1% For The Planet

42 Surfboards is a member of 1% for the Planet. Every year we choose a direction to reinvest a portion of our sales in the world around around us. This year we have chosen three groups to donate almost 6% of our sales to.

Locally, we are donating almost 2% of our sales to The Hood River Waterfront Park. This is a park that we fought hard and long to get and now it is exciting to actually see it being built.
In the water, we are supporting The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and The Surfrider Foundation with almost 2% of our sales going to each of these groups. These are two groups that we could not be more proud to support.We look forward to our continued success and growth, primarily so we can reinvest our sales in organizations like these.

Lars and the 42 Crew
42 Surfboards

Surfers and Sea Shepherd Take Action for Dolphins

Each year from October through March, in small towns across Japan, thousands of dolphins and small whales are confined and brutally killed. These slaughters take place in fishing towns including Taiji, Iki, Ito, Futo and Izu. During those months, Japanese fishermen herd whole families and pods of dolphins, porpoises and small whales into shallow bays and mercilessly hack them to death. Most of these small cetaceans are sold as meat in restaurants and stores, while some are destined for a life in captivity.

In addition to the small cetaceans being massacred on the beaches, Japan kills approximately 100,000 more marine mammals (primarily Dall’s porpoises and also dolphins) in its fishing industry. This killing must stop!

Sea Shepherd has been in the forefront of fighting against the slaughter of dolphins, whales and all marine wildlife for over 25 years, and we are committed to ending the barbaric and senseless slaughters in Taiji and other villages in Japan.

Sea Shepherd is currently in Osaka, Japan working with the international surfing community's efforts to stop the annual dolphin slaughter that claims more than 25,000 intelligent and innocent lives every year in Taiji and adjacent seaside towns and villages. Pro Surfer Dave Rastovich is a leading advocate for the plight of these animals and refers to as dolphins as "the original surfers." He has called on the surfing community to take a look at what's going on. Rasta's group, Surfers for Cetaceans, along with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Save the Waves, Minds in the Water, and The Whaleman Foundation joined in an action in Taiji, Japan on October 27. In one of the bays where thousands of dolphins are killed, 22 people with surfboards and wet suits paddled into the water and formed a prayer circle to honor their memory. After the surfers returned to shore the police asked for passports and took photos of everybody that was there.

The police had known for weeks that a plan was in the works to oppose the killing of the Taiji dolphins. It so happens that no dolphins were being killed during this time because the Japanese were afraid of being exposed. Rastovich was able to meet with some local community members and discuss the high mercury level in the dolphin meat. The action raised the noise level and opened people's minds. Sea Shepherd's presence puts the dolphin killers on notice that we will not rest until the slaughter stops. This is another episode in a battle to save the world's cetaceans.

For more information on Sea Shepherd's campaign to oppose the dolphin slaughter visit their Taiji Campaign homepage.

Keep on paddling

This winter has been exceptional for big waves. I love being out in the water when it is big. I love riding big waves, of course, but I also love the physical metaphor that riding big waves offers for life.

You can never give up until its really over. The drop. The barrel. The floater. The air. The paddle out. The injury. Getting sucked out the rip. Swimming in. The double wave hold-down. The leash tied around the coral head. The board sucked down a hole in the jetty. The buddy getting bashed into the cliff. The guy lifeless on the beach. The school work. The house work. Raising good kids. The schedule that you just can’t seem to pull together.

Giving up means its over. Giving up means that this is how it is. How it ends. Don’t let that happen.

Keep on paddling!

And keep on riding some beautiful big waves. In life and on the water.

Lars and the 42 Crew
42 Surfboards

From 360 Guide

"42 surfboards is one of the rare surfboard creators that make surfboards out of wood. Hollow, retro wooden beauties that can last a lifetime. Wood was the choice material for surfboards for a long long time and in recent times it looks like it made at least a little comeback. The guy behind wooden surfboards from 42 surfboards is Lars Bergström. You can catch an interview with him at Phoresia.org or you can go straight to his blog where he follows the making of every wooden surfboard they make. There are 21 more woodies to be made this year.

Taken from the Lars Bergström interview: "I have no clue what the volumes of our boards are. Our shapes are typically a little thicker with a little fuller rail than many of the other boards that you see in the water. This has less to do with the fact that we shape in wood and more to do with the idea that I like to build cheaters. Cheaters are boards that ride so well and so easy and grab you so many waves, that you feel like you are cheating. The rest of the world can feel like they are “progressing” by sitting neck deep in the lineup on their quad-fin skimboard. Don’t think I am not stoked to have them out there – I use that poor guy as my bouy marker so I know where to sit when I come back from my 50th wave of the session. "

How much? This might not be the first question from the wood surfboard buyer because for sure price can't be his motivation :) but still, with January 1st 42 surfboards prices will be $1999 for their 100% wood shortboards and $2999 for their 100% wood longboards.

As one might expect, people building wood surfboards care about their environment so another cool thing we found on their blog is the fact that besides donating to the Surfrider Foundation, The Sea Shepherd Society, and belonging to 1% for the Planet, in 2008 they are planting hundreds of trees for every one they turn into surfboards. Good luck."

From Surfline.com

"There is a revolution going on in the surfing world. In the midst of industry-wide panic about globalization and the impact that thousands of cheap "pop-out" surfboards being mass-produced by toy factories in Thailand, China and Vietnam will have on the cottage industry of surfboard building, many surfers have begun to buy hand-made surfboards closer to home.

At 42 Surfboards, one of the world's leading builders of traditional chambered wood surfboards, hand-shaping is alive and well. And it is being supported by customers excited to pay a bit more for one of the finest hand-crafted surfboards in the world. Because, while many surfers are indeed just looking for the cheapest thrill possible, for many others their surfboard matters. These surfers care about who shapes their surfboard. They care about what their surfboard is made of. And they care about how long their surfboard will last.

At www.42surfboards.com, you can see some of the wood fish, retro rounded pins, diamond tails, single fins, longboards, and big-wave guns that 42 Surfboards has been shaping without even getting covered in wood chips and sawdust.

And at www.42surfboards.blogspot.com, you can see some of Lars Bergstrom's clients' unique wood boards as they make the transition from sustainably harvested log to superbly shaped surfboard.

www.42surfboards.com
www.42surfboards.blogspot.com"

From Thisnext.com

"Man, these boards are beautiful. Made of chambered Oregon fir or spruce, with no foam whatsoever, a stick crafted by 42’s Lars Bergström is built to last “for generations, not months.” I’d love to get one under my feet, and seeing how they are made in my home state, I just might. Buy local!"

From Besportier.com

“... disposable boards just aren't going to cut it anymore. Nor are toxic boards made from the same old poisonous soup that has been used since the early ‘60s. By hand-shaping local wood into beautiful high performance surfboards, our goal is to change the very paradigm of choosing a surfboard. Instead of choosing the quick and easy, the cheap and sleazy, the pop-out molded spray-painted cookie cutter foam toy, we want you to think a little. Think about the long-term cost. The environmental cost. The aesthetic cost. The social cost. And then go with the choice that is simply better by nature.” So says Lars Bergström, who has a PhD in Environmental Science and is the founder of 42 Surfboards.

The makers of 42 Surfboards stand by their words and use sustainably harvested wood and abalone with the waste sawdust composted at a local nursery. 42 Surfboards believe that making the most durable boards possible is the best first step towards taking care of our environment. Even their offices use wind power and they are members of both 1% for the Planet" and The Surfrider Foundation. 42 Surfboards."

Check out this tail!

At some point, I am going to shape a flex tail that looks just like this. These guys are amazing!

These shots are from about a week ago on Maui.