From seed to surfboard

After 3 years of exploring Indonesia we found the sweet spot. A place where we could work with the land and remote farming communities to grow and harvest high quality, lightweight balsa trees for our Varuna Surfboards.

Balsa is the world’s lightest and fastest growing tree. It is non-native to Indonesia but was introduced after logging caused major deforestation. While we waited for our first crop of balsa to reach its 4 year growth period harvest, we went into the forests of Indonesia and selectively logged balsa, removing it from the wild environment.

Our relationship with balsa starts with two systems of regenerative planting. The first, as a nursing crop on previously deforested, alang grasslands that took over the landscape. Balsa grows and shades the alang grass, stopping it from growing and reclaiming land for agriculture.

The second is a polyculture plantation system where balsa is planted amongst fruit trees. This method helps diversify the natural ecosystem, regenerate soil health and create opportunities for future farming and forestry production. All Balsa seedlings are given to the local community in Indonesia for free. Each nursery grows up to 50,000 trees a year. We give meaningful work to 90+ local people in Indonesia which leads to a positive impact on their families, and the next generations in these remote communities. After 4 years, before the balsa trees reach maturity and spread their seeds, they are harvested. In this way we avoid contributing to the spreading of more wild growing balsa in Indonesia. Now the balsa trees have done their job as a nursing crop, reclaimed the land for farming and become a cash crop for the locals. We then move our balsa operation to the next degraded area.

After drying we select 10% of the wood based on density to create the most consistent lightweight material for Varuna Surfboards. The other 90% of our raw materials are used in the blades of wind turbines to create green energy and the highest density is used in the construction of furniture for the boating industry.

5 years of research and development across CNC cutting, more environmentally friendly glues and lamination, taping, shaping, deck and bottom thickness, sanding and rib modification have created a performance surfboard with the ultimate flex, torsion and weight distribution. Each finished surfboard requires 40+ hours of hand crafting to meet our quality standards. The facility where our boards are produced meets the highest standards of safety and social responsibility.

We work with iconic surfboard shapers to bring their iconic designs to life using new technology and sustainable practices. Every Varuna board is a limited edition, premium product that has gone through intensive testing and quality control. We only make 100 of each model and size so you know your Varuna will never be mass produced and always unique.

We believe that when it comes to surfing, sustainability and performance are not mutually exclusive. By replicating world-class designs with sustainable materials, we envision a world where everyone can surf exceptionally and responsibly.

From Seed to Surfboard we’re redefining the world of sustainable surfing, one board at a time.