Eden Project presents Best of British Surfing this summer
The Eden Project is slipping on the baggies and waxing up the boards this summer to present the very best of British surfing. The home of the world’s biggest greenhouses has teamed up with the British Surfing Museum to tell the compelling history of riding the waves from Cornwall to Caithness.
The Full Circle Surf Show running from July 1 to August 31 will also illustrate how surf technology has performed an amazing about turn and how modern boards are increasingly aping the technology and materials of their forebears. The original Hawaiian boards of 200 years ago were made from native trees such as the koa and wili wili. Then in the 1950s came the advent of boards made of environmentally damaging petrochemicals.
Now, riding the crest of the technological wave, is the Eden Eco Board which is made from balsa wood and is laminated in hemp and a plant based resin. The Eco Board has much more in common with its Pacific ancestors than the modern fibreglass and petrochemical based versions.
Complementing the Eco Board will be rare slices of surf history such as a Hawaiian koa wood plank, home-made hollow wooden longboards from the West Country and classic British surfboards from the 1960s through to the 1980s, all of which will be on display in Eden’s Gallery.
Chris Hines, Eden’s Sustainability Director and a keen surfer, said: “For anyone bitten by the surfing bug, this is the must-see show of summer 05. It traces UK surfing from its earliest royal roots through to its modern role as a multi-million pound business and the country’s coolest sport.
“The show follows British surfing from Captain Cook’s first visit to Hawaii over 200 years ago to the Hawaiian princess who lived here in 1892 through the evolution of boards from solid wood to balsa to the high performance plastics of today. Highly informative and visually stunning, the show will appeal to anyone with neoprene skin and salt water in their veins.
“We are just 18 miles from Newquay, widely regarded as the surfing capital of Europe, so if the tide’s too high, the waves are flat, the wind is onshore or you’re just plain surfed out and fancy a slice of surfing history as well as a look at the stunning Eden Project, then catch Full Circle.”
Despite surfers’ unique link with nature through their wave riding, until recently little thought was given to the environmental effect board building had on the environment.
Chris, who was a founder of the pressure group Surfers Against Sewage, said: “While board design in terms of shape and performance has come on in leaps and bounds since the 1950s, little has changed in the way the boards are manufactured. Many surfers pride themselves on protecting the sea and natural environment, but the vast majority still ride some of the most toxic pieces of sports equipment on earth.”
Chris added: “We are very proud of our Eco Board. In fact, it is so environmentally friendly that at the end of its life we could break it up and feed it to our new composter. You certainly can’t do that with a fibreglass board. This fits perfectly with our Waste Neutral philosophy.”
Eden is also hoping that the iconic imagery of the Eco Board will stimulate other industries, including those who use surfing to sell their wares, to look at the materials and processes involved in their manufacture and disposal.
Source: Global Surf News
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