When surfboard industry leader Clark Foam, producer of foam blanks accounting for 90 percent of all surfboards, went out of business in 2005, Sunny Trinh ’92/’93 and his friend, Wes Negus, began sharing ideas about what two engineers could offer the surfing market.

Both intermediate surfers, Trinh and Negus believed they could use their engineering expertise to more precisely design boards that make it easy for intermediate surfers to catch waves.

“Surfboard shapes are usually created based on people’s intuition and experience in the water,” says Trinh, who took up surfing after graduating from HMC. “Most surfers don’t have engineering degrees or backgrounds, so they shape it, try it out, tweak it. It’s more trial and error.”

During a 10-week sabbatical from his job as an engineering manager at Arrow Electronics in Woodland Hills, Calif., Trinh researched financing, marketing, importing and legal matters for the duo’s new business called 9:Fish—based on the Chinese cultural belief that nine fish symbolize good fortune.

He says his Mudd background helped. “Mudd teaches you how to be resourceful and do a lot of these things.”

The pair came up with two prototypes (the 7'4" Hammerhead and the 6'2" Seared Ahi), had the boards made in China, and tested them locally and in Hawaii.

“We’re not going to do crazy tricks and maneuvers like pros can, and pros probably won’t use our boards, but it addresses 70 percent of the market,” Trinh explains.

The surfboards, designed using basic engineering principles of fluid dynamics and mechanics, are considered “fish” boards, which are similar to shortboards in length (5'8" to 6'10") but slightly wider—a shape that helps surfers skim the water with minimal drag and optimal speed. Because their boards are thicker, surfers find it easy to paddle and catch waves, and, because the boards are shorter, they turn well.

Though less than two years old, 9:Fish is already profitable, Trinh says. The company’s boards can be found abroad and throughout the United States, including the Great Lakes, Texas, Alabama, Michigan and Ohio.

Neither Trinh nor Negus, a design engineer at Harmon International, have quit their day jobs or plan to soon.

“Since everything is virtual, it’s very doable,” says Trinh of balancing two jobs. “Our surfboards are manufactured in China. A third party takes care of warehousing and importing the boards to the U.S. and shipping them out as soon as we place an order. We do everything by e-mail and phone calls.”

In addition to advertising in trade magazines, on YouTube and surfing websites, Trinh and Negus take advantage of trade shows and special events, where people, including members of HMC’s Surf Club (pictured at left) and engineering faculty member Sarah Harris, are recruited to demo their boards.

Trinh has also enlisted an Engineering Clinic team to investigate new surfboard materials. The issue of chemicals used to make the current foam—which led to Clark Foam’s closing—is something that he would like to see resolved.

The HMC alumnus believes the sky’s the limit if 9:Fish takes off. The action sports market is a $600 billion industry.

Trinh muses, “If we were to get 1/100th of a percent of that…”

In surfing terms, he and Negus would be stoked.

Adapted from a Harvey Mudd College Magazine story by Stephanie Graham.