over on surfermag http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=1010625
Looks like a pretty fast/skatey shape.
that was a very nice move from Mark both as a friend and marketeer.
Tanner is well respected enough among the crew at SurferMag to give some credibility to his reviews probably better than Bsssy. The crew there will scoop the stuff he lays down on his experience with drool coming out of their mouths… Very smart to get Tanner as one of the first persons on any BB to try it since he doesn’t carry an agenda…
That fact that he’s wiilling to let the rest of the crew try his gift is even better…
I think Bert’s dreams will soon finally blow over the horizon like a super Katrina if the rest of the skurfer crew goes gaga over the design. Love that question about the vent plug… Probably one of those guys that would forget to screw it in if they had to even with the big arrow pointing to it…
Congrats everyone at Firewire (especially Bert, Greg and Nev) I just hope your production ops will be able to keep up if this takes all off like it looks like it will.
Definately the way to go - giving boards to a forum member whose board reviews are well respected. Obviously on Sways that person would be ahem… me
A friend of mine got to test ride a Firewire board. Former pro surfer Chuy Rena is a sales rep for Firewire and my friend is friends with Chuy.(sorry if I spelled the name wrong)
The test board was a 6’4" squash tail with cool paint job and vent plug on the deck. Stringers on the rails!
He can’t stop talking about it. Fast and alive ect. Every thing that I read on Swaylocks was being said by my friend.
He’s sold on every thing but the price…Chuy even did the jump test. Wow !!!
I got to check out the board. Very light and thin!
I hope Bert and Nev and Greg and crew do well.
Ray
Cool.
I’ve had similar personal reviews of a couple Ive made…all fast and one fast & alive…it keeps getting better and better.
Have had similar feelings about std epoxy as well.
Firewire…yeah good news…
6’0 x 21 x 2 3/4
Anyone else notice something weird about those dimensions? I admit I’m not a shaper, nor have I read ALL of Bert’s posts, but I have read enough of them to remember that he stated many times that compsand boards need to be shaped (planshape) differently than standard PU/PE boards to take advantage of the compsand construction. One of those things that he said made a major difference was going thinner.
I saw a Firewire in a shop, it was around 6’4 x 19.5 x 2.5 - normal dimensions for a standard off the rack PU/PE. Shouldn’t these things not look like the same template as other off the rack boards. I won’t be buying a Firewire until I can get one that is custom and follows what Bert has developed over the years, not incorporates new construction technology into old templates - that has been done before by Randy French.
Firewire boards are supposed to be different, not just made differently.
good observations SS
well lets see…take ‘normal’ dimensions and designs, widely acceptable to the generally ‘ignorant’ masses…so that there isnt that initial “only two inches thick? No way man, I need more float than that” response…no chance for a sale if you cant get one foot in the door…know what I mean?
Now, add strength…
add fatigue resistance…
reduce weight…
add kool graphics…
add superior flex properties…
add superior feel.
Sounds like a good plan to me. But of course, the jury is still out on the last two.
Only time will tell 
bert likes thin boards but
i know from experience that with the right approach
you can build a thick composite that will surf unreal
my 2 3/4 build flex good for my weight
rail shape has a lot to do with it as well
bert builds custom boards under the sunova label
some are thick some are thin some a light some are heavy
the point is that theses variables can be controlled wrt Flex
as one who frequents the erBB more than Sways I think that it will take more than Tanners blessing and a free ride to win over the Design forum, if you can get Pavel and Malcolm Campbell to have boards produced by firewire then maybe. The diehards of that forum have a very definite alternative craft mentality, so much so that it seems like trifins have become extinct.
Maybe Pickles should be the next demo rider as he’s a Lost freak and poly fanatic from day one plus he hasn’t been drawn over to the dark side yet as a hardcore performance thruster afficianado.
Another guy would be Mayhemb himself…
But like you said I don’t think you’d convince the fishheads or bonzerboys over there to do anything different.
Looks like a Nugget with a swallow tail. Geoff’s influence continues…
i agree solo
first thing i thought when i saw it.
looks my No3 which was basically nugget outline with a swallow tail
it went good.
well you got to remember Tanner rode and posted raves about his yellow Nugget thruster so maybe the shape fits him…
It was Tanner that got me psyched again about McCoys Nugget design a couple years back. Only he had a real poly and I didn’t.
Interesting name for the design though “futura” instead of “RetroX”.
Like I’ll always said everything around these parts “new” is usually just someone else’s genius getting recycled again…
…very good technology…
…nice outline…
…good position of side fins…
…I see that the rear fin or stabilizer is pretty near the tail…
…bad artwork (not cool for my taste…) and bad choice of colors…
…may be too big for the smaller guys…
Maybe they got that name from the 1963 Ford falcon Futura (car). It’s retro in that its what people thought the future would look like back in the sixties. That board has a bit of the Jetsons about it for sure.
From Bert’s last posts and from the differences of sunnova and firewire boards construction . . . Bert was saying he more like a guy contracted to show them how to make a light, strong, flexible board, but it seems he was more on an advisory role . . . and it seems Firewire may use some methods / technology that came from Bert, it isn’t 100% Bert, but he said ask Mark P the technical questions . . .
I saw a Firewire in person . . . and the dims were standard shortboard, but I noticed the construction was way different than the huntington open display models Bert had . . .
But the real question is . . . how long is it going to take before some enterprising swaylocker buys a Firewire and cuts it open to check the design / material . . .
id be very surprized if firewire were better than berts personal boards
or the ones he makes for mates
if it was me
i would always want to be a few steps ahead of the players
the reason the construction could be different
is that production would be streamlined in pursuit of the holy buck
or perhaps the company were not prepared to pay for all the tech
they would have made shortcuts for sure.
in a lot of ways it gives the sunova label a lot more value
cuz there “extra special”
and have a more grass roots stlye for surfings hardcore
I know which one id prefer!
i wonder how they glue on the rails???
I’d suspect
-
they use plastics in the sandwich and not wood because it is cheaper easier and can use any art they want
-
they use Bert’s rail techniques
-
they build to reasonably standard size/shapes/fins so that surfers evaluate them only on durability and weight
But, if flex were optimized at 2 1/8" or less thick, and you get a board at 2.5", it will not flex the same. Sure, you can make it flex more by thinning the glass/sandwich layer or rails, but in general thickness matters most, and a thickness change that large will not retain its flex.
Of course, if all else is the same, and they weigh more than a pound less than a competition Pu/Pe and are more durable, they should sell for $100-150 more than a competition Pu/Pe. People will pay that much more for weight.
My suspicion is that they will be $300-400 more. Other guys who make sandwich boards in the US charge $500-600 more (Stretch, Bob Miller), and at that rate people will not pay more for the improvement in product. If the sandwich board comes in at $100-200 more, I think they have a winner. It is still a big challenge to hit that price point with a reasonable profit margin…that’s been the challenge all along.
It comes down to man-hours per board. No more than 2-3 more man-hours per board than a Pu/Pe that is shaped in one shop and glassed in another.