WHY BAMBOO?

At Wappa, our goal is to create stylish, well built and affordable stand up paddle boards while respecting the Earth .
Bamboo allows us to accomplish these goals. 

Paddle boards made with real bamboo are strong and durable, naturally beautiful and Earth friendly.
That's the Bamboo Advantage!

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ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

• Bamboo is a renewable resource. It’s can be harvested in 3 years compared to 25 years for wood.
• Harvesting bamboo does not kill a bamboo forest. Harvesting actually induces the plant to produce more new shoots.
• Bamboo can grow in degraded soil.
• During regeneration, the bamboo plant's root system stays intact preventing soil erosion.

THE BAMBOO WAPPA USES

• Wappa only uses Moso bamboo.
• It grows mainly in the Zhejiang province of China known historically as the Kingdom of Bamboo.
• Moso is one of the hardest varieties of bamboo. With a  tensile strength up to 40 kN/cm2 it easily surpasses timber fibers (approx. 5 kN/cm2), or even mild steel (36 kN/cm2).¹
  
• Janka Hardness Test results show that Moso is comparable to the hardness of European Oak (6280 kN).¹
  

SUPERIOR MATERIALS

• Bamboo has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any natural fiber¹.
• In structural engineering tests bamboo has been shown to have...
  • Higher tensile strength than many alloys of steel.
  • Higher compressive strength than many mixtures of concrete.
• Higher strength-to-weight ratio than graphite (precursor of carbon fiber)¹.

BAMBOO IN A COMPOSITE

• In a composite environment like a Wappa paddle board, bamboo veneer is a good substitute for fiberglass because it's stronger.
  
• Bamboo laminates are lighter and stronger than fiberglass. Bamboo epoxy laminates are twice the strength at equal weights¹.
• A stand up paddle board made with real bamboo weigh at least 15% less than boards made only from fiberglass and epoxy.
  

¹ Mechanical Properties of Bamboo, a Natural Composite, Fibre Science and Technology, Vol. 14, Issue 4, 1981