The Surfrider Foundation is no stranger to identifying and solving issues facing our coasts. Their latest project is leveraging their love of the waves with some hi-tech surf gear; the fins of their boards. Met Smartfin — a surfboard fin that measures salinity, pH, temperature, location and wave characteristics.
“Smartfin is not only about the data. It’s also an effort to connect surfers and their communities to larger issues affecting ocean health,” said the Surfrider Foundation’s CEO, Chad Nelsen
Smartfin
Smartfin is the result of a partnership between non-profits, engineers, and the scientific community. It is the brainchild of Dr. Andy Stern of The Lost Bird Project and engineered by Benjamin Thompson of BoardFormula. The Surfrider Foundation will provide logistical and outreach support for the distribution of fins to its network of surfers worldwide, and joins a long list of collaborators that includes Futures Fins and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the world’s leading institutions for oceanographic research.
Beta testing on the fin has been underway for several months. In early 2017, the Surfrider Foundation will begin distributing Smartfins with a pilot program launch with the Surfrider Foundation San Diego chapter. To find out more, visit www.surfrider.org.
Summary
I’ll be anxious to take a look at one of the these fins once they’re released. I’ll keep you in the loop as more information becomes available.
