Just what exactly died when Clark Foam ceased to exist? To answer, one must look at the architecture of a sport and it’s equipment demands. In the thirty years I was involved in manufacturing surfboards, the push has always been on for lighter, stronger, more responsive equipment. Clark Foam spent a lot of time developing a series of close tolerance blank molds and multiple foam densities that were designed in collaboration with the most knowledgeable shapers/designers in the world. The blanks were intended for the custom shape users. The foam featured a dual density nature. The less dense and lighter core was wrapped completely in a more dense surface structure. The idea being to use a blank with a custom rocker glued into it at the Clark factory and have the custom shaper never core cut to the less dense foam within. The ensuing “I beam effect”, a time proven technology used in a variety of construction industries and processes allowed for surfboards to wander down into the six pound range and still maintain good structural integrity and resistance to denting and breakage, subject to the design and skill of the glass job and custom glasser of course. The finished board with polyester resin and custom E and S weave glass fabrics composed what is commonly termed an “advanced composite”.

An advanced composite as applied to a surfboard is basically using a specific foam structure and glass combination to achieve a pre determined flex rate in the finished board and maintain the maximum amount of structural integrity possible while avoiding the accumulation of excess weight. What the industry was doing with Clark foam was building the maximum strength, to lowest weight ratio product possible at the lowest cost. The more experienced builders were therefore pretty shaken as Clark foam, foundation of that advanced composite, ceased to exist.

However, at the same time all of this custom design advance was occurring another variable entered the surf industry: huge growth, and a resulting radically increased demand, which necessitated the use of shaping machines and fostered the propagation of molded board companies, such as Randy French’s Surf Tech, the established leader in that technology. Already a fiscal success before the boom, and somewhat of a good compromise between performance, strength, and price the company saw steady sales growth.

Meanwhile, a cadre of computer milling machine companies, utilizing programs based on scans made of successful custom surfboards filled surfboard factories with foam only requiring menial skill labor on the order of ten to twenty minutes per board, to return a fairly accurate copy of the original board. The machine operators look for a uniform foam blank, one which can be cut to shape with zero density variation. A board made from a uniform density blank generally will not be of the highest possible strength to weight ratio, but without Clark Foam and dual density foam, that became a moot point. Indeed, given the skill level of the average surfer, it is debatable if the lighter stronger equipment was even necessary for most people in the first place.

So the past year saw a flood of companies enter the foam market from every country imaginable. From Australia we saw Midget Farrelly Surfblanks and tenured manufacturer Burford begin to warehouse on US shores. Spyder Murphy from South Africa did likewise. Santa Barbara surf industry veteran Andrew Jakobowski incepted Surfblanks America which is rumored to utilize the same foam and molding techniques pioneered by Gordon Clark. Long time thorn in Clark’s side Harold Walker, of Walker Foam ramped up California production, and incepted yet another factory in China. The list goes on. It is a free market. All of the companies in that market are playing on a global field moderated by demand and the variables of the international free market. It appears that current foam inventories on US shores are currently more than adequate to supply demand.

Fused cell EPS which is a fairly tough cousin to the age old Expanded beaded Polystyrene (the stuff packing containers and coffee cups are made of) has seen distribution channels open. Couple that foam with epoxy resins and boutique fiberglass and a pretty remarkable advanced composite results.

In the midst of the flood of foam, and burgeoning manufacturing processes, Randy French unveiled a new board, designed from the ground up, utilizing fused cell EPS and custom epoxy molding techniques which have resulted in a board with a previously unparalleled competitive cost, high integrity/memory performance flex (an issue with earlier molded boards which relied on super rigid skins to maintain structural integrity because the beaded EPS core had little to no real structural integrity) and superior shell strength. It is remarkable on many levels, as mass manufactured boards go. No surprise really, as Randy has been at this for a long long time.

In effect, the exodus of Clark Foam from the surfboard industry has caused a renewed vigor in product development in molded board design, foam design, computer shaping companies and materials development. The resulting choices for the consumer will be more varied than ever before and costs seem to not be rising in the manner many predicted a year ago as Clark retired their marquee.

That being said, I guess I may just have to shape the remaining few Clark blanks that have been sitting in my garage, and revel in a bit of nostalgia. Funny what happened in only one year.

Sources:
Randy Cone, Spencer Kellogg, Dennis Ryder, Ben Marcos, George Orbelian, Surftech USA