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A California surfer has won a recycled surfboard contest with an entry covered with 10,000 cigarette butts. “This is the most polluted item picked up on the beach,” creator Taylor Lane told the Orange County Register. “And no one thinks twice that you can do anything with it.” Lane, 24, from Santa Cruz had the top entry amid an assortment of boards made from potato sacks, used packaging and stuff picked up from Dumpster dives. An Australian entry was made from an old bathroom door. The entries were for the third annual “Creators & Innovators Upcycle Contest,” hosted by the...

BREAKING NEWS: Reports indicate President Obama suddenly left the golf course in Hawaii where he was playing a round of golf to return to his $9 million vacation estate where a "family friend" has reportedly been injured in a surfboard accident: President Barack Obama has abruptly ended a round of golf and sped toward his family's vacation home for what is being described as a "personal matter." An ambulance was seen speeding toward their compound. White House aides said the speedy departure and return to the president's home was not a matter of national security or because of a threat...

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...

WINDSURFER WATERLOOwhy the surfboard--not the snowboard--is Kerry's Achilles' heel by Mia T, 9.26.04 THE HOT DEBATE OVER THE WINDSURFING AD [09/23 11:54 AM] There is apparently much debate about the windsurfing ad over at the Corner. Here's the CNN summary of the charges and countercharges so far: Underscoring the Bush attacks was a new television ad showing Kerry windsurfing to the strains of the "Blue Danube" waltz. A narrator reads a list of what the Bush campaign contends are the senator's vacillating positions on the Iraq war, education and Medicare. The ad ends with the tag line: "John Kerry. Whichever...

Aussie surfers testing boards fitted with electronic shark repellents Wed Jul 14, 1:19 PM ET SYDNEY (AFP) - Surfboards fitted with electronic shark repellents are being tested and will be available by the year's end, its manufacturers said, just days after a local man died in an attack off Australia's west coast. South Australian-based SeaChange technology said the devices emit an electronic field that surrounds the surfboard and affects special receptors on a shark's snout. The receptors connect to the shark's central nervous system and when it first encounters the electronic field it feels some discomfort. If it proceeds the...