Hey guys!
Thinking of starting a firewire quiver and i cant decide. Originally i want a baked potato 5'3 spitfire 5'6 and a 5'10 alternaor but then i saw baked doesnt come in fst and thats what i wanted my quiver to be in would it make that much of a difference to have one in rapid fire would it feel weird? So my next quiver option was p nator 5'6 spitfire 5'6 and alternator 5'10 should i go with this or just deal with the rapid fire? By the way i am 5'9 155 lbs. alao i just dont like the sweet potato so i disnt take it into consideration. Thanks!

I Creased my taj 6'1 the other day in some 2 ft surf in dubai (if you can believe that there are waves there), and couldnt believe that such a gutless wave could do so much damage. Ive been surfing there for many years now and never have I heard or seen any one crease or break a board in such feeble conditions! usually the only damage that happens to peoples boards is due to beginners colliding. All i did was catch a wave, pump along for a bit of speed before it closed out, and bailed off the back of the wave. Then pulling the board back to me and putting my hand on the rails to duck dive i felt the crack under my hands, and on further inspection after the duck dive notice the crease across the top deck right across the valve. I couldnt believe my eyes! i went straight in to the beach so not to get any more water into the board.

Ive only had the board for 9 months now and its use in that time has been limited as i don't get the chance to surf that much (you can see the condition in the photos). I bought it for a summer trip to bali in july and surfed it there all over the place (ulus, binging, changu...) and loved the thing, never surfed so well in my life and not a single problem with the board in the big stuff! im certain there was no structural damage to the board during this trip as i gave it a good clean and removed all the old wax to be put away in storage until my next surf. Taking it out of storage there was nothing wrong with it... then next time i use it this happens, so you can imagine my disbelief in get such a major bit of damage on a wave little over waste high! showed to a few mates on the beach (aussi guys that grew up on the Goldie) and they said i should try get in contact with you lot and follow this up as they couldnt believe it either.

My main concern is that is creased across the deck in line with the valve. Its only on the top deck the bottom is fine and so are the rails. Im just concerned that this is a manufacturing fault as all the new models have had the valves removed.... I understand that these boards are not bullet proof, but i wouldn't expect a board of this caliber epically under such feeble conditions to fail like this. i just find it suspicious that it happened across the valve....

This happend on the 15.1.12 ive included a pictures of the damage and a picture of the waves on the day taken by a friend so you can understand my frustration!

Ben Pollock

Bought - In the UK, North shore surf shop in Newquay, some time early june 2011
Used for - 20-25 surf sessions (very little)
Me : 6'1 70kg
board serial number: FTJ-601Q-03-2-0000- 6'1"x18 3/8"x 2 1/4" # 51158

see attached pictures