Bamboo Surfing - Making high performance bamboo surfboards

Who we are- Our business is making custom shaped surfboards from woven bamboo. Our surfboards are distinctive in style, green, produced on a "fair trade" basis and above all are high performance. We are a small company based in the Philippines on Lanuza Bay - a rural setting with a great right handed river mouth break for product testing.

All boards are shaped by Richard Matthews. Richard has been shaping ever since he sold his first board in 1968. He grew up surfing at Burligh Heads on the Gold Coast in Australia. Developing an interest in natural fibres, constant experimentation has resulted in the boards produced today by Bamboo Surfing.

 For a look at some of our boards go to our Models page and our Photo page

Why we are cool - Our boards maximise the use of natural materials (more than 60% by weight) and where synthetic materials must be used we use the lowest impact, least toxic available. The bamboo and timber that we use are sourced locally from sustainably managed sources. We make great efforts to involve the local community in our work from the production of the bamboo weave to direct employees in the workshop, we also pay fair wages and place a big emphasis on quality. Our boards are durable and will last as long as they are loved, any dings can be easily fixed using clear epoxy.

Our production is two boards per week – only 100 per year. Each one is hand crafted to order. We can do any shape or length tuned to your surfing style and local waves. Colour schemes are very flexible meaning that no two are ever the same – your board will be truly unique. Any fin setup can be included just tell us what you want. We like to think of our boards as pieces of ‘functional art’.

How to get a board? - To get one of our unique bamboo surfboards follow the link to our distributors page. Each distributor has their own signature designs and sets their own pricing. If you are visiting Lanuza in person you can come to the workshop and place an order directly with us. Because each board is made to order and has to be shipped from the Philippines you should expect around 2 months from placing a firm order to taking delivery. The distributors often have one or two stock boards if you want to get a ride in a hurry.

History and Background - Traditionally surfboards are constructed from special foam that is hand shaped and then skilfully wrapped in fibreglass which seals and protects the board and makes it waterproof. It takes tremendous amounts of energy to produce glass fibre; from the gathering of the raw materials to repeated processing in huge furnaces. The glass thread is then processed again to produce the woven cloth. we replace most of the glass fibre with woven bamboo which is both strong, environmentally friendly and attractive. Bamboo is simply organic glass fibre but better! Here for thousands of years the farmer simply grows bamboo and upon maturity (2 – 3 years), cuts, splits and weaves it for its many uses. To give the highest quality woven product specially designed planes are used to accurately size the strips for weaving.

One big advantage in using woven bamboo for surfboard manufacture is that it has positive buoyancy in the water (flotation) whereas the synthetic glass fibre is a dead weight with negative buoyancy. Bamboo produces a stronger more durable board without losing its flexibility. Bamboo is one of nature’s strongest materials after all.

By identifying other products that can be made out of woven bamboo such as boat hulls, car bodies, construction materials like wall panels, floor tiles and even clothing we can provide many Filipinos with sustainable livelihoods. The bamboo surfboard is one example of how the Filipino’s heritage and creativity can be channelled to produce unique, functional and beautiful products whose appeal and relevance extend far beyond these `Islands of the Morning’.

We can be contacted by email on: bamboosurfing@gmail.com