A NEW surf centre in Easter Compton has announced a partnership with a Cornish firm to supply its surfboards.

Toy Factory Surfboards will now produce tailor-made boards for The Wave.

The Wave founder, Nick Hounsfield, said: “It is really important that we support the UK surf industry wherever possible and especially those brands that are innovative and exciting.

“Toy Factory Surfboards knows all about making boards for people of all abilities and importantly is also looking to improve the environmental credentials of its manufacturing process.

“It’s a company with a similar ethos to us and we are really excited about this partnership.”

Toy Factory owner, Luke Hart, said: “The majority of the beginner boards in this country are cheaply made pop-outs from China.

“We want to give beginners and intermediates the chance to have a similar priced board, but which has been designed with their needs in mind and is as low impact environmentally as possible.

“We use our team and our own personal experiences as surfers to come up with shapes and designs that allow a beginner or intermediate surfer to paddle easily and to catch loads of waves, but also as they progress it lets them do turns and manoeuvres, not just stand and go straight.

“We were also conscious of the carbon footprint of boards being flown from China to be surfed in UK waters. Our surfboards, are designed, shaped, glassed and finished in our factory in Cornwall.

Although no surfboard is perfect environmentally, we want to create boards that are as low impact as they possibly can be and we are constantly looking at ways to improve what we are doing.”

Once the design phase has been completed its team riders, including UK Pro tour champion and project ambassador for The Wave, Alan Stokes will test out the board prototypes.

The Wave is aiming to open next year and will encourage people of all ages and abilities to get into surfing.