9:30-10:00 AM Registration
10:00-10:15 AM Overview of the Center for Surf Research – Dr. Jess Ponting
10:15-10:35 AM
Keynote Presentation: Surfing’s transitions to sustainability, risk and governance implications. – Dr. Greg Borne
10:35-11:35 AM
Panel 1. Disruptive Sustainability Innovations in Surfing. How do we make them stick and where to from here?
Moderators: Sustainable Surf: Dr. Jess Ponting
Kevin Whilden, Sustainable Surf
What if we could use algae to provide bio-sourced hydrocarbons for sustainable polyurethane surfboard blanks? Would this be a disruptive innovation? What are the roadblocks and opportunities. – Dr. Stephen Mayfield, UCSD Professor, Director California Center for Algae
Bio-resins have been around for some time and have been adopted by large players in the surfboard industry like Firewire. But what if dissolving bio-based hardeners allowed surfboards at the end of their life to have the resins ‘melted’ off to be recycled, cloth and matting reused, and blanks recycled or upcycled? What are the possibilities for cradle to cradle surfboard production and what infrastructure is needed to make it all work? – Dr. Rey Banatao, CEO Connoratech/Entropy Resins
Surfers as citizen scientists? What if surfboard fins contained sensors that collected important climate change data points AND were able to provide real time swell data and GPS tracking? Its being developed, but can it be scaled? Dr. Andrew Stern, Lost Bird Project, Smartphins
11:35-11:45 AM Coffee break
11:45-12:45 PM
Panel 2. Corporate Adoption and Scaling of Sustainability Innovations. What has been working so far?
Moderators: Sustainable Surf: Kevin Whilden & Michael Stewart (Deep Blue)
Rusty Miller & Trish Shantz, EcoFins
Can surfing’s most visible and tangible expression, the professional surfing contest, be sustainable? Sustainable Surf have been certifying ‘Deep Blue Surf Contests’ since the Rip Curl Pro at Ocean Beach San Francisco. Volcom have taken the ball and run with it at the Pipeline Pro with amazing results. What are the keys to sustainable contests and could/should this concept go World Surf League wide? – Sustainable Surf, Derek Sabori VP Sustainability, Volcom
What if there was a program that allowed surf resorts to systematically assess their environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability across 140 metrics and 400 compliance indicators? What if this same system spoke directly to the surfer market and created demand for third party verified sustainable surf resorts? Carl Kish, STOKE Certified
12:45-1:45 PM Lunch and tabling
1:45-2:45 PM
Panel 3. Making Waves. Literally.
Moderator: Dr. Jess Ponting
First Peak Sebastian Inlet, Florida raised two world champions and any number of pros and hot surfers. This wave formed as a result of swell reflection off the adjacent pier. Recent renovations of the pier killed the reflective qualities and killed the wave. What if it could be brought back cheaply and easily? What if the same science could create high quality surf breaks and economic opportunities on closed out beaches everywhere? Coco Beach is considering just this idea. How does it work and what are the issues? Justin Enjo, First Peak Project/Waveloch.
With surfbreaks getting ever more crowded and shark attacks seemingly on the rise, what if perfect head high barreling waves could be produced outside the ocean? Southern California is home to three of the world’s leading surf pool technology development companies, but what is the state of play globally and what can we expect in the near future? John Luff, Surf Park Central.
2:45-3:05 PM
Keynote Presentation: Sustainability and surfing past , present and future. Senator Fred Hemmings
3:05-3:20 PM Closure by Jess Ponting
3:20-6:00 PM Tours through Zura Hall Residence/ Informal reception at Oggie’s