Plastics ride the wave

Surfing: a centuries-old sport at the Olympic Games
 

Well before surfing was recognised as an Olympic discipline by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku – the father of modern surfing and a gold medal swimmer at the 1912 and 1920 Olympic Games — had urged the IOC to bring surfing to the Olympics without much success.

Nearly a century later in 1994, Fernando Aguerre, President of the International Surfing Association, again took up the torch, but still to no avail. Surfers would have to continue waiting for Olympic representation.

The sport finally saw a major breakthrough by being invited to join the Tokyo Games in 2020, but was practically only included for demonstration.

Yet, everything changes this year in Paris – or more precisely in Tahiti. Finally, the popular, photogenic, and widely practised sport has finally been recognised by the Olympic Committee. Certainly a long wait, but the one hundred-year delay makes the victory all the sweeter!

The Paris Olympic Games are hosting a surfing event for the first time!

Shortboarding in the big league
 

While there are many great surfing spots across France’s extensive coastlines, officials ultimately chose one of the most legendary waves in the world at Teahupo’o, Tahiti for this year’s competition.  

This year’s events will take the classic form of competition, which is essentially that  athletes perform a series of tricks and then are rated according to the level of difficulty and type of tricks performed. Speed, power and glide skills are also assessed by the judges.

While the longboard is arguably more traditional, the IOC has chosen the shortboard as the official competition board for its fast and easy to handle nature. While undoubtedly more exciting to watch, the shortboard’s buoyancy is reduced by its smaller size. As a result, balancing becomes more challenging. This lack of stability is overcome by speed, but to reach high levels, you need powerful waves — not the easiest to tame.

Invented in 1967 by an Australian shaper who, seeing the amazing tricks performed by one of his young customers, thought a shortened board could better express his own natural talent. Until then, all boards were three metres long, compared with just under two metres for a shortboard.

The shortboard has been chosen for the Paris Olympics

Wood gives way to polymers for exceptional performance

The first surfboards were crude wooden planks, roughly carved as shown here in Hawaii at the end of the 19th century.

As in most sports, equipment plays an integral part in any athlete’s feats. With regard to surfing, materials play a crucial role and have evolved considerably since the first wooden boards. Otherwise, the sport’s fundamentals have essentially remained the same for almost 250 years.   First discovered by the West during James Cook’s 1769 and 1778 voyages to the archipelago of Tahiti and islands of Hawaii, locals there were seen gliding along waves using a simple wooden board carved from a log.

The sport later emerged from anonymity following the annexation of Hawaii by the United States at the end of the 19th century. Soon after, the first Hawaiian surfers took to the Californian coast to show off their skills. Spectacular and fun, surfing naturally took hold of young, post-war Californians (and Australians), becoming a social phenomenon and even a way of life.   As the sport’s popularity grew, hand-cut wood boards were gradually replaced by polymer-based solutions that were much lighter, easier to cut and, above all, quicker to process. As board production became increasingly industrialised, the first mass-produced boards began flying off the assembly line.

Surfing became an "art of living", particularly in California in the 1960s.

 While mass production is still important today, many surfers prefer artisanal surfboards that have been designed especially for them and their style. These craftsmen are known as “shapers”, and can be found in large numbers near popular surfing spots.

The shapers, king of the rockers

Among the most famous shapers is Gorka Rougé, a designer, manufacturer, and surfer who learned and still works with his father today.

“When you look at it closely, a surfboard is a fairly basic object. Its structure (its core) is made of polyurethane (PU) foam or expanded polystyrene (EPS). To increase rigidity, a wooden batten can be added: the stringer. Put like that, it sounds simple enough, but the art of the shaper is to give the board the right shape, because it is really hand-sculpted from a polymer parallelepiped,” explains Gorka.   When we talk about the rocker (the curve), the nose (the point of the front of the board), the tail (curve at the back), the outline (the silhouette), it becomes clear that surf jargon is as rich as all the possible shapes.

Gorka and Eric Rougé, Shapers from father to son, well known to surf enthusiasts in Biarritz, one of Europe's leading surfing centres.

 The final step is for the board to be “glazed,” i.e., encapsulated in a composite of glass or even flax or carbon fibres and a polyester or epoxy resin.

Four polymers for dozens of possibilities

At the end of the day, choosing the right surfboard comes down to selecting the “right” polymer out of just four options. While there is no such thing as a miracle recipe, the shaper must first and foremost choose the right material based on any customer’s expectations.

“I am almost tempted to say that it is even less complicated than that. Only the choice of core material is important, and possibly that of the fibre that gives the rigidity. The reason is simple: we only apply epoxy resin to polystyrene sheets because PU does not support it chemically. If we opt for PU, we will have to choose a polyester resin.

A surfboard made by hand and entirely sculpted by hand. Each model is unique to meet the expectations of its user.

The big difference between PU and EPS is their density. PU weighs around 50 kg/m³, compared with 15 kg to 30 kg for EPS.Polystyrene therefore offers a wider range of densities. Some people think that a lightweight board will float better. This is not entirely untrue, but the most experienced surfers rarely look for buoyancy.   They prefer boards that are denser and therefore stiffer so that they can transmit body movements better, for example when changing direction quickly. That said, a light board is interesting in small waves where speed will logically be of less importance. This type of board has less drag, so it is easier to maintain the speed needed to perform beautiful tricks.

Surprising as it may seem, the difference in weight between the different surfboards is not enormous, because the stratification (resin + fibres) will be more substantial on an EPS board than on a PU board.

After glazing (encasing in fibre and resin), it's time to decorate to complete the personalisation..

The choice of the right material therefore depends exclusively on whether the surfer is targeting big or small waves. There are no exact rules, but overall, PU boards are fairly versatile but also more fragile as they are more sensitive to impact and pressure. Dents and cracks are not an uncommon occurrence. The nature of the water is also important (salinity, temperature…) because materials can react differently.   This is what the art of the shaper is all about, and it is often secrets that we do not want to divulge […]”.

Polymers to avoid drifting away

While the board is the most obvious aspect of the total surfboard, there’s one last crucial element: the fin!

Contrary to its appearance, it is not just a curved piece of plastic. The size, shape and rigidity of the fin have a direct influence on a board’s behaviour. Entry-level models are usually made of polyamide and fibreglass. Their flexibility means they are forgiving of many mistakes, which is why they are so common on beginner boards.

Other designs may be made of a foam or honeycomb structure, often in polyurethane, and reinforced with glass or carbon fibre and polyester resin or, depending on the nature of the core, epoxy. While there are plenty of options on the market, some shapers go the extra mile and create their fins from scratch, making each board 100% customised.

While the surfboard has a rich, diverse history, surprisingly few materials are needed for production. Yet, each board has its own specific characteristics. Whether more or less rigid, heavier or lighter, a shaper’s expertise is the only way to ensure a surfer is riding shape and length ideal for them.

Since surfing happily exists in a wide variety of environments, it is easy to understand why professional surfers keep several boards at their disposal. Whether they’re out riding to win or just have fun, none of today’s surfboards would be possible without the development of polymers.

The drifts play a very important role, which is why they are sometimes made to measure.