Graig MantleOne Cal Poly alum has taken “green” to a new level by developing and launching a new San Luis Obispo based company, Fluid Earth. Henry Swales, a 26 year-old, 2005 aerospace engineering graduate, has advanced the world of surfing by creating a new sustainable surfboard fin made from plant-based resin.
“There has been a movement in surf after a company with harmful environmental practices, Clark Foam, shut down,” Swales said. “These environmental reasons opened surfers’ eyes to manufacturing processes and the need to clean up the industry.”
Clark Foam closed in 2005, leaving many surfers and companies questioning their boards’ environmental impact. There has been a shift in the industry as far as the materials used, but in recent times, boards and fins are still coated with petroleum-based and toxic materials.
Surfers also began looking at what compounds they were using, such as a cleansing acetone, which is harmful to people as well as the environment. One of those surfers questioning the impact of surfing was Swales, an avid short and long boarder.
“The environment has always been a passion and also a lifestyle for me; it really has been a natural progression in my life,” Swales said.
“I’m stoked that I can be making surf fins and be making them in a way that fits my philosophy.”
Fluid Earth provides an environmentally responsible business model for the surf industry and the world by creating surfboard fins that involve a 50 percent plant-based fermentation process byproduct in a polymer that becomes materialized, melted and formed to a make performance material.
This plant-based polymer greatly reduces the amount of petroleum. His company also includes a recycling program for the fins.
“Half of the material used is biodegradable performance material creating quality fins that are not disposable but recyclable,” Swales said.
The surfboard fins fit a standard longboard or a two-plus-one set-up. Swales hopes to start making them for shortboards also.
As part of his business, Swales tests the fins by surfing to see how they work and to push different maneuvers. His job is different than the typical aerospace engineering graduate jobs.
“When I was at Cal Poly, I would see articles of people breaking a mold,” he said. “It is inspiring to see people coming from your same background to give something back.”
After graduating, Swales returned to his home state of Oregon and worked on the Columbia River Gorge. There he experimented with kite boarding and hydrofoils, a small wing underneath the water that lifts craft out of water. Toward the end of working there he decided to involve himself in what he calls the “Fin Biz.”
He developed his company philosophy when he bought a Wonderbread delivery van at an auction, converted the van into a biodiesel camper and traveled the West Coast.
In 2006, he returned to San Luis Obispo to launch Fluid Earth Company in which he sells his fins online at www.fluidearth.org, the Shell Beach Surf shop and SLO Surf. He also hopes to spread his business to locations throughout California.
Swales also donates to One Percent for the Planet, a way for businesses to make a commitment to different aspects of the environment by donating one percent of gross sales. He offsets his transportation environmental impacts by participating in Carbon Fund’s offsetting program.
Swales’ ultimate goal is to raise environmental conscience among surfers through his business.
“It’s huge to see how surfers respond. One of my goals is to get (the fins) in every surf shop, to branch out and spread to parts of the world that surf.”