JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Surfers spend a lot of time in the water, so they have many reasons to want to keep the water pristine. But surfboards are often made of environmentally unfriendly materials. A Wisconsin-based surfer is on a quest to change that. Susan Bence with member station WUWM has the story.
SUSAN BENCE, BYLINE: There are more than 10,000 miles of coastline along the Great Lakes, so it's often called the country's third coast. Peak season for surfing is in the fall, winter and early spring, when winds can whip up impressive waves. So on a chilly fall morning, folks in wet suits came to ride the swells, and Ken Cole showed up.
(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)
KEN COLE: Here we go.
BENCE: Cole's love of surfing began in Hawaii, where he was working on his psychology dissertation. There's just one problem, as far as Cole's concerned - surfers love the waters but typically use surfboards that ultimately contribute to plastic waste that can be harmful to oceans and the Great Lakes. Although there's momentum for more eco-friendly equipment, Cole says most boards have polyurethane foam cores and are coated with fiberglass - both nonbiodegradable. If they break down in the water, fish and other aquatic life ingest them. If boards end up in landfills, their toxins can leach, compromising ecosystems in their path. Cole says the industry is trying to change.
COLE: But a lot of their focus is on packaging, on repurposed foam. But repurposed foam still relies on foam. Even those that are doing greener boards are still heavily relying on fiberglass.
BENCE: Cole jumped aboard a movement to create surfboards that won't leave toxic waste in their wake. He started by wrapping his boards using large coffee bags made of jute, eliminating the use of fiberglass.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOXES BEING MOVED)
BENCE: In his basement shop, he moves boxes to show off his surfboard drawings and other creations.
COLE: This was, like, a flat-pack box that when I lectured at one of our local schools, at the end, I stood on that, basically, to show that it would support the weight of a 205-pound man.
BENCE: The box is strong because it's made of a composite material Cole created - a combination of jute and palm sheaths. And he asked a couple of engineers to look at what he'd come up with.
COLE: Through a lot of trial and error and testing how to really prep the leaf, we figured out the right way to make the bond really strong.
(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)
BENCE: The big test came on that chilly autumn morning as waves rolled across Lake Michigan. Ted Burdett, an industrial designer, was on hand to watch. He created a 3D model of the surfboard and designed the board's internal skeleton using Cole's composite material instead of foam.
TED BURDETT: It's one of the heavier boards, but I think what we're going to see is that that supplies a lot of awesome momentum.
BENCE: And with the waves approaching, Cole started paddling into it and then popped up on the board, riding along the face of the wave. Minutes later, when he comes back to shore, both men shout with childlike delight.
BURDETT: In the pocket.
COLE: Nice. That was awesome.
BURDETT: (Laughter).
COLE: Bring it. Bring it.
BURDETT: Yeah.
COLE: So it works.
BENCE: Cole says it's like the thrill the Wright brothers must have felt when they flew the aircraft they built near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
COLE: And this was surfing's Kitty Hawk. I truly believe that. Unless there's somebody else doing a Kitty Hawk board, which I don't think they are.
BENCE: Cole won't be abandoning his psychology practice but plans to funnel energy into inspiring other people who make surfboards or even other products to use his composite material or to come up with their own eco-friendly ideas.
COLE: If I can do it in my garage, you know, Ted's shop and my basement and it surfed, what else can be done? That's really the question.
BENCE: Enough reflection, he says. Cole and Burdett head out to catch some waves while they last.
For NPR News, I'm Susan Bence along Lake Michigan.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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