In a statement sent to Lusa, the educational institution explained that a new model of surfboards is being developed, which "will help in the learning process through better biomechanical performance.”

"The biomechanics allows to associate the dexterity of the board materials with the way the surfer should position to achieve a greater balance and better body posture and accelerate the learning," Mário Velindro, president of ISEC, said quoted in a note.

Developed by a laboratory of the biomechanics of ISEC, the project consists of developing a board that allows correcting the body posture through a performance record, in which the surfer will learn to position more efficiently.

Velindro said that the solution should be completed and ready to be put in the market in 2021.

In addition to its biomechanical performance, the surfboard will be built using environmentally friendly materials that are unusual among surfers.

"Surfboards are generally polluting since the materials derive from oil and these do not usually last for many months," said Eurico Gonçalves, president of the Associação de Desenvolvimento Mais Surf (‘More Surf Development Association’) (ADMS), the entity where the idea of this project was born.

Per year, on average, " between eight and fifteen surfboards in each surf school are out of circulation.”

“If we multiply this number by 350-which is the number of surf schools registered in Portugal-, we have between 3,000 to 5,000 boards that, every year, go to waste and cannot be recycled," said Gonçalves, who is also a surf teacher.

The association said it wants the surfboard from ISEC to be a replica of the first one in Portugal in 1942.

"We want this new version to be with wood, as well as the one in 1942, which is also light and evolved technologically for its time," Gonçalves said.

The ecological surfboards are to have as raw materials wood and agave, a plant of the family of cacti, in a combination of materials that make them "lighter and easier to handle, guaranteeing their rigidity and mechanical strength.”