an area considered “remote” by the
rest of the aid agencies, and admirably re-deployed its staff, skills
and cultural knowledge to the needs of the day. SAI continues
to expand its reach in the islands off Sumatra, not just giving
out medicines and mosquito nets, but also treating, diagnosing,
training local medics and educating people about health issues.
Thousands of people have benefited, because Dr Dave gave a
damn.

www.surfaidinternational.org

In 2005, Matt
George and fellow
Californian Bill
Sharp set up an
aid organization on
the spot when they
found themselves
stuck in Padang
and snagged
in bureaucracy
after the tsunami.
They pulled out
credit cards,
pulled together
influential surf industry contacts and skilled people in the region,
they bought a boat, medicines and food, and sourced appropriate
equipment like fishing canoes from the places they’d come to
know and love in their previous surf travels. In the end their instant
aid organization saved countless lives, and helped numerous
families to build new ones. They acted fast again after Hurricane
Katrina, heading to flooded New Orleans to help pull out the living
and the dead. And again, when a massive earthquake struck
Pakistan in 2005 – Pakistan? There’s not even any surf there!
– they lobbied for money and equipment and headed to the heart
of the disaster to help. We haven’t heard from Matt George since
February, when he was on his way back to Islamabad.

www.surfzonerelief.org

SURF APPAREL COMPANIES

More and more surf-based companies are dedicating resources
to “green” efforts (and to “sustainability” in a broader sense), and
the nominees in this category are stellar examples. The Quiksilver
Crossing, with its global ReefCheck program, has made profound
contributions to public awareness, giving what might have been
merely an indulgent media-promotions vehicle legitimate scientific
value. In Santa Cruz, the O’Neill Sea Odyssey has led over 25,000
young students toward an understanding that the ocean is alive and
its health vital to all of us. Simple’s fanciful foray into the realm of its
Green Toe collection has boosted earth-friendly consciousness in a
major way. And so on … many great efforts, all worthy … and we’re
grateful for all of them.

WINNER: PATAGONIA

When all is said and done, Yvon Chouinard’s rock-steady and
enduring commitment to the environment and sustainability
remains unassailable. Lifetime-guaranteed products, 100%
organic cotton clothes since 1996, boardshorts and jackets
made from recycled plastic bottles, less toxic and more durable
surfboards since 1997, instigators of the 1% For The Planet
movement, and the 2005 publication of YC’s Let My People
Go Surfing, a groundbreaking textbook for more sustainable
business practices … What can you say? Patagonia remains the
benchmark, and not only for the surf industry.

www.patagonia.com

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SURF ACCESSORY COMPANIES

Not a lot of entries in this category, despite the fact there’s been a
major green shift in consciousness there as well. We predict a big fat
listing next year. Nonetheless, our nominees this year were worthy.
The Loose Fit Surf Shop in Devon aims to be a working model of
everything a sustainable surf shop ought to be – watch out for them
next year. Sambazon (the miracle drink of several notable pro surfers)
is as much a sports product as it is an investment in sustainable
Amazon harvesting. And Solar Cookers International is holding a
major key to both human health and rainforest preservation – cheap
and fuel-less sterilization and eating.

www.solarcookers.org

WINNER: BETTY BELTS

A small operation that’s trying to make a difference at the source,
Betty Belts’ fabric dyers are one of the very few in Bali who use
a self-built septic system that reduces greatly their toxic outflow
into the river. Now this small company is working to rein in river
pollution by helping to install septic systems for other dyers in
order to extract harmful elements from the natural and chemical
dyes used in the cottage industries ubiquitous in Indonesia
and many other craft-oriented societies. “We are initiating the
construction of a septic system for one particularly visible and
needy batiker, [plus distributing] a simple blueprint and efforts to
get the word out,” says Donna von Hoesslin, who is working to
raise funds for the project. “There is no law requiring these people
to have any form of outflow regulation into the river,” she says, “so
it needs attention.” Indeed.

www.bettybelts.com

EMERALD PATH AWARD

Too many of the nominees quite plainly deserve the overall award, and we toyed with several different criteria for eeking
out a single winner. In the end we went for a long-term view and found two standouts, both nominees in the Individuals
category. These two men, separated by oceans but bound by them, too, seemed to show a certain synergy in their paths.

Both dedicated to the ocean, some years ago they found themselves furious at its abuse. Both channelled their outrage so
effectively that it couldn’t be ignored – by their fellow surfers, by the abusers, and by lawmakers. They made stuff happen like
no one has since, and between them they spawned the most important and effective guardian organizations that surfers and
beach-users have to this day. But it didn’t stop there. Both of these men are still contributing to surfing’s culture in important,
intelligent and radical ways, retaining a respectable independence and looking to a future that benefits us all, and of course,
our ocean environment. In the end, it made complete sense to name these two as winners, both for their work in the past,
and their work towards our future.

WINNERS:GLENN HENING and CHRIS HINES

GLENN HENING: No other surfer has done as much to preserve surf spots, guarantee
access to the waves, and ensure that there’s clean water when you get there. In fact, the
very concept of these Green Wave Awards would not exist without Glenn Hening.

Co-founder of the Surfrider Foundation in 1984 and founder of the Groundswell Society in
2001, Hening has single-mindedly coerced surfers into standing up for themselves and the
higher values often buried somewhere within. To top it off, in 2005, the Oxnard, California
surfer published his blockbuster surf novel, Waves of Warning, an epic cautionary tale
that projects current trends into a dangerous future, while revealing Hening’s masterful
understanding of surfing at all levels, from the ancient traditions to corporate boardrooms.
No one’s contributions to sustaining surfing have been greater.

“It was a surprise and an honor to be nominated for this award, but I never thought
I’d win it,” Hening confessed as we were going to press. “There are so many people
around the world who are working hard every day in the name of surfing, the surfing world
that we are leaving to our children. I just happened to be lucky enough to have the time,
resources, and energy to hold up my end of the bargain – as one blessed with a lifetime
of receiving Mother Ocean’s greatest gift: the feeling that only a surfer knows.

“My sincere congratulations to Chris Hines,” Hening continued. “It’s an honor to share
the award with him. And I’ll dedicate my half of the Award to the true spirit of sharing the
stoke of surfing – the true meaning of the word ‘Aloha’ that Duke Kahanamoku taught us
– and to Tom Pratte, who taught us what it really takes to protect something as precious
as the wonderful world of riding waves.”

CHRIS HINES: In 1990, in the tiny Cornish village of St. Agnes, there was outrage over
the outflows. The surfers were fed up with surfing in raw shit, so Surfers Against Sewage
was born. The positive charge at its core was Chris Hines, its director for the next ten
years. His media savvy was notorious and SAS was soon almost as widely known as
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. But beyond its famous stunts with wetsuits and gas
masks, SAS became one of the most effective environmental campaign groups in the UK
thanks to Hines’ total command of his brief, his dedication to common sense and decency
in the face of greed, bureaucracy and politicking. He was David against any number of
Goliaths – private water companies, local governments, national government, European
bureaucrats – and his aim was consistently true. By the time he left SAS in 2000, laws had
been changed and the raw shit had gone. It wasn’t just surfers who benefited from the
disproportionate momentum Hines had built up through SAS, but millions of beachgoers.

Today, as Sustainability Director at the Eden Project, Hines has tapped into Eden’s
significant resources to develop the “eco-boards”, surfboards made entirely of natural
materials. The eco-boards, an ongoing research project, are a “challenge” to our own
industry and beyond. Through Eden’s mainstream consultancy work they’re being used
to inspire big industry to rethink all kinds of toxic manufacturing processes. Again, thanks
to Hines’ surf-based vision, a cleaner, greener future actually looks possible.

“Surfing can change the world,” Hines said when told he’d won this award. “We all
have to accept that collectively we are an incredibly strong body. We are a huge, powerful
tribe. We just need to realize it. And it’s worth remembering what John Paul Getty said
when he was asked in an interview what was the best thing he’d ever done in his life.
He said it was when he was a teenager, when he and his friends picked up surfboards,
paddled out and rode the waves. This was an old man, who’d been the richest man in
the world and done whatever he wanted, and surfing was better than all of it.”

Thanks to Rick Rietveld for providing the artwork for our winners. Thanks too to everyone who nominated and partook
in this year’s award. Nominations for the 2nd Annual GWA (for 2006) end Jan 15 2007.

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