SURFERS RELY INCREASINGLY ON LEG ROPES MADE OF THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE

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SURFERS RELY INCREASINGLY ON LEG ROPES MADE OF THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE
17 June 2004 - Bayer MaterialScience AG

Even the most experienced surfer feels his heartbeat climb up a notch when he spies a mega-wave coming along. The wave catches up with him, towers high above him and threatens to crash down on top of him with immense force.

Now, if not before, it's time to consider abandoning ship. Bye-bye surfboard, you might think. But if you take a closer look at the athletes in the surfing paradises around the world, you will notice a 'lifeline' connecting the surfboard to one of the wave-rider's legs.

In surfing jargon, this 'umbilical cord' is called the leg rope. It stops the surfer from losing his board and having to constantly swim to the water's edge to retrieve it and then paddle all the way back to where the giant waves are breaking. It also virtually eliminates the risk of rider-less surfboards injuring swimmers or other surfers.

The rope has to be tough, and Desmopan® 385 thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) from Bayer MaterialScience LLC is increasingly becoming the material of choice. 'We prefer this thermoplastic polyurethane chiefly because of its high elasticity and abrasion resistance. It also gives the rope a high-gloss finish - and we have no restriction on color either,' says Matthew Evans, general manager, Mojak Plastics. The Australian leg rope manufacturer has been working with this Bayer MaterialScience polyurethane for many years.

The high elasticity of the TPU ensures that when the rope suddenly becomes taut, the jerk on the surfer's leg is not so brutal that it causes injury or bruising. This is, for example, one of the advantages that a TPU leg rope has over one made of natural fibers or polyamide (PA). TPU ropes are also extremely weather resistant and barely age at all in salt water - unlike their PA counterparts, which tend to become brittle over the course of time.

'Another big advantage of TPU is its high tear strength and tear propagation resistance, which first means that the rope lasts a long time and second, that you always have a safe link between the surfer and the board,' says Justin Gleeson, a manager at Bayer New Zealand Ltd. and himself a keen surfer on the New Zealand and Australian coasts. He has often seen completely exhausted surfers who, with the aid of the leg rope, were able to get back on their boards and regain their strength prior to catching another wave. He has even come across non-swimmers who practice this extreme sport and rely completely on their TPU leg ropes.

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About: Bayer MaterialScience AG
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is part of the worldwide Bayer Group, an international health care, nutrition and innovative materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. Bayer employs 23,300 in North America with net North American sales of 8.8 billion euros in 2003. Bayer’s three operating business areas – HealthCare, CropScience and MaterialScience, improve people’s lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose and treat diseases, protect crops and advance automobile safety and durability.

Bayer MaterialScience AG is one of the world's largest producers of polymers and high-performance plastics. The main customers for Its innovative developments in coatings, adhesives, insulating materials and sealants, polycarbonates and polyurethanes are the automotive and construction industries, the electrical/electronics segment and manufacturers of sports and leisure goods, packaging, and medical devices.

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