Outraged by the sewage that’s polluting our shores, we made a surfboard entirely out of ocean waste, including raw sewage. ‘The Floater’, which started as a passion project, soon became an official collaboration with environmental charity, Surfers Against Sewage, and promotes their efforts to hold water companies and the government to account to do more to protect British waters.

We commissioned award winning, and Cornwall-based, sustainable designer and owner of Benthos Surf, Niall Jones, to create ‘The Floater’ – who used recycled materials to form the board and raw sewage from the sea, which he turned into resin. To add impact, Jones also included two transparent windows in the top of the board that display the two litres of sewage water contained within.

The sewage used to make the surfboard was collected from St. Agnes and Godrevy – the hometown of our Creative, Jake Smith, after heavy rainfall in Cornwall which caused the systems to overflow.

Our video highlighting the extent of the sewage scandal in the UK, features Ben Skinner, 11x European Longboard Champion, and other surfers riding the waves on The Floater.

‘The Floater’ will officially launch at a flagship SAS paddle-out protest in Brighton, seeking to convert public outrage into action by staging a mass paddle-out protest against sewage pollution, featuring simultaneous events at beaches and rivers across the UK on Saturday 20 May. Swimmers, paddlers, surfers, canoers, kayakers, paddle-boarders, windsurfers and anyone who cares about the health of their local blue spaces will take to the water, beach or riverbank to make their demands heard.

Find a Paddle Out Protest near you here.

If you want to get on board and end the dumping of sewage into our seas, sign the Surfers Against Sewage ‘Dirty Money’ petition here.

This episode started without any premeditation. I ordered my brother Dane a “surprise” Pat Rawson single fin for his birthday this year. The plan was to order it to be finished when we arrived in January. I hadn’t spoken to Pat in a long time but upon first call sometime in October we chatted for almost two hours. It was so nice.

My dad was a sales rep for the brand Local Motion from the mid 80’s through the 90’s. We were adopted kids for most of the people at that brand during that time and we stay in touch with them to this day. Even though I hadn’t spoken to Pat in quite some time we had a lot to chat about and catch up on.

When we arrived to pick up the boards Pat had an old Local Motion in the shaping bay and we were talking about it a little bit. He said things he was working with Jack Reeves creating more and more of these nostalgic local motion shapes again.

I went home and started to craigslist my way through the islands trying to find a Rawson Local motion. Although I didn’t end up finding that specific board I did end up discovering a very good condition board with a spray similar to what Tony Moniz used to ride in the 1990’s.

After buying that board from a neighbourhood craigslist broker, we chatted with Tony, then caught up with former owner Rob Burns, and ultimately rode it on a bitchin’ day at Rocky Point.

We learn through the process that Tony had a signature spray with red and yellow celebrating his Hawaiian heritage, and that this board was most likely a stock surfboard made in the same era with a Red and white spray. We learn a little about the history of the brand known for cutting edge shapers and designs through the 90’s and show that the board is still red hot.

I would personally like to thank Don King for allowing us clearance to use the archival footage. This footage is found in an old Local Motion VHS movie we grew up watching called “a little bit of Hawaiian Style”. This was our education on what to know when going to Hawaii. Showing respect to mother nature, the locals and their culture and challenging yourself are the core beliefs that I still take with me to this day.

I hope you enjoy this episode. It was such a blast to make. Fun to connect with old friends and create some new memories.

Thank you again for the support – Tanner Gudauskas