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NewsHour Extra:
Surfers hit hard by foam company closure. 12.27.05.

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Clark Foam

California Surf Museum

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Prices of surfboards rose steeply on news the country's primary supplier of surfboard foam was going out of business due to costly environmental regulations. Brian Wrona, an 18 year old who surfs at Ocean Beach, California laments the impact on his favorite sport and local community.

The closing of Clark foam puts surfers like me in a difficult position. We want to protect the environment, but do we have the ability to make the financial sacrifices associated with its protection?

Anyone you talk to who surfs agrees that protecting the ocean is crucial, not only to the continuation of the sport, but to life on the planet. Yet how willing can we be to protect it when shapers estimate the price of surfboards will jump $100-$300 per board in order to cover the new expenses?

I was fortunate. I ordered a surfboard from a local shaper in late November. It is the first new surfboard I've ever had and I got it shaped and customized to my dimensions. As soon as I heard the plant had closed, I called the shaper making my board and asked if he had been able to get the foam blank before the closure. Luckily he had, because the first thought that came to my mind was that I would not be able to afford my board now.

When I picked up my board I asked the shaper about what this was going to do to him and the surf industry in general. He said this could mean disaster for smaller companies who didn't have the financial capabilities or industry influence to obtain foam blanks now.

Surfboard shapers who work in small shops servicing local clientele are now going to have to compete with companies capable of distributing their boards worldwide.

What makes this problem incredibly pertinent in California is the large surf culture. Take a look at the beaches on a weekend and you'll see that the main recreation for many people is surfing. What you will also notice is that the surf culture is not limited to one specific group. Surfing transcends cultural, racial, age and socio-economic barriers.

I worry young kids will have fewer opportunities to surf because they can not afford a $600 board. I may have trouble purchasing a new board due to the price increase.

I hope in the future we can devise a course of action that keeps the ocean clean and safe, while still making surfing a sport that is available to everyone.

I know I want to surf the rest of my life, and I want to make sure that I have an ocean to do it in, but I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg to do it.

-- By Brian Wrona, a freshman at the University of California - Davis

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