Free Republic

Closure of Calif. surfboard foam company wipes out industry GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press (this contains excerpts) SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. - For more than 40 years, everyone from casual weekend waveriders to top competitive surfers has shared one thing: Customized boards that began as nondescript foam blocks mass-produced by one Southern California company. Clark Foam, an icon in California surf culture, enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the blocks that have been shaped and hand-painted by everyone from backyard do-it-yourselfers to design shops that churn out thousands of handcrafted boards each year. That's why the company's sudden closure this week has the...

he sport of surfing is in turmoil after the world's largest producer of the foam blocks used to make surfboards closed down, citing over-regulation. Polyurethane foam "blanks" produced by California-based Gordon Clark are used to make many of the world's surfboards. Mr Clark, who helped invent the modern all-foam surfboard, says environmental regulations forced him out of business. Fears of a global foam shortage have led to a sharp rise in board prices as surfers snap up already depleted stock. Mr Clark, known as "Grubby" among surfers, revolutionised the sport in 1958 when he and fellow pioneer Hobie Alter coated...

EPA and California do it again.

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. - Clark Foam, which held a virtual monopoly on the manufacture of blank forms used to create the world's surfboards, has closed its doors because it has violated pollution and safety regulations and would need millions of dollars to comply in the future, its owner said. The company, a pioneer in the design and production of polyester boards, announced Monday that it was closing immediately. That left surf shops and board manufacturers scrambling. "They've been the lifeblood of the surfboard manufacturing business for 40 years" and produced perhaps 90 percent of the polyester foam blanks, said Chris...