Surfer Rides Wave of Aerospace Success
Cottage Guest Explains How Patented Surfboard Idea Is Fused With Today's Military Technology
By Ryan Schlehuber

Kent Sherwood (top left), founder of Foam Matrix in California, has patented a foam-molding process heralded as one of the best advances in aerospace technology. He and his brother, Leo, and childhood friend, Vicki Laken (front, left) have been houseguests of Annex cottager Audrey Gallery (at right).

How does a man who "retires" at age 19 to surf the Hawaiian waves end up a successful entrepreneur improving aerospace technology? Just ask Annex resident Audrey Gallery's house guest, Kent Sherwood, who vacationed last week on the Island.

Mr. Sherwood, said Audrey Gallery, is one of the most intriguing persons she has ever met.

Originally from Oahu, Hawaii, but reared in southern California, Mr. Sherwood admits to barely making it out of high school, usually pushing his books aside and always "jumping the fence when the surf was up," but he managed to build successful corporations around a patented foam mold process, which shapes foam well enough to be used in improving many military vehicles and devices used today.

"I'm just lucky, I guess," Mr. Sherwood said modestly.

A 15-foot, foam-molded wing of the military's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle during its final inspection at Foam Matrix, Inc., in Inglewood, California. Kent Sherwood's inexpensive and quick foam-molding process has cut production costs of military equipment and devices in half. (Photograph courtesy of Foam Matrix)

He is the son of former Chief Judge Advocate Samuel Sherwood, who served in the Pacific during World War II and moved his family to southern California, near Los Angeles, while Kent was a young boy. Despite the move, said Kent Sherwood, the "beach boy" was still in him.

By age 10, Mr. Sherwood made his first surfboard in wood shop class.

"I still remember that surfboard," he said. "It was made out of solid redwood. It was so heavy I needed my friends to help me carry it down the beach."

Today, Mr. Sherwood heads a successful corporation called Foam Matrix, Incorporated, founded in 1994 and based in Inglewood, California.

His foam-molding process was discovered by trial and error after he dropped out of college. The process helped him succeed in designing surfboards, sailboards, and skateboards, and now is considered the cutting edge of aerospace technology.

He has used it to fit a rocketpowered satellite launch vehicle with state-of-the-art fins and to create a life-size mold of a Moai statue on Easter Island for researchers to test how the ancient sculptors moved and erected the rocks from the quarry. Now, he is attempting to create new and better armor for military vehicles against improvised explosive devices, often seen used by insurgents in Iraq, and to create a lighter, more advanced rudder system for navy ships.

The foam-molding process is inexpensive and quick, said Mr. Sherwood, cutting production costs by 50 percent for the military. It is a simple but ingenious way to build aerospace parts, said Mr. Sherwood, much like a waffle maker. The interior of a vehicle, for example - its attachment structures and bracing - is molded in one piece, which dramatically reduces the many metal parts and screws that would normally be used when assembling a vehicle or device.

Mr. Sherwood's foam-molding process is light, but strong.

"Though it needs to be covered with fiberglass," he said, "it is pretty substantial by its own."

"He's very modest," said Ms. Gallery. "He got the highest award for suppliers from Boeing."

Foam Matrix made state-ofthe art fins for a rocket-powered satellite launch vehicle, called Pegasus, which was the first winged vehicle to accelerate to more than eight times the speed of sound.

Ms. Gallery explained Mr. Sherwood was one of 24,000 suppliers eligible for the award in 2002, however, when he was named, Mr. Sherwood, who blushes when speaking of his success, did not want to personally accept the award at the Boeing ceremony.

"I own exactly one suit coat and one tie, and I had neither on that night," he said. "My vicepresident, Michael Kramer, accepted it."

Mr. Sherwood's success began with surfboards only seven years after he left high school, however, he is also known in the skateboard industry. Working in only a 1,200 square foot room, Mr. Sherwood, with help from Mr. Kramer and 40 employees who rotated shifts, worked around the clock to create his ZFlex skateboards, which quickly became a popular board.

Mr. Sherwood was even more intrigued with the skateboarding industry because of his stepson, Jay Adams, who is one of the biggest skateboard legends in America.

A new book, "Jay-Boy," which Mr. Sherwood is publishing, is a compilation of photographs he took of Mr. Adams skateboarding as a youth. The book is due out in September.

When the skateboarding industry faltered in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mr. Sherwood turned his interest toward aerospace technology, which led to the Pegasus project.

The Pegasus project was masterminded by Great Britain's Burt Rutan, who is considered the "Godfather of composite aircraft technology," said Mr. Sherwood. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which was the first airplane to circle the world non-stop and without refueling.

Mr. Sherwood's success with the Pegasus fins helped his corporation land a contract with Lockheed Martin in 1993 to develop foam cores for wings and a tail fin for the Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM, which is a conventional air-to-ground cruise missile under development for the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

The JASSM project was a multi-million dollar, multi-year program for Foam Matrix, the largest order of its kind for the Southern California-based company. Mr. Sherwood happily reports that his operations moved to a more spacious 20,000 square foot building once the JASSM contract was secured, and Mr. Kramer also joined the Foam Matrix team full-time.

"You have to understand, I was never an engineer," said a humble Mr. Sherwood. "Mike hated it when they called it 'surfboard technology,' but he changed his mind when it became a successful advertising pitch."

Mr. Sherwood's corporation was also awarded a contract to make what are called foammolded "Resin Transfer Molding" wings for the military's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV). The UCAV's primary mission will be to attack enemy air defense systems, which, say engineers, may change modern air warfare.

While all of his military projects continued to progress, Mr. Sherwood also found time to work with artists in the California area to create foam mold sculptures.

"This is the first time I've taken a vacation this long," said Mr. Sherwood, sitting on the screened deck of Ms. Gallery's cottage, as he watched the rain come down around the Annex. "I could sit here all day and enjoy this."

Mr. Sherwood still feels the urge to return to his home in Hawaii and surf again, but his yearning to return to work is much greater.

"The most important thing to me in my life is to really enjoy what you do," he said. "I still look forward to going to work, I still enjoy learning something new."

The beach boy still resides within Mr. Sherwood, however, and he finds time every now and then to enjoy the waves.

"I haven't been in the water for awhile now, but on my way to work I drive by the Malibu pier," he said. "Surf or no surf, I still go there to see the sunrise."

He was visiting Ms. Gallery with his brother, Leo, and a childhood friend, Vicki Laken.