Firewire boards are lighter and stronger than traditional PU surfboards and much of that weight saving and strength comes from our proprietary blank construction. Unlike regular polyurethane cores, which weigh 2.5 - 3lb per cubic foot, the FUTURE SHAPES TECHNOLOGY (FST) and DIRECT DRIVE (DD) cores are built from 1lb EPS foam. A 3mm layer of high density aerospace composite is added through a vacuum process to stabilize the core and increase strength. The end result is an incredibly light weight and durable blank unique to Firewire.

All surfboard materials are effected by extreme temperature changes. To allow the air inside the 1lb EPS foam core to expand and contract during extreme temperature or air pressure changes, the Firewire 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 adjustment.

FST relies primarily on the PARABOLIC Balsa Rail to control flex while the high density aerospace composite vacuumed to both top and bottom decks provides significant impact strength, far greater than traditional surfboard construction methods.

The Parabolic Balsa Rail features 12mm balsa built from 3 x 4mm strips, which as mentioned not only control flex and add strength, but also act as a buffer against rail dings. Furthermore, the long-term flex memory supplied by the balsa rails ensures boards maintain their lively feel for longer.

With a retail price point slightly above premium polyurethane surfboards, FST offers an extremely high performance, durable surfboard.

All Firewire Step Up guns and TAJ Pro Model boards include Springer technology. Like the leaf springs on a car's suspension, Springer's are layered underneath the high density deck skin, creating a slightly stiffer flex response, a subtle adjustment that Taj prefers. Springers are available in a number of FST boards.

DD replaces FST balsa rails with interior carbon rods, engineered inside Firewire's Proprietary Sandwich Blank Construction and suspended inside high density rail foam.

Developed in partnership with Surfboard Suspension Systems, the rods are calibrated in thickness and placement to create an internal carbon frame, which controls the rate of flex and flex memory. Connected through a series of high density nodes, the rods are also connected to the base of the FUTURE FINS boxes. The end result is a high tech, incredibly lively surfboard that is primed for performance.

DD has different flex characteristics to FST's PARABOLIC Balsa flex pattern. With a slightly stiffer and snappier response, the DD also incorporates the high density aerospace composite on both decks.

DD's retail price point is slightly higher than FST and reflects the more complex construction involving the carbon rods.

RF is a hybrid technology, combining the carbon rod suspension of DD with a bamboo top deck skin.

Developed in conjunction with Surfboard Suspension Systems, RF's core is shaped from 2lb fused EPS foam and the bamboo skin is applied using Firewire's proven sandwich construction. Unlike FST and DD, the 2lb foam and bamboo deck sandwich do not require a vent.

The interior carbon rods work with the bamboo skin to optimize flex patterns, maximizing speed and drive through turns, and while not as dent resistant as the DD or FST aerospace composite skin, the bamboo does create significant compression strength.

RF's flex characteristic is similar to FST and the overall effect is a highly tuned, durable surfboard with increased performance AND strength versus traditional surfboard constructions. RF retails in line with premium PU surfboards.

So whether you prefer the pinnacle technology of Direct Drive, the Parabolic Balsa Rail performance of Future Shapes Technology or the hybrid technology of RapidFIRE, Firewire continues to define the 'Future of Shape.'

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.

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.

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.

Initially all Firewire's were built in Australia and San Diego. However, due to the labor intensive and complex nature of our construction, it soon become apparent that we would not be able to build our boards in these locations and still offer them at reasonable retail prices. Like most hi tech sports equipment, we had to move our production to Asia. But that's where our company has not followed the traditional path of out-sourcing production to third party Asian manufacturers.

We took the difficult and expensive step of setting up our own factory in Thailand from scratch, owned and operated by Firewire and focused on building our boards. Not only has this allowed us to control our quality and protect our technology, but we've also implemented a western style of management (our full time Operations Manager and QC manager are both Australian surfers), and in doing so we've created a positive working environment for our staff.

All of our product design, research and development and testing is still done in Australia and San Diego.