An opportunity to experience The Boardroom, a gathering for surfboard design and innovation, will be offered during Surf Expo from Sept. 7-8 in Orlando.
Thousands of surfers from all over Florida and the eastern seaboard will convene to celebrate all things surfing at The Boardroom. A surf show focusing on the equipment needed to go surfing, this open-to-the-public event will be located on the Surf Expo South Hall Concourse of the Orange County Convention Center, and admission is $10. Children 12 and under and Surf Expo attendees can attend for free. Visitors can connect with surfers, shapers and more than 40 exhibitors.
Featured is a shaping competition honoring legendary East Coast shaper Rich Price. Master shapers—including Pat Rawson, Stu Kenson, Bruce Regan, CT Taylor and Taz Yassin—will attempt to replicate a classic Rich Price design in the U.S. Blanks Shaping Bay. Each shaper receives 90 minutes in the shaping bay with their tools. A blank and a template are provided; nothing else. The winning shaper receives $1,000 and their name etched atop the Mike Marshall Perpetual Trophy.
The Best of Show Exhibit is an exhibitor competition in which each manufacturer is invited to showcase one surfboard. Judges will look for quality craftsmanship in all realms of the manufacturing process, including concept, design, shape, lamination, technology and art.
In the Chunk of Foam Challenge, presented by Bubble Gum Surf Wax, a selection of shapers are challenged to create a surfboard out of an 8-foot by 2-foot chunk of foam—no blanks, no templates, no prefab rockers, no stringers and no modern measuring devices. Each shaper will spin the Wheel of Chance to determine what they will be shaping, such as a LIS Fish, Brewer slipper nose gun, asymmetrical, MR Twin Fin and more.
A demonstration of epoxy glassing techniques using hand lamination and vacuum bagging will take place in this laminating exhibition. Expert surfboard craftsman Greg Loehr and others will talk the public through the process, highlight key moments and offer insight into the glassing world.
The show will also feature live music, the editorial staff of a surf magazine and more.
Hosting The Boardroom, Surf Expo is a tradeshow for active lifestyle product and apparel manufacturers.
