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Nev has a successful 33–year history in the surf industry and is recognized as one of the best shapers in the world. Working closely with Taj over the past 18 months, Nev has been instrumental in developing Future Shapes Technology and designing equipment perfectly suited to Taj’s needs. Taj’s results on the 2007 WCT were his best in years and speak volumes about Nev’s understanding of surfboard design and the pure performance potential of Firewire Surfboards.
Dan Mann, a young, gifted San Diego shaper and an early proponent of epoxy construction and alternative materials, Dan was a natural fit to head up the USA development team. An ex–pro longboarder and powerful, fluid short boarder, Dan was instrumental in the development of Direct Drive 2.0 as well as the architect of the Quadraflex and Flexflight Series.
While both Nev and Dan have considerable shaping expertise, due to the sophistication of our computerized design programs and shaping equipment, we prefer to call them Designers. Drawing on their actual shaping expertise and combining it with the unlimited design capabilities of Firewire’s CAD/CAM platform, Nev and Dan have the tools to take surfboard design into the next frontier, a place where materials have as important an influence on performance as proven design principles. In fact, we believe that just like the influence that Future Shapes Technology has already had on surfboard performance, the next quantum leaps forward will be centered around completely new materials and how those materials allow us to re–tweak longstanding beliefs surrounding shape.
Unlike regular Polyurethane cores, which weigh approximately 3lb per cubic foot, Firewire cores are built from 1lb EPS foam. Not only is this EPS material significantly lighter than regular PU, but 1lb EPS also flexes considerably more. In order to stabilize the flex of the 1lb core and to give it strength so that your foot does not go straight through it, we’ve add a 1/8” layer of extremely hi–density aerospace composite to both the top and bottom decks. This process is called sandwich construction and is exactly what the word implies; the internal EPS blank is sandwiched between the two layers of hi–density skin.
The sandwich is constructed with a layer of lightweight cloth and resin between each layer, both top and bottom. Then the whole assembly is placed in a vacuum bag until the resin cures. The combination of epoxy resin and vacuum pressure creates a very durable bond.
The other components added to the blank build are the balsa rails. Like the tension of a bow before releasing an arrow, the balsa controls both the degree of flex and equally importantly, the specific rate of return. If the board is too flexible you lose drive and it feels like a bodyboard. On the other hand, if it is too stiff its like riding a car without shock absorbers. In addition, with flex, you gain the extra energy created when the board bends during a turn and then snaps back to its original rocker as you come out of the turn, catapulting you forward.
The specific construction of the balsa rail is also important. While the balsa looks like a thin veneer on a completed surfboard, in fact it is over half an inch thick, built from 3 x 4mm strips laminated together and running the length of the surfboard perimeter, creating an incredibly durable structure and incidentally a great buffer for those inevitable rail bashes when surfing.
There is another performance benefit inherent in Firewire’s flex characteristics. Most surfboard design represents a trade off between rocker and planing speed. A heavier rocker allows for tighter turns but pushes water in the flats. Alternatively a flatter rocker is faster in the flats but does not turn as sharply. Because Firewire’s are actually creating rocker when you lean into a turn, the overall rocker can be slightly flatter, allowing for a faster board in the flats without sacrificing turning radius – the best of both worlds.
EPS Foam Core: Firewire is 100% committed to EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) for our shaped cores. Not only is this material infinitely more environmentally friendly than PU (polyurethane) foam, but the excess EPS material is recycled. In addition, the 1lb core is an essential part of Firewire’s high performance. The way in which materials travel through different mediums is a direct result of their density AND shape. For example, a baseball and tennis ball are roughly the same shape and size, but behave completely differently when thrown. Similarly, a 1lb foam core allows for rapid direction changes and overall responsiveness during rail–to–rail turns.
Corecell Skin: Corecell is an amazing material with an extremely high strength to weight ratio. One of its primary uses is in wind turbine blades, which gives you an idea of its durability. It is flexible and has very high impact strength with very little material fatigue over time. Unlike traditional PU foam boards, Firewire blanks are not only lighter weight and stronger, but the flex characteristics remain intact for a considerable amount of time, long after traditional blank materials have fatigued and lost their spring.
Epoxy Resins: Firewire boards are built with epoxy resins, which are not only far stronger than polyurethane based resins, but emit only 2% of the VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) versus regular PU resin. Unlike a PU based laminating facility, you can walk anywhere in the Firewire factory without a mask and without a headache. Furthermore clean up requires simple citrus cleaners.
Balsa Wood Rails: The specific construction and choice of balsa for the rails is vital to Firewire’s flex characteristics and performance. While the balsa looks like a thin veneer on a completed surfboard, in fact it is over half an inch thick, built from 3 x 4mm strips laminated together and running the length of the surfboard perimeter, creating an incredibly lightweight, durable structure and incidentally a great buffer for those inevitable rail bashes when surfing. The balsa endures that the degree AND rate of flcx is controlled to maximize performance.
Lamination: With the inherent strength of our custom blanks and the epoxy resin systems, all our shortboards are laminated with a single 4oz deck both top and bottom, except for the FE606P and FE608P Step Up Guns. All other models over 6’10” have a double 4oz top deck and a single 4oz bottom. Given the fact that some Longboarders actually prefer additional weight, we’ve added a layer of 6oz to select longboards and these are delivered to retail with a special sticker clearly showing the lamination schedule.
Hi Density Fin Inserts: All Firewire Surfboards have hi–density inserts surrounding the fin boxes for both FCS and Futures. This is a far stronger method of attachment than anchoring the boxes to the top deck as is the case with the regular FCS installation, or letting them float directly in the EPS. This also allows the tail to flex more than a system anchored to the top deck.
The Vent: The 1lb Firewire EPS core contains a lot of air. It is NOT a hollow core, but as you can imagine a blank that weighs 1lb has far more air inside than a blank weighing 3lbs. As an added precaution to allow the core to expand and contract during extreme changes in temperature or air pressure, the vent allows air to pass back and forth between the core and the exterior of the board, while preventing water from entering. The GORE–TEX membrane does not require any maintenance, other than kept free of wax in order to breathe. You can imagine the stresses and strains on any surfboard materials when you take a board on a hot day and jump into 50‘degree water. While some may argue that the vent is not essential, we believe that it does prolong the life of the board.
Firewire Surfboards use epoxy resin and EPS foam, materials that are exponentially less harmful than traditional surfboard materials. Over a 5–year lifespan, including the construction process, a traditional PU surfboard releases 50 times more Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) than a Firewire surfboard. In recognition of this, Firewire Surfboards won the coveted EuroSIMA Environmental Product of the Year Award in 2005. And we’re not resting there.
Ultimately our goal is to constantly improve the sustainable manufacture of our surfboards. The end point being the design and production of a surfboard that can be recycled indefinitely by reusing old boards to make future Firewire Surfboards. Granted, we are a long way from that lofty goal, but it is a standard we have set for ourselves.
Firewire did not have any production infrastructure at the start. In addition, our surfboards are complex to make and there were no existing surfboard factories capable of building them. We approached a couple of USA glass houses at the start and they respectfully declined. If we wanted to proceed we had no choice but to set up our own factories.
When we sat down to consider our options, there was considerable discussion around the pros and cons of where to set up our factories. Rather than fall into the trap of taking a narrow view on our options, we ultimately decided that a 100% USA or Australian based manufacturing platform would not solve all our challenges, but on the other hand as surfers we did not feel comfortable creating a surfboard company that did not have deep roots in the surfing world.
We settled on a hybrid model with factories in Burleigh Heads, San Diego and Thailand. The Burleigh and San Diego factories are a combined 20,000 sq. ft., and are staffed by local, hardcore surfers; dedicated to R&D, team boards and small production runs of brand new technology like Direct Drive; while the higher volume production is based in our Thai factory. This investment in our own factories enabled us to produce Future Shapes Technology Surfboards and we are now well positioned to push the R&D envelope even further. CLICK HERE to see some factory photos in our VISUALIZE section.