Mercedes-Benz Portugal has just delivered a new surfboard to Garrett McNamara entirely made of almost entirely from Portuguese cork, a project done in partnership with Corticeira Amorim.

This is clearly much more than a marketing gig as the board is all about to brake new records and will be used by Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara to surf the biggest waves in the world in Nazaré, Portugal.

In 2013, the 47 year old McNamara, rode gigantic waves of Nazaré, Portugal at 38.7mph, on a surfboard equipped with a built-in telemetry system, developed by Mercedes-Benz. McNamara is also the current world-record holder for the largest wave ever surfed and if the nature is cooperative it is likely he will break more records soon.

In addition to this new innovative surfboard, another surfboard is in development, to be made of the foam used to manufacture aircraft wings, a material McNamara himself has brought all the way from Varial Surfboards in California.

This is not the first time Mercedes has introduced a surfboard. The MBoard project was started by Mercedes-Benz in 2013 and ultimately resulted in the production of four boards of a model named “The Silver Arrow of the Seas”. Designed by BBDO Portugal, these boards were also developed in partnership with Garrett McNamara for the North Canyon Project and the Mercedes-Benz Design Studio.

This year the challenge was taken even further by designing a surfboard entirely made of a local material, traditionally used to manufacture bottle stoppers – Portuguese cork.

“Since Portugal is the world’s largest cork producer, it makes perfect sense to use this material to make high-performance surfboards for surfing in Nazaré. When we surf big waves, we need a flexible board, although resistant enough not to break. It is an honour for me to be involved in the innovative MBoard Project developed by Mercedes-Benz, which now has the support of Corticeira Amorim, as well as the advanced technology of Polen Surfboards.”