My review of a 6'6 Firewire

General Discussion
1

Hi guys. I just thought I would post my impressions of a 6’6 Firewire that I rented from Bill Barnfield’s shop on the North Shore yesterday.

I surfed Sunset at 6:30am yesterday and got a couple of good ones, it was about 6ft (HI scale) but with some 8 to 10 footers coming through on the sets and the morning wind was light and feathering nice. Unfortunately I caught one on the head and snapped my double stringered 7’6 gun clean through. It hurt and I wasn’t happy. I went in, had breakfast and coffee and decided round 10am to rent a Firewire from Bill’s shop just to see how they go.

I rented a 6’6 x 2 3/8 x 18 1/8 (I’m not a big guy) with a pretty tight, gunny swallow tail, maybe 13 or 13 1/2 with a tight exit. I put my own GR fins on it (the 2nd biggest thruster fins that I think FCS make) and in the car I couldn’t help but notice that the right hand fin boxes were a little out of alignment with the left, not a good sign. It also looked pretty over rockered for a 6’6 and the tail rails weren’t particularly hard, but whaterver.

I took it back to Sunset round 11. It had dropped a lot, probably 6 - 7 ft on the sets and 5 for regular waves, the W wind had picked up a bit as well. I’ve surfed my regular 6’6 x 17 1/2 x 2 1/4 rounded pin tail in those conditions plenty of times so I thought not a problem. Paddling out the board was pretty slow and really corky, bouncing over the chop. I took a 5 ft right, the board stalled at the top, refusing to push over till the last minute, it skipped down the face, the tail slid out and down I went. This happened repeatedly, the board kept stalling at the top. I made a few with freefall drops but there was no getting on the wave at the normal time. The tail was super loose, and this with the huge GR fins on! It was not positive at all off the bottom, even when I made the wave, really slow and skippy. I stayed on the 5 footers, didn’t even try for the bigger ones and it SUCKED! Out for 1 1/2 hours and super dissapointed.

I would have to say that this was probably the worst board that I have surfed in 5 years. It was GARBAGE, absolute JUNK. I would not buy one or recomend one to anyone. It might suit beachies but with the rocker I would imagine you would have to surf a bigger board than your regular one. Give it to your young kids to play with but don’t buy one yourself.

My 2 cents.

Abe

2

Don’t hold back now Abe… tell us how you really feel.

3

Good honest feedback no BS this is what Swaylocks is all about!

4

bad combo…

superlight board and sunset

would’ve been neat to hear a Vland, Lani’s(turtle’s now I guess) or Ali’i attempt.

had a similar experience (unable to get in over the hump) last year with my FW fish on the southshore.

always nice to find out for yourself(except for the pounding you just took in the name of research) that it was just all a bunch of magazine and internet hype isn’t it…

5

Thanks guys, I have to say that I had high hopes for the board but that they were cut down. I was really looking forward to surfing one.

6

at least you are honest. personally I have never thought of taking a FW to any heavy spot, only mellow highperformance waves like say, trestles.

7

Oneula may be right. The board might need more weight. I ride another board in the same size range when the conditions get choppy and heavy here.

I rode my 6’6 flexfire today in fun/clean San Diego surf and it went well. The board is 19’1/2 wide. And SD is not sunset.

I have seen the “step up” versions of the firewire and it seems to me that they are built for small people looking for a semi-gun. So, if your sized properly for the boards intended range there should be little excuse for the board not working in heavier conditions.

I have also seen quality control issues with some of firewires on the racks. A crooked swallow tail on a futura model really turned me off.

I also had the misfortune of turning a guy on too firewires and he bought one and hates it.

Mine is holding up really really well. I got it last fall and ride it frequently. I also stuck small fins in it for my size. This really help it out.

Smaller fins won’t help a crooked fin box that’s for sure.

I would order a custom, but I am not going to buy another one of the rack. Mainly because I own the only model that fits me.

I like the flex, so I’m not going to add any lead.

Shine On

8

I don’t remember if Abe said the board had a concave bottom or not. I’ve definitely had a few of those “hang” at the top at take off. The boards I’ve ridden that caught waves easiest had belly up front.

9

thank you for the honest review.

this is what i turn to swaylocks for…the truth!

although paddling out at 5ft sunset with a ultra light 6-6 would not be my first choice, with a west wind even.

nonetheless thanks for a great review.

i wonder if adding ballast on the nose would have affected the boards performance?

10

i think to be fair it’s important to test ride a board in a variety of conditions to truly get a handle on its merits and limitations. & one surf isn’t really appropriate for informed feedback. i rarely connect with a board’s soul during a first surf. but maybe firewires don’t have souls. lol.

(just being cheeky).

11

They sell for 750.00 at Bill’s shop and for about 170.00 less you can get a custom made epoxy board with custom epoxy G-10 fins for the board with a custom glass job from myself. All this done under the direction of the designer and shaper . No managers or team riders to pay for. Sound good ?

12

Hey Greg,

you make epoxy now? awesome. epoxy over pu?

Rio

13

I am beginning due to the interest, more things to play with.

14

Aloha John

Sorry your first FireWire experience wasn’t a good one.

The FireWire demo boards we have aren’t necessarily “stock” models. Rather they are pro trade ins from this winters contest season. Consequentially, the specific shapes of these demo boards may not resemble nor work anything like the “stock” models available. But the general feel of the construction and materials and their effect on ride performance should be fairly similar.

That said, you energized my curiosity regarding the 6’6’ board you demoed and caused me to take a close look at it.

As you noted the right fin at 5° had 2°s less cant on it than the left fin 7°. The toe ins were the same though about 1.5" off the nose.

The rocker wasn’t abnormal. 5.75" nose and 2.7" Tail. Some might feel that was too much tail rocker but it isn’t out of line especially considering the amount of concave. The rocker did seem like it could have been a bit flatter in the center and more flip in the tail.

The concave was what I would consider on the max side. Full concave rail to rail and nose to tail. About 1/8" at the deepest in rider area, fading to 1/16" nose and tail. This plus the fairly hard rails is not a very forgiving bottom.

The thickness was 2 7/16" with a springer which accounts for some of the thickness. The width was just under 18.5" so all in all the board was probably too wide and thick for you John. At least it isn’t what I would make you if you were ordering a custom from me. Especially if it was EPS and more buoyant.

It will be interesting to hear what others think these measurements mean.

15

Bill mate, I would rather order 5 customs from you than a firewire. I love the shape of that orange 7’6 gun you have in the back. Can’t afford a new one though.

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Aloha John

I forgot to mention that the FireWire board you demoed was only 6.75 lbs. with fins installed.

Wider, Thicker, Lighter, More Buoyant and the full concave… all not a good mix in bigger, more powerful, windy, choppy surf for someone your size John.

On the other hand… that 7’6" x 17.75" orange, gun you mentioned, is perfect for someone your size and is exactly what I had in mind when I made it.

Stop in and give me an offer on it. I would love to see someone like you riding it in the surf it was made for! Lets see if we can make it happen.

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The good thing about threads like these is that there is enough detailed information to make one’s own informed call. That board is simply not meant to be ridden by Abe. And it goes to show, the importance of customization with respect to high performance surfing.

hmm…maybe Abe needed some lead weights?!

(really light board with heavy-ass fins!)

18

well ive got my opinions , and after that read it only confirms what ive been saying for the last year …

in this construction , those dimensions are a boat …

ive surfed boards that were 5lb in 10 foot surf , that is 10 foot by west oz standards …

and they went off , but the curves were matched to the materials and the waves …

ive had team guys win contests in 12 foot margaret river on sub 6 lb boards …

bottom line is , 18 1/2 on a 6-6 with a 13" tail , and you have to much outline curve for those waves …

combined with those boat rails and thick tails and you have something that wants to go into a spin everytime you put in on the rail …

no edge ,no release , no release , thick rail …

might as well just tie a large chunk of kelp to your legrope , it would feel the same …

but hey what would i know about marketing surfboards ??

well , hype can only go so far , after that ,the boards do all the talking …

for what its worth , the firewire web site says that firewire surfboards are designed by bert burger , nev hyman and dan mann …

i have had no design input into any firewire full stop ,except a few team boards …

Nev is the main man on design and Greg Loehr is the construction guru now …

so you can thank Nev for performance and you can thank Greg for how well it stands up …

regards

BERT

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Abe, although I am nowhere near the level of design understanding that Bert is, I do all my boards with eps/epoxy and wood rails although not compsand. We have very windy conditions here a lot, and what I was finding with myself and from others who were riding tuflights the same “hang up in the lip” problem you describe while dropping in. My soloution was to keep the board fairly thin 2 3/8 (i’m a bigger guy and a competent but not a great surfer, board is 6’4" x 19 1/2) in the center and doing what appeared to be almost too thin rails. It almost looks like a step deck. This mostly solved the problem. It is still a little more tricky than a PU on the windy days to get into a wave but on good clean days paddling is the same and performance is way more responsive than a PU. I have never seen a firewire outside a magazine photo so I can’t comment on them good or bad.

cheers

20
Quote:

bottom line is , 18 1/2 on a 6-6 with a 13" tail , and you have to much outline curve for those waves …

combined with those boat rails and thick tails and you have something that wants to go into a spin everytime you put in on the rail …

no edge ,no release , no release , thick rail …

might as well just tie a large chunk of kelp to your legrope , it would feel the same …

but hey what would i know about marketing surfboards ??

My father who was a master machinist by training always hammered this phrase into our brains.

“never do anything in life half-assed you’ll only regret it”

and second to that as we helped him was the phrase…

“oh Sh*t!”

seems an appropriate reflection of what Bert’s relaying here with some underlying nuance…

as a student and proponent of cutting edge tech in everything I do daily, I can testify that tech purely by itself without the concept of a proper and appropriate design for it in just about anything is the modern day “fools gold”.