Not only has the price of gas affected mainstream America, its hit surfers especially hard. What most people don't realize is that for all our environmental causes and leanings, the majority of surf gear is petroleum based. Yes, it's a dichotomy we constantly struggle with. But what does this mean beyond the obvious? For starters, the price of a surfboard has almost doubled in many markets over the last year or so. The same goes for wetsuits? Even a simple 1mm top will cost you about $85, when just a short time ago one could be had for the price of a Beefy T.
The upside of our current petroleum woes is that many companies are increasingly looking for more environmental ways to produce surf products. Patagonia, long a leader in "earth friendly" methods has a non-petroleum based wetsuit and features non-"PU" foam cores in their boards. Other companies are also starting to use natural products like bamboo and hemp cloth in their board manufacturing. And let's not forget SurfTech; they might be petro-based, but they're super durable which means they will last a lot longer than a PU board. It's only a matter of time before the cash-strapped surfer has to contemplate scoring a SurfTech version from their favorite shaper simply due to good economic sense.
Surfers are a persnickety bunch and many of us loathe change even if it's for the greater good. However, when you factor economics and environmental issues into the mix, we have to take a hard look at alternatives that will help the environment in the long run. Obviously that's not a bad thing because it should save us a few bucks so we can buy some gas to get us to the lineup.
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