Photo: Brevin Blach
Words: Jared Whitlock
Given the closeness surfers enjoy with the sea, it’s unfortunate their boards are made from water-poisoning petroleum-based materials. “Big surfboard companies are scared to deviate from what they’re doing because they’re focused on the bottom line,” says La Jolla native Pierce Michael Kavanagh, who explores the problem in his documentary Manufacturing Stoke. Rather than condemn the $7.2 billion industry, the ?lm (which began touring last spring and is screening at festivals in Hawaii and Australia in January) follows several California board-shapers who’ve begun to work with sustainable materials. “We’re at the beginning of a renaissance,” Kavanagh says. “Changes are coming from the little guys-the ground ?oor up.”
