Hello! I am looking at buying a spitfire 6'4" for the ocasional good day in the caribbean. Some reviews state that it works well with cyclone swells in OZ. The question that I have is: how long ago did you guys move the manufacturing to Thailand? Setting up a factory from scratch is always an undertaking (firewire or not), specially in a place not known for surfboard manufacturing. I think probably the quality problems some people see are part of this process.

P.S. I still have a custom Nev 7'2" from the mid '90. Freaking great board (Pavones, NW Spain)

The first board I was ever given was a single fin pocket rocket. its about 6'2 x 18 5/8 x 2 3/8 with the wide point very up front and an extremely pulled in tail. Its a very retro board but has modern bottom contours, the overall rocker is flat with a bit of tail kick and it has a flat bottom until about mid way through where it turns into a heavy double concave, nothing potato like but still a good one. This board absolutely flies, fastest board I have ever ridden without a doubt.
I was wondering if anything similar has ever been discussed to be built for FW? I realized that FW, while offering tons of different shapes and sizes with excellent user friendly reference points for anyone looking to buy one, has stayed away from retro kind of board. For the most part they are hybrids and short boards, there are the 3 fishes but I would love to see something like what was mentioned above come out in FST.
I couldn't even imagine how amazing a single fin in FST would feel, with excellent flex and the unmatched speed of a single fin the board would be insane! maybe its something to consider, even if most of them sold only through orders, it would still be variety and I will tell you right now that if you cant get barreled on a board with those dims, than you just cant get barreled. The whole nature of a single fin seems to simply find the tube by itself, got the best barrel of my life on that board and after I get her fixed up and back from the grave I hope to get more!

I remember some picture on the old forum of a board that was shaped by FW for rasta, It didnt have the FW logo on it but rather some weird logo, however it still had the FW logo on the fin boxes. Now I found this vid of him and it shows the same board at 0:06 seconds into the video and I couldn't help but see how close to the jacknife that board is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAr4uGc71iQ

I was wondering if there was some behind the scenes work done with rasta that led to the creation of the Jacknife and if so why there was no mention?

After having made the transition from FCS to Futures and deciding never to go back I am now searching to fill the blanks and have a set for every condition necessary. At the moment I have the Techflex F4 set which are great when the waves are in the fun sized range and have some punch to them. Also have a set of the Rob Machado set which I must say are insanely fast and when you get them in a nice rippable wave really work well carrying speed through turns and allowing you to effortlessly link things together.

After having seen the New Catalog that Futures Fins released recently I was looking at some the the newer fins that caught my attention and was wondering if anyone has ridden them or gotten to see them in person and can give me some insight on them.

I Have my eyes on the Techflex YU set so when it gets a bit bigger, they are a larger fin than the F4 and have a more raked back template which will provide more hold, yet they still have a narrow tip which in conjunction with the flat foil and overall stiffness of the fin will theoretically work great for solid punchy beach break when Im looking to draw my line out a bit but still be able to crack some good ones up into the lip. I also took a look at the new Clay Marzo fins but they seem to be a bit upright and I worry that while still having more area than the F4 will provide a similar feel due to their overall upright nature.

Also the Josh Mulcoy 5 fin setup looks nice, I like the Idea of getting a 5 fin set because it give you the best of both world all with similar templates, I am looking for a smaller Quad set for my Spitfire and Hellrazor that has flat foils on both the front and back fins and was wondering if anyone has any inside info on these since the Futures website does not specify the Foils of most fins. I want a Quad set that is smaller than the Stretch Quads with flat foils on all four fins to let me skate around on those blown out days that still carry a bit of punch and I want to go out and have some fun experimenting with different setups, try out the F4s and possibly the YU's as front fins with smaller quad rears to see how they go.

I saw these today when I was messing around online and I figured I would let everyone know about them, I know alot of people tend to gravitate towards Sweet Potato's with Futures boxes due to the great feedback about the controller quad set and how well they complement the board.

It appears that FCS itself has come out with an extra large Quad set designed for Wide tailed hybrids which could potentially be the ticket for the SP.

http://surffcs.com/au/products/fins/...SHI-1QUAD.aspx

They are huge fins and they also look really great to add on top so who knows, maybe they will one up the controllers and take the SP to new places, don't own an SP myself but maybe one day and if that day comes it sure is good to know that if it has FCS boxes I don't need to contact some guy in Indo to make me some "indo fins". I can just walk down the street and buy conventional fins with state of the art materials that will probably do the trick.
Cheers and let me know how they go if anyone decides to try a pair out, or if they already have and were just hiding trying to not let the secret out.

Great to watch some more webcasted surfing yesterday, the guys did great in less than ideal conditions. Michel through to round 3 and Taj in round 2. Hopefully the waves get good so we can see some good power hacks from michel and some great surfing overall. got my fingers crossed that Dane comes out of round 2, always want to see more of his surfing but he never seems to stay in the comp for too long, How was that single turn he did to get an 8!?
Also, any inside scoop as to why Taj was seen with an irregular craft under his feet?

I sold my Hellfire in order to be able to buy a HR so now im just waiting out the time until I can get one down here somehow and frothing over the board so much. Would like to hear what anyone has to say how the board rides if they have one, or if they have ridden one. Any feedback about how the board feels in any type of condition.
Pics would be much appreciated as well and If anyone is coming to CR soon and has a extra slot in their board bag let me know!

So today I sold my Hellfire 5'8, I bought the board in april of last year and put that thing through its paces, loved the board alot and it was hard to part with it. I bought a 5'6 Spitfire in October and after having bought that I realized that although the two boards do have different ideal conditions they do overlap a lot. I feel like the Spit covers the lower and middle range of the Hellfire and than when it is big sometimes i feel like the Hellfire is not enough. So I Have my spitifre, I can use my brothers Sweet Potato when it gets realllly small, Now I need something to use when the Surf gets about overhead and a half and the spitfire starts to slide out. None of the older HP models really catch my attention so Im stuck on either the Hell Razor or the MB what I want to know mainly is how much like the Hellfire does the Hellrazor surf? I want a board that can hold its own when its barreling really hard and something with a little more rail line. If I got a Hell Razor im looking at the 5'11 or a 5'10 MB.
Would like to know if anyone has ridden these, maybe chris or someone, and can chime in and give me a bit of a review on them and how they surf.
I want something to cover me from head high, upside down barrels, to double overhead point break. Im a bit keener on the Hellrazor than the MB mainly because of how thick the MB is. The 5'10 x 2 7/16 is a bit thick by my standards so I was wondering how much the tail and nose thin out.
Thanks in advance

I bought my 5'8 Hellfire back in april of 2011, since than I have surfed the board every day 2-4 times a day and it has 1 small little ding on the rail that I fixed and cant even feel it now. Amazed at how well the board is holding up but Im still more amazed at how the thing works, I wrote a review on the old forums where I tried to spew everyone with the froth I was emitting, but I think with a new forum now and an all new level of froth, its time for a new review.

What can I say, the board is magic. Improved my surfing so much, took me from struggling to do a cut back to starting to land airs. The board Overall and like people say does love good waves, the better the waves the better the board performs, so if your lucky enough to get in perfect surf than you will be stunned at how good this thing goes. I surfed a right point down here in CR a couple times this last year when it was epic and to say it was amazing is an understatement. The board flew down the line clearing sections effortlessly getting faster every pump allowing a wave that would normally be a freight train to be a nice open wall, a canvas to draw lines on, times that will not be forgotten. the waves during one of the swells were solid 12 ft + with occasional 15+ faces and the board handled it like a champ, got the first wave of the swell at 4 50 in the morning and it was a solid 12 footer where I took off and just had to race the thing for 400 yards, couldnt slow down the whole time. I reached speeds I don't think I will ever reach again to be honest, speeds that make everything into a blur and make gravity be null, at the top of my pump I would at times hover off the board. Did my first air, landed my first layback, gotten the best barrels of my life, gotten the best waves of my life and ridden the biggest waves of my life all on this board, I will admit I have a love affair with her, she is a thing of beuty and she allows me to do things that without her, I could not.

Thruster
Thruster set up is my preferred setup for this board but that is not to say that with 4 fins the board doesn't work, ohh does it ever work but I will get to that later. I ride the board with K3 fins and for fast punchy beach break it works great, the board generates speed very easily and can be put on rail by simply thinking about it and with the hold of the center fin it really allows you to manage that speed however you please to. The smaller center fin that the K3's have really gives the board a nice amount of release but without taking away from its ability to draw a line due to the raked back front fins so all in all the board can do anything you want, wether it be a grab rail cutback or a a big tail blow the fins complement the board in a way that it allows it to do both. I rode this board also with H3-Nexus fins which I no longer own due to a some dude that snaked me when I was getting shacked but those fins were great as well, they liked to draw longer lines so they preferred point breaks and in them they thrived. So much speed and a nice blend of looseness and hold, the high amount of flex and tech put into the fins really give a nice whipping sensation coming out of some turns, which when combined with the extreme double concave running the length of the board allow you to carve a wave as if it were a warm stick of butter. Thruster setup as a whole on this board is bulletproof, when the waves allow, you can generate so much speed in such a short distance, can do gouging bottom and top turns, full rail cutbacks and every power hack in the book. The wider tail and wider general outline of the board also give it a nice amount of release so if you want to release the fins or get airborn its not like you have to push the board harder to get it to release you simply have to think about it and badda bing badda boom, next thing you know you will be doing slob grab inverted full rotation reverses. No. Not really. But the board does perform at a very high level without loosing the ability to draw a nice line or grovel when the waves get a bit weak, however, it does grovel better as a quad.

Quad
Quad setup...its a tricky one. I think depending on what fins you use and what the waves are like might make or break the Hellfire as a quad. Ive tried multiple setups on my board as quad, out of them all I only liked the feel of one; The back fins have mostly always remained the same, they are a very small template flat foil back fin that is substantially upright allowing for there to be some release and pivot in the board. As for front fins Ive tried it with H3 Nexus fronts and K3 fronts, as well as using the whole stretch quad setup a couple of times. Hands down the best was the H3 nexus fronts with the small trailers. I rode that setup during the big point break swell when it was solid 12 ft because at times when I was flying down the line as thruster I felt like I couldn't get enough drive or as if I was lacking a bit of fin, so I slapped that setup in and...game over. It was everything good about a quad setup with none of the drawbacks, I never blew my fins out when I was bottom turning, didn't have issues putting it on rail and most importantly when I was reaching light speed the board didn't feel like it was out of control. Quads are great for some things, they are great when the waves are small and mushy and your struggling to get speed, they are good for doing skatey turns and they are epic for getting barreled but personally I do not like how unpredictable they are. Can be flying down the line and go to bottom turn and all of a sudden blow all 4 fins out, or go up to the top to do a nice turn and try and bring the board back around but somewhere along the way you end up going back over the falls watching your board fly out the back since it didn't quite agree with you on the turn that you wanted to do. Go up to do an air or a tail waft and you can't get any release, go out to do a cutback and boom all of a sudden your doing a nose pick, quads work for some people, they worked for me at a certain point in time but due to having lost my favorite front fins and not being able to find an adequate replacement I do ride quad much anymore. If you only have a hellfire and you want to grovel on it I will suggest you go and find yourself a pair of H3 Nexus fins, if its too much of a wallet breaker than just settle for something similar that is very upright and has a elliptical template with a flight foil on the inside, pair that with 2 small flat foiled trailer fins and you will lower the bar in terms of what your hellfire can surf by about 3 feet.

So after being torn between the decision of buying a Sweet Potato or a Spitfire this fall I ended up going with my gut feeling and getting a Spit.
I wanted the board for Ankle high to shoulder high waves that were lacking power and were riddled with flat sections. Basically waves that normally would not be very much fun. And even though everyone screamed Sweet Potato I had my doubts, although they have been dispelled after seeing my brother surf his SP and noticing its maneuverability and speed generating capabilities I can see it being a highly attractive board, regardless though I am still pleased with my choice and would not hesitate to make it again.
At 165 pounds with no added rubber weight and surfing in very powerful waves compared to most places I saw myself on the 5'6 Spit which at at 28.3L was 1.2L more than my Hellfire which already provided plenty of float so I knew before I even saw the board that it would float me a ton. I can surf the mushiest smallest day of the year now with ease, and fly through any flat section the Pacific Ocean attempts to throw at me. Love the versatility of the board and how much performance it offers, from tail slides to fin blast to reverses you can do it all on this board. The Spitfire has also radically improved my roundhouses, the straight rail line with the nice wide nose and generous volume really allow you to draw a nice clean line all the way through the turn and not have to break it up into multiple sections. Had a wave the other day where I had a late takeoff right into the barrel at high tide on a overhead double up, got a quick little tube, came out went straight to the bottom, did a long drawn out bottom turn and then proceeded to do the gnarliest roundhouse of my life. Came up to the top of the wave put it on rail and started to drive through the turn and rotate straight back up into the foam, came off the top of the foam so hard I almost got knocked off but I stuck it and gathered myself enough to kick out since the wave was done after that. My friend claimed it to be the wave of the day so I was pretty stoked

Thruster
I ride my Spitfire as thruster only. It has Futures plugs and so far I have tried the Techflex F4s, the Techflex AM2s and the Rob Machado fins in the board. They all have their pro's and con's which I will get to in this section. I ride the board with mainly the F4s since I want my Spitfire to be super loose and be able to blow the fins all over the place and these fins give me that, however they are not to the point where I slide out on a bottom turn, they still hold just fine when pushing hard or getting barreled. These fins offer release when you want it and hold when you need it which in my book is just what you want from a fin. Take in mind though that I ride Beach Breaks 9 times out of 10 but when I do ride points I like to use the Machado's their inside foil at a point break just does magic, generate so much speed so quickly and allow you to draw the best possible lines on waves. The stiff base gives for a good amount of drive when pushing hard off the bottom or carving really hard but with the nice flex in the tip you can feel the fins in addition to the flex characteristics of the board really sling shot you into your turns. For waves that allow you to draw longer lines and flow better than I think fins like these really complement the board beautifully. And last but not least there are the AM2s, these things are tricky, they generate tons, and i mean like impossible amounts of drive, but do not offer a super tight turning radius. They will release and allow you to do a fin blast or an air or a tail slide but for example if you try to do a really fast tight carve I found them to be a bit to stiff, they kept making me try and draw the turns out. For bigger waves though these fins are the money, put them in the Spit for an overhead day and I will admit that with the F4s sometimes I had to nurse it through the bottom turns because at times I felt like I was going to slide out trying to push so hard with such a small fin and fat rail on an overhead wave, but as soon as I put the AM2s in than that went away. I could push as hard as I wanted to and try and imitate pancho as hard as possible.

Quad
Going to keep it simple here since there isn't much to say from me at least. Don't like the way this board works with a 4 fin setup, It is fast as hell I will admit that but I tried it a couple times and was sliding out on my bottom turns, didnt feel like I could get any release and whenever I tried to go vert it felt like the Universe itself was holding me back. I was riding the SF4s in Beach Break, Maybe different Fins in a point break? The board did generate a absurd amount of speed out of nothing though and maybe if you were on a wave where you just wanted to do roundhouses all day and cuttys where there is no real lip to hit or section to race than possibly the quad would work. I will give it more testing at a date which is yet to be determined but at this stage in the game Im keeping my Spitfire as a Thruster and loving it. Dont get me wrong, I love 4 fin setup. The board before my Hellfire I rode exclusively as Quad and My Hellfire works great as a Quad in mushy waves but I think it may be somthing to do with the wider tail and wider overall profile of the Spit that may be affecting the way it feels with a 4 fin setup, I feel like the board needs that pivot fin to really shoot up into the lip and hold its way through strong turns. If more testing provides a different result on this matter I will post my finding but until than Im not convinced.

Overall
I really love this board, It has done great things for my surfing allowing me to ride waves what I would normally just sink in on my Hellfire and really allowing me to perfect my roundhouses and fin free maneuvers since the wide tail offers so much more release than the Hellfire's. The board generates speed alot easier than the Hellfire but that being said I do know for a fact that the Hellfire has a higher top speed than this thing, but the Spit is one hell of a fast board the Hellfire is just...otherworldly. I really like the paddling this board offers and its ability to catch waves. I can slip into swell basically, be up and riding before the thing even breaks and if I see a peak pop up 100 yards away I can just motor boat my way over to it in time for it to break, its actually quite funny. The board flies through flat sections, can go vert, holds well in the barrel unless the wall is at a 90 degree angle than the tail tends to slide out a bit. I have surfed the thing in anything from ankle high wind blown slop to overhead barrels and it performed well in all of it. My only complaint is that at times i feel like the rail is a bit fat and I hold back sometimes when bottom turning to avoid spinning out and blowing the wave, I wish the board held all the volume it does in the center but tapered off a bit towards the rails to give the whole board a bit more bite. But hey thats what my Hellfire is for anyways hahah.
Hope you guys find this review helpful and please dont hesitate to ask any questions, I will try and get back to you with any Info I got.
Pura Vida.

There was a thread made in the previous forum regarding the idea and discussion of a Surf trip to Santa Teresa Costa Rica by international member of the firewire community.
Just want to keep the ball rolling here and ensure that this happens since it will without a doubt be a good time. Get some epic waves, eat some amazing food and share some story, along with sitting around and taking a look at what everyone is riding as well as trying eachothers boards with maybe even the appearance of some of the new models by Chris.
There is a group of people who are already interested in coming, some want to stay in Hotels, some want to camp; whatever way you want to go about spending your time out of the water can be arranged just chime in and let me know of your intrest and we can start planning this thing and making it for real!
Hit me up on this thread if you want to take part in what is for sure going to be an epic time full of Firewire's, story, surf, food and sleep!