Tides

Abstract

Softtop surfboards have become very popular over the past decades, especially within surf schools. They are beginner-friendly, and aren’t damaged as easily as traditional fibreglass composite boards. However, the design and materials used in these boards make end-of-life strategies very limiting, resulting in a product that is generating a significant amount of waste. The effective lifetime of these boards is only two years, and most surf schools burn through approximately 70 boards during this period. To turn this linear lifecycle around, this thesis proposes Tides: a product-service system for softtop surfboards. It consists of redesigning the current softtop construction and a service system through which the boards can be accessed within a circular business model.

Through co-creation with different Dutch surf schools, a subscription-based service model is developed. It takes ownership over the boards away from users, and provides them with the guarantee of always having quality softtops. The system makes use of the seasonality in surfing, in which the low season is used to take the boards back and restore them professionally. After materials have gone through multiple iterations of reuse, the boards go into a second lifecycle by leasing them to individual surfers. These use the boards on a less intensive scale and demand less quality.

Restoring the boards is done through three different recovery strategies, which are a result of a thorough analysis of the failing mechanisms of current softtops. Each strategy has its own touchpoints within the lifecycle of the boards. The first one, Repair, is used to temporarily fix boards untill the end of the high-season. The second one, Repair+, is done periodically at the end of the season. Finally, Refurbishing is done when the boards can’t be repaired anymore without seriously hurting performance.
The Repair strategy was developed into a technical proof of concept, as this is the first step towards realising a viable circular business model. The patches were prototyped, tested on waterproofness, and evaluated on user-friendliness with surf schools.

The recovery strategies resulted in a new construction design concept. The construction allows for easier implementation of the three recovery strategies, and introduces a few new features to improve the durability of the boards. This concept will be developed further in the future of this project, and its viability in the product-service system will be evaluated with surf schools.