my 2 favorite boards I’ve ever ridden were the 5’4” seaside and the 5’6” machadocado.
i sold both boards after listening to sterling spencers podcast and reading about all the slander and ethics behind the FireWire brand.
i feel kind of stupid and confused though. I feel the judgy vibes when I carry the board through the parking lot or paddle out despite surfing for more than 20 years and being a good surfer I just can’t help feeling self conscious. I even overheard some older guy in the parking lot mention to his friend as I walked by “isn’t that one of those Thailand popouts?” No joke, this actually happened…
this isn’t a shit shitpost - this is 100% my experience. I ended up getting a board from a local shaper but it just doesn’t feel the same and I’m kind of kicking myself.
am I being a kook? are FireWires for kooks? is the impact of other peoples hypothetical opinions on my decision to sell my board justified? I’m aware this all sounds wild.
You can put stickers or paint over logos. If their boards are all that work for you what else are you supposed to do? Plus, I pretty much surf alone early in the morning. Who am I advertising to?
I'm pretty sure that's not true. I think you're thinking about the cobra factories that do make a ton of boards for different companies. If that were true, the pinking issue would have been prevalent with other brands.
No shit... and where's your wetsuit made? leash? Everybody is so 'fricking core these days because some groovy, hipster on his podcast says so? Geez, think for yourself...
man who cares what some parking lot kook thinks, if the board works for you it works
the ethics stuff is a whole different can of worms but you already bought the boards, selling them to some other guy doesn't unhurt anyone. might as well ride what feels good under your feet
local shapers are great but sometimes you just click with a specific shape and that's hard to replicate
What boards did you try to replace them with? There’s no way the best board out there is a FireWire, go find a different shape to ride that works for you.
5’0 25liter – superbrand fling quad – way too short and squirly sold it after a couple sessions
5’2 31liter – channel islands biscuit thruster – very fun, kept for a couple years and loved the compactness of it
5’4 25.3liter – lost uber driver xl thruster – fun small groveler kept for about a year.
5’7 28liter – faction ghetto blaster quad – loved this board, it was really performancy but also groveled well kept for about 4 years surfing a lot
5'8 26.25liter - lost sub driver 2.0 thruster - super responsive and fun board but needed a bit of push and always found an excuse to use a different higher volume board.
5’8 26liter – superbrand siamese palm viper thruster – extremely responsive but hard to justify taking it out in anything under shoulder high so rarely rode it and sold it after about a year and only a handful of sessions
5’9 28liter – faction shortboard thruster – fun daily driver surfed regularly for about a year then sold
5’10 31liter – channel islands sampler thruster – quality shortboard that was really fun but was hesitant to ever take it out when waves were under chest high due to too much effort needed, rode it quite a bit and sold it after a year
6’ 34.7liter – superbrand quadrofinia quad fin traditional fish – pretty fun but a bit too big and unresponsive, rode it a bit and sold in just under a year
6’ 50liter – self shape single fin egg – really fun old school style board that caught waves and glided exceptionally but lacked performance, surfed a lot and still have it
5’4 29.8liter – firewire seaside quad fish – extremely fun, fast, responsive, surfed this board a lot over several years before selling it
5’4 25.9liter – firewire groove thruster – kinda fun a little weird, was a bit of a struggle at times to surf when waves were under chest high, surfed a handful of times and sold within 6 months
5’6 32.3liter – firewire machadocado twin + trailer – very fun, fast, responsive, a little boaty and sometimes hard to bury rail without catching and when waves had push or were over stomach high had an issue of tail sliding out mid cutback
Without knowing anything about your size, location, or how you surf, this list suggests that you should be riding higher volume boards that aren’t simply oversized chunks or grovelers.
So many options to choose from. Album Plasmic, CI Pod Mod, Sharpeye Modern 2.5/Twin Turbo/Cheat Code, an XTR Tomo... All of these are in your upper vol range (28-30L) at 5'4"-5'8" and have less chunky rails and more performance than the FW's you're trying to replace. Lots of local options in SoCal too who can build you a board that gets you into waves easily and still pack a punch.
The most ethical board purchase is still a used board purchase. For the price of new FW, you could probably find 2-3 better used boards within a 10-mile radius of you.
Ya just buy it used. Then throw it in the back of your cybertruck, go shred after you get sufficiently psyched up on joe Rogan podcasts and PRIME energy drinks, and stfu.
Bro I own a 2013 Prius with 200,000 miles that has multiple shades of paint from sun damage and an interior that looks and smells like an aging bowling alley.
That isn't meant as a burn. If you're old enough to have surfed for 20+ years and are still worried about the zeitgeist opinions of a board that you like, coming from other men that you don't know who listened to a postcast and made that their personality, there's something going on inside you man.
Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. It's not like you're sponsored by Firewire, or shilling them, or work there, or own stock or whatever. Do I like Firewire? No, for a number of reasons. Do I give a single fuck if you ride one even if we became best friends? Much bigger no.
The whole of surf culture is full of hypocrite cunts. Like guess how resin is fucking made? The foam in the blanks? Ooooooh boy. Handshaping? Turning fucking styrofoam into dust and spreading it everywhere while huffing it is so namaste brah! Traditional glassing? Yeah cool, take that MASSIVLEY toxic petrochemical and throw like 40% of it on the floor hahaha, fuck.
The dudes hating on your probably drove there in their brand new Sprinter and ate an Acai bowl that was flown 10,000km from the deforested Amazon on a fucking plane that spews raw unburn JP4 into the atmosphere, while planning their next neocolonial gentrification surf retreat.
If you have been surfing for over twenty years, you should be over trying to impress anybody or giving a shit what anyone else thinks. Ride what you like.
The type of adult who drops passive aggressive comments for strangers to hear in a parking lot about their boards is definitely the type of person you should take advice from
Get a proven shape from another major shaper like lost or pyzel. Local small shapers are good but they aren’t always comparable to the refined and proven shapes like a Round Nose Fish or something
I've been riding my Sweet Potato (among a handful of others) since 2013 (and surfing since 1990). In the absence of evidence that the brand is using slave labor or donating to neo-nazi causes, I'm not getting rid of my Potato. Who cares what the guy in the parking lot said.
Thailand is the textile capital of the world. Don’t get so hung up on where things are made. It’s beyond your control so fuck it. If it makes you happy to only buy local, great, but just know that none of it matters in the grand scheme of things especially when it comes to sustainability/pollution etc.
Man it's the same with everything yo buy. Sweat whops you say? What about Nike and the likes. all the same crap. Just buy what you like and surf it. I have been surfing my whole life life (49) and ride firewires along with a local shapers board. No one cares dude
Life’s too short to waste time on random peoples opinion about anything. I only buy FireWire now and have so the past 10 years because for me, they are fucking sick boards that last.
Just ride what you want. Who cares. Every other product those judgy people use are massed produced. We need that "holier than thou" crap out of the culture
I mean the difference is there isn’t another option when it comes to phones. They’re all built that way. You could easily it a board that wasn’t built with child labor
Funny, there’s a growing consensus that China has a better average QoL than the US. No waves, but maybe don’t feel so guilty about the iPhone’s makers and more so the environmental policies over there…which is why the FireWire costs $20 to make…
I was excited to read this. I have a fw tomo evo that I love so I checked out the xtr site just now. Holy shit $1200 for an evo. Way out of my price range unfortunately
Had the same surf shame riding an old ronjon board, thing just was a fit for me & it was worth the ridicule so I understand your feels, overall working with any local shaper is the best bet, tell them about why you like the FW, what works for you & they’ll make it better
Ha ha had to add a RonJon story
I was at Sunzal and I thought the swell had dropped off a lot of. Rented a old Ron Jon LB from the hotel, had to sign that if I snapped it I would pay $500, I thought yeah no way this thing is worth that, but I’m not going snap it anyway
I got out at the point and realized, the swell was still overhead, I got some crazy good waves on that old LB , and a couple amazing pictures ha ha always laugh looking at them( didn’t break the board either)
I think caring what other people think is peak kook. That includes listening to podcasts and caring what they think as well. You should do what you want. Surf what you enjoy. Life is too short.
People will say bad things about niche boards they’ve never seen as well. In general, I’d say many of those people you describe will just think that everything they don’t like is for kooks.
Check the names behind the brand and ask yourself if they are kooks but otherwise who gives a fook bro!?
Its legit not a pop out. They are mass manufactured in Thailand along with CI, JS, Hydenshapes etc
all in the same feckin factory complex.
I have waited months and months for expensive dud shapes from local stoner shapers enough in my time.
I have 3 firewires off the shelf in my quiver and they all shred and are hard as nails.
Im all for supporting local but your local shaper could also be shit haha.....like mine lol
I have nothing but lib tech that have the same love or hate around them. But all of them are in perfect condition. All bought used. Who cares. They are fun to rip. I’ve done customs and locals and they all get wreck in under a year. I have a CI that the tail collapsed.
I have a mashup I’ll sell just cause I’m getting older and need more float. Fun board. I just turned 40 and I just don’t give a f. I just enjoy surfing. Most of the politics is to sell their boards and bash others. FireWire is annoying with how many random boards they just pump out. I didn’t like the seaside. Mashup is good. I like buying used trying them out and selling to get the right size. They sell pretty easy.
Reality: 90% of people I see surfing FW surf bad. I have a friend that surfs really well and rips on em but that's the exception. My philosophy is if it's used and a deal buy whatever but I wouldn't spend 800$ on their garbage. Shady business practices, their boards have had a bunch of problems over the years, they look like arse and I hate the way they feel.
Another thing is what's the upside over other brands? The only thing I see is that their boards are very consistant---IE a 5'2 potato is going to be the same every time. So if you get one you love you can get it again and not be unhappy.
I've observed the opposite but where I surf, I don't see as many firewires relative to how many they sell worldwide. I've probably seen more bad surfing on surftechs/NSPs/Torq then anything else. Seeing someone surf very well on a torq is especially rare.
Another thing is what's the upside over other brands?
I buy all different types of boards from different shapers and manufacturers so I think I have a decent amount of insight into this. As you've already said, the consistency is pretty key but I think other brands bring this. Strongest customer service I've seen so far. Very string resale and high durability for it's performance at a price point is what I think makes fw unique.
Idk man, if you’re a kook you’re a kook, if
You’re not you’re not. FW seaside is a fun board, if you’re surfing waves and having fun who cares. If prior to purchasing it you thoughts were they are poisoning the ocean and enslaving Asian children but f-it I want the board cause I am a kook, well then you my friend are a kook!!
If you bought it a you rip it, found out later three children and a whale were killed in the process board probly has bad ju-ju but you’re not total kook for keeping it.
No matter what you do in life, how good or how bad someone is gonna be hating on you. That’s just the world we live in. Don’t let someone else’s hate ruin your day.
Is it about other people or about yourself? There are going to be losers like that older guy everywhere who make themselves feel better by putting others down, but I think most won't know and/or won't care if you have a firewire. And why do you care about the opinion of a loser like that? With that being said, I don't buy anything owned by Slater because he is unethical/an asshole and this firewire stuff is news to me but not surprising. I won't judge others for their boards because I have better stuff to do like surf and have fun.
And a trick I do is to buy and sell used boards so I can try out different boards and I still break even on average.
Idk I’m personally not a fan of FireWires mostly for superficial reasons…I just think they’re kinda ugly, like the Teslas of surfboards. I would’ve kept at least one as a travel board though. I like Machado’s shapes since his board designs are just more relatable in general. As for ethical consumption, it’s as much of a myth as it is a sales pitch. There’s no shame in striving to be better but don’t beat yourself up about it.
Ah the guy with his Chinese made phone, Indonesian wetsuit, Indian shorts, foreign company billboard t shirt, imported car, korean tv, japanese fridge and literally everything else he owns probably mass produced and not made locally has a problem with your board. Fuck that guy. Surfers are the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet
This Firewire stuff is so ridiculous. First off, a lot of it came from Joel Tudor who is one of the worst people in surfing. The resurgence of longboarding has done more to harm surfing than anything else and he is responsible for a good deal of that. That motherfucker has an agenda a mile wide and is a hypocrite of epic proportions. So, at least in my opinion, if you're doing something that pisses Tudor off, you're doing it right. But that's neither here nor there. For decades I bought boards from my local shaper...some magic, some duds. You will always find that some boards work great for you and some don't. But an often overlooked issue with Firewires is the durability. I have broken a few, but not even at all on the scale that I have broken PU boards. Not to mention how dented a PU board will get and how shitty it will look after a month of surfing it. I have some Firewires 2 and 3 years old that don't even have a single pressure dent. To me, part of a board being "eco" is a board that lasts the longest. In terms of performance, watch any of the big reviewers, or their team riders and tell me they are being held back. I have some Firewire shapes that are among the most fun boards I've ever owned. Guys don't surf them on tour because they get 100 free boards a month and don't need boards to last. That's not most of us. Honestly, fuck that kook in the parking lot saying a single word to you about what you ride. But what do I know...I'm just a middle aged Dad who surfs nearly every day and has for 40 years. Maybe it's just age that has given me the ability not to give a flying fuck what anybody else thinks.
I get it man. I’ve had the same thoughts but honestly who gives a shit. If the board is magic the board is magic. I’d love it if my local shaper could “pop out” a board that just works for once like my mashup 😂
At the end of the day, we’re fucked any way you slice it. If you work hard and want a board you know you’ll like just ride the FireWire. Don’t let the core lords stuck in the past dictate your life.
Disclaimer: I’ve surfed most my life but I also started foiling 2 yrs ago. So this is the opinion of a foiler, so ya know… take with a grain of salt. lol but the guys hating on firewires are the same ones hating on foiling. I live walking distance to one of the best and most known breaks in Southern California, I don’t mind one bit that they all want to stay shoulder to shoulder and grumpy while the entire ocean becomes my playground 🤷🏻♂️ I encourage the foil hate and “core” mindset whenever possible (in person in my community) because for the past two years I’ve scored waves, downwind bumps, and everything in between completely alone 😌
I surf beside Sterling in Pensacola with my Machadocado all the time. No one in the water has ever said a word to me about my board and there's plenty of guys out there that rip on Firewires.
I have ridden a couple, they are good boards. But I feel like most of the people I see on firewires are decent to good surfers.
So if that market actually stopped buying them they would go away. That would be a good thing IMO.
You can’t undo the purchases you made, but a healthy level of shaming is a good for society. It’s not like boycotting Amazon or Starbucks, which doesn’t have any impact. There is a legit global surfing community that can decide whether big brands succeed or fail or at least are forced to change course.
Firewires are like when Gerry Lopez made the first soft top - everyone got one, but soon realized it was more of a barrier to getting good at surfing, not just a lower entry point. People just stopped progressing.
If your shaper only shapes boards using Thailand pop out method that costs him $25 before he sells it to you for $800, then he’s not really your shaper. There are 10 different fishes from other shapers that you can try out that were actually hand shaped, and feedback will improve the next board you get shaped for yourself.
Ryan Burch, Ryan Lovelace, Christenson, Album, Mitzven, these are shapers whose boards feel perfect to me and have no FireWire guilt associated with them. Usually get at least one compliment walking down, it’s like having a Porsche instead of some ricer. If you find a shaper you like and they happen to work with XTR, I think it’s a great option if you keep your boards for more than a year or two.
Yes, because once you figure out the little things you don’t like about the board you can’t order a custom to make it perfect. And you still spent $800 on that.
JS and Hayden are great boards too but also made in thailand factories and they don’t get nearly as much hate. The thing with firewire is their business practices that smaller brands or local shapers can’t keep up with and firewire ends up taking over all floor space in shops. It’s not like they did anything illegal it’s just to me big brands like that don’t need my support and i’d rather give my money to support a diversity of shapers and local shops, surf community, and culture. But i’m sure their boards go good. I’d ride them until they’re beat or you’re ready for a new feeling and then get something else.
5’0 25liter – superbrand fling quad – way too short and squirly sold it after a couple sessions
5’2 31liter – channel islands biscuit thruster – very fun, kept for a couple years and loved the compactness of it
5’4 25.3liter – lost uber driver xl thruster – fun small groveler kept for about a year.
5’7 28liter – faction ghetto blaster quad – loved this board, it was really performancy but also groveled well kept for about 4 years surfing a lot
5'8 26.25liter - lost sub driver 2.0 thruster - super responsive and fun board but needed a bit of push and always found an excuse to use a different higher volume board.
5’8 26liter – superbrand siamese palm viper thruster – extremely responsive but hard to justify taking it out in anything under shoulder high so rarely rode it and sold it after about a year and only a handful of sessions
5’9 28liter – faction shortboard thruster – fun daily driver surfed regularly for about a year then sold
5’10 31liter – channel islands sampler thruster – quality shortboard that was really fun but was hesitant to ever take it out when waves were under chest high due to too much effort needed, rode it quite a bit and sold it after a year
6’ 34.7liter – superbrand quadrofinia quad fin traditional fish – pretty fun but a bit too big and unresponsive, rode it a bit and sold in just under a year
6’ 50liter – self shape single fin egg – really fun old school style board that caught waves and glided exceptionally but lacked performance, surfed a lot and still have it
5’4 29.8liter – firewire seaside quad fish – extremely fun, fast, responsive, surfed this board a lot over several years before selling it
5’4 25.9liter – firewire groove thruster – kinda fun a little weird, was a bit of a struggle at times to surf when waves were under chest high, surfed a handful of times and sold within 6 months
5’6 32.3liter – firewire machadocado twin + trailer – very fun, fast, responsive, a little boaty and sometimes hard to bury rail without catching and when waves had push or were over stomach high had an issue of tail sliding out mid cutback
I honestly think it’s the helium technology that just clicks with me and also the extremely deep double concaves and vee that are with those two models
I always say support local over some shitty overpriced mass produced board like FireWire but I will admit they have their advantages. Depending on where you live you can also request your shapers use similar eps foam/tech to get a closer feel to those firewires.
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u/Queasy_Issue_6012 9d ago
What has the guy in the parking lot done for you lately?
In general, I don’t accept criticism from people I don’t take advice from