Last year, 25-year-old craftsman Taylor Lane made a surfboard out of over 10,000 cigarette butts. Disgusting? Absolutely. Innovative? Darn-tootin’. The project was an entry for Surfrider and Vissla’s annual upcycle contest that challenges surfers of all stripes to turn trash into a functional wave riding item (like a surfboard, handplane, fin, or paipo).
Lane’s heavy yet functional craft wasn’t just a surfboard made from trash. It was a fully rideable juxtaposition – something made from the most commonly found form of trash on beaches around the world. A statement if you will. And now Surfrider and Vissla are challenging creators and innovators to top the cigarette board in their fourth annual iteration of the contest.
“Vissla has partnered up with our friends at the Surfrider Foundation to challenge you, the wave conscious, to take something that might be considered waste and create something that can be used in the ocean,” explains Vissla. “You must upcycle an old or found object into a functional wave riding craft (i.e. surfboards, handplanes, paipos, fins, alaias, skim boards, boats, etc.) Be creative!”
In this year’s contest there are two divisions – “16 and under” and “open.” We can’t wait to see what this year’s crop of competitors come up with.
