Home Blown Surf Blanks and Foam Systems

Surfers are generally considered to be a fairly eco-conscious group of people, but ever since we stopped riding wooden longboards we have been caught in the middle of a frustrating catch 22. How can such an environmentally conscious group of people, who spend so much of their time enjoying the pleasures of nature, be so dependent upon such toxic chemicals, like polyester resin and polyurethane foam, to commune with nature? There may finally be a solution to that bothersome question.
Since February 2007, San Diego based Home Blown Surf Blanks and Foam Systems has been producing high quality MDI surfboard blanks using close to 50 percent organic matter.
You heard right, they are making surfboards out of plants, similar to the grass you might find on your front lawn. They don’t use just any old plants though. Specifically, they use 100 percent organically grown domestic soy polyols, made from soybeans. No pesticides, rainforest destruction or genetic engineering here, just good clean soybeans.
According to the Home Blown website, using Biofoam results in 36 percent less greenhouse gas emissions, 61 percent reduction in non-renewable energy use and a 23 percent reduction in total energy demand.
Sure that’s great, but do they work?
“Right now the Biofoam blanks we’re making are as good as anything on the market, if not better than a lot of stuff,” Home Blown’s managing director Ned McMahon said. “They’re MDI based, and they have a tight cell structure and uniform density.” Which, for all you non-techies out there, means they shape well, they’re hard and they don’t absorb a lot of water.
Sounds swell, but you’re gonna have to pay out the wazoo for them, right? Wrong.
“There’s no premium on Biofoam,” McMahon said. “It’s the same price we sell our white foam for.” That would be around $48 for their 6’2” blank and $130 for their 10’5” blank, which is comparable to other blanks on the market.
The performance is on par with conventional polyurethane foams as well. Biofoam has been tested by professional surfers like Rob Machado, Kelly Slater, the Malloys, Tim Curran, and Eli Mirandon.
“It was a solid board, and it felt like a PU,” Mirandon said. “It had a nice flotation and a good feel.”
The cell structure of Biofoam is approximately 1000 times finer than conventional TDI (read heavily polluting) polyurethane foam, which makes it harder and up to 10 times more water resistant.  
Biofoam shapes similar to PU foam too, and is being used by shapers and companies such as Rich Pavel, …Lost, Jeff Bushman, Tudor Surfboards, Tom Neilson and Dave Parmenter, among others.  
Xanadu, who has been shaping for over 30 years and shapes out of Encinitas, California, has been working with Biofoam since this spring. “It’s easier to shape than most of the foams out there,” Xanadu said. So far, he has gotten positive feedback on the Biofoam boards he’s shaped, and says the only difference between a Biofoam blank and a PU blank is that the Biofoam has a yellowish color, and is a little heavier. “There’s definitely going to be a future in Biofoam,” he said. “More people and more companies are going to get involved with Biofoam.”
For more information on Biofoam and other green projects visit Home Blown’s website at www.HomeBlownUS.com.