ECO BOARD
NAT FOX FINDS OUT HOW
TO MAKE AN ECO BOARD,
CREATING A LITTLE BIT OF
ECO OCEAN MAGIC.
Had I ever made a surfboard? Nope. Had I ever created
something from marine litter? Nope.
However, in my sustainability studies, I’d been given
a list of skills to work towards; and when my friend Mike
hooked me up with an intern position at a luxury resort
in the Maldives, I took it as an opportunity to put these
new skills into practice. So I began my research, and
through email correspondence with the Soneva Fushi
Management in the Maldives, my deadline was set: I
would have just three weeks to construct a surfboard
out of recycled Styrofoam.
Luckily, my friend Gary McNeil is an Aussie-based
shaper, renowned for making Dave Rastovich’s eco
boards, so he was my fi rst port of call. Surfboards are
notoriously toxic, yet Gary’s are built with sustainability
in mind and he’s part of the Sustainable Surf Eco
board scheme (a certifi cation that allows consumers
and production to work with tangible, environmental
goals) using bio foam, hemp cloth and bio resin. With
a renewed vision and positivity that I could do this, I
started to prepare for my trip.
To get to my destination in the Maldives, I jumped on
a small plane out of Male to Hivanuyshi in the Baa Atoll,
then after another boat ride I was fi nally on the island
of Soneva and wide-eyed at the picturesque setting I’d
arrived in. I was shown to where I’d be working at the
Eco Centro for Soneva’s ‘Waste to Wealth’ programme.
Gordon Jackson was the brains behind setting up a
complex system of recycling and repurposing green
waste, from turning wood into charcoal, re-using
coconut oil, paper, cardboard and aluminium, and
melting down glass. Plastic is completely banned on the
island, but any bottles that do end up there are used in
Gordon’s fungi farm, a side project that takes place in
one of the restaurants’ vegetable garden. I was blown
away by the effi ciency of how they recycle 90% of the
island’s waste, and have a goal to reach zero waste
before long.
I had put together a presentation of my fi ndings,
which seemed to indicate to the Soneva management
that I had some idea about what I was doing. They
promised to procure me some resin as it was used
to fi x a lot of the boats, but the rest of the materials I
would need to source myself. The main body of the
surfboard would be Styrofoam fi sh boxes, as these
were impossible to recycle due to hygiene purposes.
Sometimes they would get crushed and added to
concrete blocks, but new building was limited and they
had been stacking up in Eco Centro for months.
My board shaping angels came in the form of Rio and
Rocky, two young locals who worked in The Den – the
kids area. They had used Styrofoam to shape an array of
models from manta rays to planes, and they assisted in
copying my wooden handplane into a Styrofoam version.
They were true artists and their commitment to their
work inspired me. A few days later, with some PVA glue
and homemade clamps, the Styrofoam lids were stuck
together to create the surfboard blank, which was then
sanded. I also managed to obtain some fi breglass as a
new library was being built and the workers were happy
to gift me a couple of sheets – it wasn’t the usual cloth
used in surfboard making, but it would do! A stringer
was donated from waste wood in the wood shop, cut
to size and glued into position – it was starting to take
shape.
There was a lot of down time during the board making
process, because things took so long to happen. So it
was the perfect opportunity to checkout potential waves
and the magical underwater life, as well as get involved
in local community projects. Soneva is hemmed by reef
and the waves are usually fl at during the time of my visit.
Yet, for some reason, pretty much every day for the next
three weeks, freak waves would turn up at high tide.
Thanks to this magical swell I surfed most days and was
able to refresh and refocus myself whilst working long
hours in the boiling hot Eco Centro workshop.
Finally, I managed to glass the board entirely, fi x in the
wooden fi ns and create the ‘Rashu’ logo on the deck,
which took two long days. But the board was fi nished
and my time had come to an end on Soneva. Sadly I
never got to surf the board, which remains on the island
as a prototype – an example of what can be done
with seemingly useless waste material. The vision is to
make more surfable boards in this way, so that one-day
Maldivian locals can experience the privilege of surfi ng
their own waves without paying extortionate prices for a
surfboard.
This has been a story of not only believing in myself
and the power of mentorship, but also learning the true
value of waste – which can always be redefi ned with
creativity and determination, and a little splash of ocean
magic.