Thank you for visiting our Kickstarter page.  Mark Cruickshank of Crooked Blanks, Shawn Vecchione of Vec Surfboards, and Keith Natti of TwinLights Glassing have combined their efforts to make the most sustainable surfboard in the market.  But we need your help.  We want to get our surfboards out in front of people.  We want to show surf shop owners these surfboards.  We want to bring them to surf shows and let surfers touch and feel them.  And most importantly, we want to get surfers surfing them.

Our goal is to build 6 highly sustainable surfboards. We would like to bring these wood surfboards to surf shops to show shop owners, take them to trade shows, and go to beaches for demo days.  The boards we plan to build are: 5’10 Fish, 5’10 single fin, 6’6 egg, 7’6 pipeliner, 9’0 longboard, and a 9’8 noserider.  Hopefully there will be something for every surfer to relate to and give them a go.

These wood surfboards are unique; there is nothing else like them available now.  They are made out of wood with no foam.  The wood used is Paulownia, which in addition to being very sustainable, is extremely light weight and structurally strong (more on Paulownia below).  They are not built from kits where there are only a limited amount of shapes and sizes.  A wood blank is made similar to a foam surfboard blank.  A surfboard shaper can shape the wood blank into any surfboard imaginable.  They are completely customizable; built to suit the surfer, how they surf, and the conditions they surf in.

Paulownia trees are amazing.  It takes 7 years or less from planting a seed to being able to harvest the tree.  After the tree is cut down, up to 10 more can grow from the same stump.  The lumber from a Paulownia tree is extremely light weight and soft, which makes it easy to shape into a surfboard.  It really is the secret ingredient to making the most sustainable surfboard.

There is more than one way that these boards are more sustainable than foam surfboards.  The wood surfboards will also last a lifetime.  The wood surface will not pressure dent like a foam surface.  You can surf the board for a year, scrape all the wax off and it will look just like the day you first got it (trust me, I have done it).  Most foam surfboards can only take so many dents on the deck  before the foam compresses to a point that the fiberglass separates from the foam.  Then the board needs to undergo major repair, but it is typically just thrown away.

About Us:

Mark Cruickshank of Crooked Blanks builds wood surfboard blanks designed to be shaped by a professional surfboard shaper.  

Mark is located in the seaside town of Marblehead, MA where he lives with his wife and 3 kids.  They all enjoy spending a lot of time outdoors and care about the environment and our effect on it.  Crooked Blanks makes hollow wood surfboard blanks.  These are the lowest environmental impacting surfboard blanks that we know of.  The goal of Crooked Blanks is to make sustainable surfboards available to every surfer.  These hollow wood surfboard blanks can be made into completely customizable woods surfboards that are shaped by your local shaper.

www.crookedblanks.com

Crooked Blanks facebook page 

Shawn Vecchione of Vec Surfboards shapes the blanks into beautiful surfboards.  

After learning to shape surfboards in the Hawaiian motherland, Cape Cod, MA native Shawn Vecchione brought his world-class skills back home. In the 12 years since Vecchione first learned to shape on the island of Kauai, his custom boards have been surfed by top surfers like the late Andy Irons and his brother Bruce, Makua Rothman, Dustin Barca, Felipe Pomar, and Victor Rosario. His teachers included legendary craftsmen Dick Brewer, Bobby Allen, and Billy Hamilton. Vecchione credits Hamilton, a renowned surfer and the stepfather of big wave rider Laird Hamilton, as his greatest influence.

www.vecsurfboards.com

Shawn's facebook page  

Keith Natti of TwinLights Glassing applies the fiberglass and epoxy resin that protects the board and makes it smooth. 

Keith Natti grew up in the shadow of the Twin Lights perched on Thatcher Island. Growing up in and on the water, he learned about the ocean, fishing, and craftsmanship.  Building and working on boats, he quickly developed his skills with fiberglass and resins. His passion for surfing led him to Shane Smith of 2si, where he was involved in all aspects of the business. He accompanied Shane Smith to Florida when Shane joined up with Erie Peeples. He worked there for several years but decided Cape Ann, MA was home.

www.twinlightssurf.com

 Keith's facebook page

Rewards:

About the fins and handplanes:

The fin and handplane blanks are constructed from off-cuts produced when making the surfboard blanks.  No wood is wasted.  Crooked Blanks makes the fin and handplane blanks, Vec Surfboards shapes them, and TwinLights glasses them.  Here are a couple examples.

Stickers:

T-shirts:

The T-shirts are available in both women and men's sizes/cuts.  We have many different colors and styles to choose from, here are a few samples.