Making a surfboard from foam is of course very cool, but it does not have the tradition of “whiskey planks," which means it will forever be inferior to the process of building a wooden surfboard.

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Natasha "Tashi" Smith surfs on a foam surfboard at Topanga State Beach in Malibu. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Cabrillo Beach is not a great surf spot. And Allison Scinta is not a great ...

Hobie Alter could have called it quits after his first surfboard, crafted from a heavy balsa wood in his father’s Laguna Beach garage. But, “he didn’t like that board,” said Dick Metz, who had met ...