Maine-based Blueprint Surf launches Kickstarter campaign, which includes a chance to own one of the first commercially available, 3D-printed surfboards in the US.
PORTLAND, Maine, Nov. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — 2 years ago, surfboard blanks were hard to find. Was it from an international trade embargo? Were the Port of LA longshoremen on strike? Was a devious foreign government hiding 5G chips in our foam? Whatever the exact reason was, Mike and I wanted to make a couple boards and we were getting frustrated. I’ve used 3d-printing a lot in my career, so we decided to 3d-print our own blanks.
Our first attempt at 3d-printing a surfboard was absurdly bad, and never even made it into the water. Our second board lasted two waves before it filled with water, and the 3d-printed structure inside crumbled like a wet cookie. Board #3 though… was kinda good.
Since then, Mike and I both started working on Blueprint Surf full time. We bought our own 3D printer, which can make boards up to 6 feet long in a single piece. We got a ton of help from our local Portland community, the state of Maine, and from some of the amazing craftspeople in our chilly corner of the surf world. Without all that help, we never would have gotten this far. Now we need help from an even larger community: New England surfers. More on that later.
How far have we gotten? Basically, we spent all our money learning to make 3d-printed surfboards good enough that they’re not just a novelty. The way we see it, surfboards made from sustainable materials are only worthwhile if they provide years and years of fun sessions. Our boards aren’t collectibles, experiments, or wall art. First and foremost, they have to be really good at being surfboards. They’re tools that get strapped to the roof of a Subaru in the middle of January, or tossed in a truck and bounced to the beach. That’s why we didn’t bother making a video about how our surfboards will save the polar ice caps, clean up oil spills, and revive beached Right Whales. Actually, we ran out of budget before we made any good videos. You’ll have to trust us for now: our boards go great, and we are going to make surf videos as soon as we can afford it.
For that reason, we are running a Kickstarter campaign this holiday season. It’s the first time people can “buy” one of our boards- a mid-length twinnie called the “Sea Mink” we’ve been dialing in since the beginning. The goal of this Kickstarter campaign is to raise enough money that we can make a surf edit, make a big second batch of boards, and also add in one or two new models. We’re also super stoked to widen our circle of friends, and to meet more New England surfers who care about sustainability almost as much as they care about surfing. If you can afford to support our Kickstarter campaign in any amount, it would mean the world to us.
Media Contact
Luke Diehl, Blueprint Surf, 1 9788109248, [email protected], www.blueprintsurf.com
SOURCE Blueprint Surf
