The Wire by Firewire Surfboards: Recent Episodes
Firewire Surfboards
Firewire believes in the perpetual improvement of the surfing experience through the development of new materials, construction methods and surfboard design, while maintaining continued focus on improving the ecofriendliness of surfboard production. The wire is our platform for introducing Firewire fans around the world to our community of Firewire contributors, as well as other individuals who's work and expertise benefits all surfers.
Inspired by the body of the Great White Shark, Kelly Slater designed the ‘Great White Twin’ in I-Bolic Technology with Volcanic Lamination alongside Bali based surfboard designer Mike Woo.
This high performance fish fits in your quiver where most fish don’t - it creates speed in weak waves, but also controls speed in powerful waves, and it excels at tight arcs in punchy pockets and quick wraps on shoulder sections.
This all new surfboard model from Slater Designs has volume hidden at center with fine rails for immediate response and quick reaction in the pocket. It has the speed of a twin fin with the controlled pivot of a thruster, and it's elevated tail rocker makes it magic on your backhand.
Recommended to surf at your performance volume and designed to pair with Kelly's signature 'Twin + 2' fin set, the Great White Twin is available at Surf Shops and Online Stores everywhere on November 20th.
About Volcanic Lamination:
- A sustainable alternative to carbon lamination in performance shapes.
- Derived from natural fibers extruded from basalt rock.
- A lamination enhancement for both I-Bolic and Helium Cores.
- Increased response and deck durability.
About I-Bolic Technology: * Firm, drivey and reassuring underfoot. * Enables powerful surfing in good waves. * Unrivaled break strength. * A favorite among our most talented team riders
For more, visit http://www.firewiresurfboards.com
Kevin Shulz has a new career as a Fireman but still maintains his old career as a professional surfer. In this episode he shares what its like to be called 'the Air GOAT' while designing boards with the actual GOAT, Kelly Slater.
Fresh off a productive knee rehab, Tomo joins us today to discuss buying land in Scotland, ripping Surf Ranch on a REVO, and riding the most uncommon wave craft we've ever seen - a 'Surfmat'.
This August, nearly 20 years after winning the U.S. Open of Surfing in 2003, Taylor Jensen became the Vans Duct Tape Invitational Champion at the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach, riding a Thunderbolt RED Special T model by Dan Mann. Enjoy this episode.
Charlie Ninegar began his career at a Los Angeles Surf Shop and after a storied series of roles at many surf companies you've heard of, he is today VP of Sales at Nixon, where he spends at least some of his working hours partially occupied by thoughts of surfing his Tomo EVO and REVO.
Enjoy.
C.J. Nelson is a Duct Tape Invitational Champion and a Mexi Log Fest Champion who made a career for himself in the 90's and 00's as both a nose rider and performance long boarder. Today though he prefers the subtler aspects of surfing such as trim and turns, and he shares much in this episode about the shapes that enable his new surfing experience, focusing on what waves feel like without being mindful of who is watching.
Jim Kempton spent years on the Quiksilver Crossing with Kelly Slater and others, seeking undiscovered waves around the planet. Decades previous in the 70's, he was the editor of SURFER Magazine. And today, he is President of the California Surf Museum in Oceanside California.
On July 6th he is publishing his third book, "Women on Waves - A Cultural History of Surfing: From Ancient Goddesses and Hawaiian Queens to Malibu Movie Stars and Millennial Champions. You can find it wherever books are sold.
Jim has crafted a career for himself from some of surfing's most coveted dream jobs, and this episode of The Wire Podcast is one of our favorites.
Enjoy.
Happy International Surfing Day!
Chad Nelsen joins us in this episode to discuss saving surf spots, stopping single use plastic, and so much more.
For more on Surfrider, and to become a member for just $25 dollars a month, visit Surfrider.org.
The Surfrider Foundation does important work preserving coastlines and enabling beach access for all, in addition to efforts around clean water, preventing plastic pollution and more.
Firewire is proud to be one of Surfrider's 'Surf Industry Coastal Defenders"; a coalition of companies seeking to support and elevate Surfrider's mission to protect the world's oceans, waves, and beaches.
Enjoy this episode.
Would you move to the wilderness on the day your new album drops? Hayden Everett would. He's on his way to Yosemite right now.
Today you can find Hayden's new E.P. 'Kennecott' wherever you listen to music. And you can find the music video for his new single 'Still' on YouTube. The video features one of C.J. Nelson's favorite Thunderbolt longboards; the Neo Classic. And the song is one of our favorite of the year so far.
We're often asked to feature musicians on The Wire Podcast, and what inspired us to invite Hayden on for this episode was simple - we couldn't get his new music out of our heads.
We also found pretty quickly that we liked him a lot. He's got tons of energy, is super creative and entirely unique.
For example he's a surfer who is celebrating the release of his new E.P. by moving to Yosemite, at the exact moment you would expect him to be working to promote his album. How uncommon is that? It reminds us of Curren or Dora.
We think you'll enjoy this episode.
Follow Hayden at @Hayden.mp3
This episode was supposed to be 15 minutes but it ran for well over an hour.
It's a deep dive into Rob Machado's surfboard designing mind, tracing the Sunday back through a lineage of boards that began when rob left the tour twenty years ago, and hung up his truster along with his contest jersey, creating the mindset that has landed us at what looks to be his most popular and anticipated surfboard ever…. The Sunday..
Enjoy.
For the past six weeks, Akila Aipa has been scoring perfect right hand points in Mexico with Jackson Bunch.
Jackson is one of Hawaii's most promising up and coming talents, and today, both he and Akila are in California, just hours after stepping off their return flight to the United States.
Enjoy this episode, with thoughts from Akila and Jackson on Localism, the Flat Earth, and what it was like to watch Timmy Reyes catch what has so far been the most talked about wave of the Summer travel season.
Having self-directed his own career around surfing and the ocean, Nik Strong-Cvetich is focused on saving our planets best waves from dangers both present and future through collaborations with many organizations, governments and communities around the globe.
His Santa Cruz based organization 'Save The Waves Coalition' has the ambitious goal of protecting a thousand waves by 2030 through their World Surfing Reserves program.
This designation as a World Surfing Reserve helps protect a surf spot from runoff, development, mining and more.
Find out more in this episode.
Finn McGill lives life without brakes. And 'No Brains, No Headache' is more than just a life philosophy. It's an all new video part from him that is now live on Firewire Surfboards YouTube channel.
Finn put two years, three injuries and more surfboards than we can count towards this 24 month endeavor, and in this episode he shares details never heard before.
Follow Finn at @Finn_McGill.
Recorded at Kelly Slater's North Shore beach cottage, Brodi Sale shares the story of meeting Shane Dorian for the first time at just six years old, and soon getting sponsored by Billabong after performing well at Shane's annual Keiki Classic surf contest on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Brodi also talks in depth about surfboard design, his favorite tail shape, and how Finn McGill's electric motorcycle nearly took him out for the rest of the Winter.
Brodi is an integral part of the Slater Designs team. Follow him on Instagram at @brodi_sale.
Kevin Shulz has a broken hand. And he's not scared to elaborate on his scariest moments in the ocean. He is also generous. He wanted to give away one of his Dominator II's on this episode, so we said yes. Listen for more. Find show notes at firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire.
Timmy Reyes says that Huntington Beach is a wind factory and that all the wind in California comes from there, and from Oxnard too.
We're not sure if that's true.
But we believe him when he says it's good to be back in the water, riding a Dominator II, a shape that he describes as 'smoother' than his previous favorite shape from Dan Mann, the Spitfire.
As discused in this episode, the Dominator was a round tailed all-round shortboard by Dan Mann that came out in 2008.
The all new and updated Dominator II is a shape that Timmy describes as 'better in transitions' than the previous Dominator and the Spitfire as well.
This episode of The Wire Podcast covers much more than just the Dominator II, such as:
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Why Timmy wears a collard shirt every Monday, and what its like to not have a 'real job'.
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The fin system that Timmy says feels the loosest, and the fin system that Timmy says feels the most drivey.
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The reason that Timmy usually doesn't surf on foggy days.
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Why Timmy may 'un-retire' from competition this coming year in Santa Cruz.
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The Huntington Beach resident who surfs Huntington Beach Pier more than anyone (Hint: it's not Timmy)
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The way that Huntington Beach 'makes wind' like a factory.
...and much more.
Enjoy!
Dan Mann is a core board builder who describes the merits of Sandwich Construction in Surfboard Design as a 'lego blocks' process where different materials can be swapped in and out for desired strength, weight and flex.
The key benefit to Sandwich Construction as he describes it is the ability to "make a really light surfboard that is also really strong".
It's an innovation that Firewire was built on and a part of the brands core DNA today.
Dan's new shape, the Dominator II landed at surf shops around the world last week, and Dan shares much in this episode about the design and build process, as well as what its been like to surf with California Aerialist Kevin Shultz on the Dominator II.
Last year when the Seaside and Beyond arrived at Surf Shops for the first time, Rip Zinger became nearly more popular than the board.
You probably remember seeing him in a video with Rob, describing the kale salads he made for Rob in 2019, before each session at Seaside.
If you haven't yet seen the video, you'll find it in the show notes of this episode at:
firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire
Anyway, today, Rip Zinger is disappointed in Rob, because after Rob grew a sweet tooth in isolation, he named his new GLAZER shape after donut frosting.
But that did not stop Rip from serving us a healthy magic potion in this episode.
Enjoy.
Trimming in Timbertek through chop and slop – the Twice Baked is made for coming out of isolation.
Dan Mann designed the Twice Baked to stay in your trunk because it excels in junk, so that your surf stoke won’t be wasted after being out of the water for weeks.
The Twice Baked is fun to surf no matter how small the waves are. And Dan Mann is with us today to break down this new design from the sun soaked grass of a park just up the road from Firewire's headquarters in California.
After years of effort Tristan Sullaway landed his dream job just several weeks ago. He's now a full time lifeguard with the city of San Diego, one of the most coveted career paths among surfers who seek to live a life near the beach aligned with their surfing passions.
The irony is that he was met with a global pandemic just days after getting the good news that his dreams had been realized, and he's now in the awkward position of not just being unable to surf himself, but having to enforce surfing restrictions on others.
Enjoy this episode featuring Tristan, and #StayHomeShredLater.
For the most up to date info on the Coronavirus pandemic, visit cdc.gov.
Thank you Surfrider Foundation for creating the #StayHomeShredLater hash tag.
Sustainable Surf is recognized most easily among surfers for its ECOBOARD program - a standard for Surfboard Builders seeking to lower the toxicity of their surfboard building operations.
Since 2014 Firewire has been the only global surfboard manufacturer to qualify all of our surfboard production for ECOBOARD Verification, and we encourage all surfboard brands to collaborate with Sustainable Surf to do the same - the presence of the ECOBOARD lamination on any surfboard means it's carbon footprint is approximately 30 lbs less than a board made from traditional materials.
The ECOBOARD program however is just one of many programs they run. Today we discuss Sea Trees.
Timmy Reyes was in bed at Ten O’ Clock when the phone rang.
It was Kelly Slater. ‘Where you at?” he asked, with an immediate ask of Timmy, to take place the next morning.
Five hours later Timmy woke up with a Sci – Fi 2.0 in his truck, driving north from Huntington Beach to Lemoore where he met Kelly, who also had a Sci – Fi 2.0, along with some other assorted goodies for both him and Timmy to try.
This episode of The Wire Podcast comes with heavy visuals of both Timmy and Kelly riding the Sci-Fi 2.0 at California’s best point break.
You can watch and listen above, or find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts, for example iTunes and Spotify.
Welcome to Kelly's house on the North Shore of Oahu with Shane Dorian - describing his upbringing in entertaining ways as well as how surfboard designers and shapers impacted his life and career before material and design innovations began to impact his son Jackson through Jackson's relationship with Daniel Thomson, a relationship that influenced the Sci - Fi 2.0, along with input from other Slater Designs team riders, the details of which we discuss in this episode along with much more. Enjoy.
Today on the Wire Podcast - Richard Kenvin - AKA ' Hydrodynamica ' on Instagram, you probably already follow him.
Richard is a Surfboard Historian who has lectured in the University of California system of Collegiate Schools, he is also responsible for resurrecting Bob Simmons work from the 50’s, and not just inspiring Daniel Thomson’s surfboard design work of the past 15 years, but also bringing Daniel to the States in the early 2000’s when Daniel's shaping career began.
Richard’s roots in La Jolla, California run as deep as roots go and we recorded this episode in a secret boardroom he maintains in Pacific Beach California.
Show Notes are at firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire
Chris Cote has thrived through every switch in surf media trends over the past twenty years and today works as a commentator for the WSL among other projects,
Enjoy this episode.
Rob Machado had a crisis in 2009 that spawned, the Drifter, a a film about his wanderings in Indonesia, and it wasn’t until 11 years later in January of this year that he revealed publicly for the first time what that crisis was that inspired The Drifter, and he did it within the printed pages of The Surfer's Journal volume 29 number 1 - newly released at surf shops for you to read, right now.
Today we're joined by Nathan Meyers who did not just write this brand new piece for The Journal, he also acted as screenplay writer for The Drifter, suffering through more than thirteen different screenplay edits along with the rest of the crew, who were all dealing with separate nightmares in the jungles of Indonesia.
People got sick, went insane, got in fights, ruined relationships and ten years later, all approved this new article for release, airing everyone’s dirty laundry and much more.
Find more at www.firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire
Daniel Thomson's El Tomo Fish is here. This episode breaks down the design story of this Jet Fighter Tailed Fish, and also delves into fun territory with discussions of Tool (Daniel's favorite band), mandalas, mathematical principles and more.
‘My quiver is a 5’2 and a 7’0, and there’s nothing in-between…’
Rob watches himself surfing the Seaside and Beyond, his new LFT shape (on video in the show notes for this episode), and recognizes he occupies a strange space on the surfboard design spectrum.
Around 5’6 and shorter, and 7’0 and longer… nothing inbeetween. And barely anything between 5’2 and 5’6. Mostly just a 5’2 (Helium Seaside and a 7’0 (LFT Seaside and Beyond).
He pontificates further in this new episode of The Wire Podcast, discussing his new board and his new film and his new music festival.
Taylor Jensen went to Texas with Surf Ride's Josh Bernard and pulled an aerial we don't see too often, especially on longboards.
Kevin Whilden is a permafrost geologist who as a child collected rocks everywhere he went whether playground or Yellowstone Hot Springs or Catalina Island and even Antarctica in 1995 when he was a Graduate Student student studying Periglacial Geomophology (WTF?).
“Look, I like rocks” he says “because they tell a story that’s interesting. Geologists are essentially crime scene investigators.. rocks and fossils tell a story of the past in a way that helps us envision the future.”
His curious obsession with rocks is something he suspects his son might be inheriting, saying “Today my son steals rocks from the neighbors yard here in South Bay.“
It’s here in South Bay just up the road from El Porto and Manhattan Beach, the Southern Californian Beach Breaks where he surfs daily, that he helms Sustainable Surf with his partner Michael Stewart.
Much more in the Show Notes for this episode at:
http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire
Chuy Reyna is the Man in the Demo Van - he runs the demo program in California but also does much more, often pushing 'the button'; Firewire speak that translates to: 'Chuy says the board is perfect and we need to release it to surf shops everywhere.'
Much more in this episode.
Ben Skinner grew up with Jeremy Flores under the tutleage of Tom Carrol and Gary Elkerton.
He was first sponsored by Quiksilver at eleven years old and was immediately put in to a grind by the “Sandhill Warrior” Rob Roland Smith, the legendary personal trainer employed by Quiksilver to train the brand’s most promising young athletes in the 90’s and early 00’s, nicknamed for his interest in making groms run up and down sand dunes until until they fell over.
Ben at the time was surfing shortboards and he was ripping.
He was traveling to Morocco and winning contests.
And then he switched.
“I just got so frustrated on small days in England in weak waves, I wanted to surf every single day, and longboards let me do that.“
Born in England and raised inside pubs and breweries by parents in the hospitality industry, Ben is a 11X European Longboard Champion who, as a child, seems to have downplayed the wave quality in England.
Today he rides incredible waves, some off them with barrels big enough to stand in, and all on surfboards 9 foot plus. You'll see video footage of these waves in the show notes of this episode.
Timmy Reyes took a well deserved break this summer, staying away from his usual fare of thirty, forty, even fifty foot waves or bigger.
On this episode of The Wire Podcast Timmy talks about the injuries he needed to rehab, and the sessions that make up Love Letter - Timmy's new feature film chronicling his sessions on the Hydroshort 'somewhere down south'.
Always coy about the locations he scores, Timmy shares stories in this episode that will make you want to surf somewhere isolated. And cold.
Tristan Sullaway has been tubed at Cloudbreak, and once surfed G - Land for eight hours straight. He has stickers on his board but also graduated college. He's a lifeguard who is 6 foot 3 and maybe still growing. He rides Dan Mann's boards (and Tomo's) and actually borrowed Dan Mann's paddle board once to paddle 32 miles from Catalina Island to Manhattan Beach. He's with us today at Cafe Moto, Dan Mann's favorite Coffee shop in San Diego.
Taylor Jensen is on The Wire to recap the unexpected way he surprised his competition, his audience and even his wife at the Relik Malibu Classic. We cover much more in this quick and fun episode.
If you haven't yet heard the story about the person who approached Rob Machado one day at the airport, moments after Rob got off a plane from Mexico, then you haven't yet heard one of the most memorable tales of hilarity that a pro surfer has ever told.
It shocked us. It shocked SWITCHFOOT too.
You'll hear the story at the beginning of this episode featuring Rob and his longtime friends from SWITCHFOOT Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, and Chad Butler.
SWITCHFOOT is from Encinitas, California and they go back a long way with Rob. This episode reveals many funny and surprising elements from their shared past and we think you'll love it.
Love SWITCHFOOT? Their new album Native Tounge was just released on January 18th, and you'll find them on tour starting February 14th. For more, visit SWITCHFOOT.com
Hendo is a huge human who rips. He rides a Seaside. A Cymatic too. When it’s really small, a Baked Potato. He is also one third of Pro-Lite, a company that makes what many of us at Firewire think are the best surfboard bags on the planet, for example, The Smuggler, a collaboration with Firewire team rider Timmy Reyes, designed to hide a third board during airplane travel in a board bag that looks like its only holding two surfboards.
Pro-lite has a sustainability initiative centered in part on recycled materials (for example Session Day Bag) and centered entirely on making things that last long and stay out of landfills.
It's common for Hendo to hear about Pro-lite bags that have endured endless travel over more than 25 years of use.
Todd Glaser is a professional photographer, former professional bodyboarder, and friend and collaborator to Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and many others. In this episode he shares thoughts on the Seaside shape, the Seaside surf spot, and his new special edition of Proximity Book. There are many nuggets in this episode you're sure to enjoy.
This episode is borrowed Kassia and Maureen of the Good and Social podcast who interviewed Firewire CEO Mark Price on many topics.
The Good and Social podcast is a series of conversations with social and environmental innovators from across industries featuring risk takers, activists, business owners and non-profit leaders who are turning ideas inside out and industries upside down.
You can follow them on Instagram at @goodandsocial.
What you know is that Rob Machado is a Pipe Master. You know that he competed on the world tour for ten years. And that he won twelve events before retiring in 2001.
You also know about his second career. The seventeen years since he left the tour, surfing everywhere; inspiring, exciting and influencing people who surf all over the planet.
But there are things you don't know.
You don't know the secret story (until now) about how Rob broke his hand; the injury that led to his 2001 retirement. Or about the way he built his circle of friends as a six-year-old and maintained that crew his entire life.
Most importantly, you don't know the way Rob became responsible for bringing psychological support to the World Surf League.
This episode is an intersection of these three subjects and much more, culminating in a conversation about events that excited everyone who saw them in September as Rob surfed in the trials for the Surf Ranch Pro and nearly beat a collection of today's most promising up and coming surf talent.
This episode was recorded at the home of Rob's Brother, right across the alley from his own home in Cardiff - by - the - Sea, California.
Both yards have trophies lining their edges. Some hidden, some in plain sight. Each one containing a story of Rob's competitive career, and providing clues about the life Rob has led since.
Enjoy.
Energy = Mass x Speed of Light Squared. This was Einstein’s big idea. And while you might not be the type stay up at night researching this type of thing, Tomo is very much that type of person.
This episode covers Tomo’s interests in physics, the universe, esoteric ideas, and obscure scientists. But you’ll also hear provocative thoughts on surfboard design that counter a lot of traditional wisdom. Because that’s what Tomo does - counter the norm with elevated surfboard performance and heightened sensations while surfing waves.
Enjoy.
Shaping since 1996, Dan Mann made his first board for Kelly Slater in 2015. Then it sat in a San Clemente shed. For 24 months. Until....
Mark Price is the CEO of Firewire Surfboards. Kamea Chayne is the host of Green Dreamer - a podcast for creatives, visionaries and entrepreneurs dreaming of a sustainable future.
This episode covers much with Mark, such as:
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What first got Mark into sustainability.
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The process of manufacturing conventional surfboards versus ECOBOARDs.
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Mark’s greatest personal challenge in growing Firewire from a startup.
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What Mark believes allowed people to break through their initial resistance to riding eco-boards.
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What Mark believes has been key to Firewire going from startup to becoming a global brand.
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The most common struggles facing Eco-Entrepreneurs and how to overcome them.
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How sustainably-driven startups and small companies can compete against large corporations that already dominate.
For more on this episode, visit GreenDreamer.com. And to see Mark surfing the Slater Designs Cymatic, visit firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire.
"I love conditions" Says Timmy Reyes; "Whether it's a one-foot glassy beautiful day with a little peeler... that gives me as much joy as a twenty-foot day... glassy and peeling.... its the same to me."
On a one foot day Timmy prefers the Go Fish. On a twenty foot day, he likes the Hydronaut.
Timmy also likes freezing water, scary waves, the Northwest and Wrestling with Mother Nature; the phrase he uses to describe his experiences in larger waves like Jaws and Puerto Escondido. Above all he likes Chuy Reyna, the Man in the Van from the last episode, so Chuy joins us in this episode.
If you grew up in California in the 80's or 90's you saw Chuy Reyna on TV. In magazines. In surf videos like Blazing Boards alongside Mark Occhilupo.
If you're growing up today in California you've seen him beachside with more surfboards than you've ever seen fit inside a Mercedes Sprinter.
He's the man in the van and to put it bluntly in pidgeon - 'Chu surf mo' bettaa dan u' today and yesterday and probably for a lot of tomorrow's to come. He's 50 and his turns look as fun today as they looked in 88'.
In addition to managing Firewire's Demo program in the United States, Chuy also stays on the front lines of product development alongside Rob Machado, Daniel Thomson, and Kelly Slater.
He's talented at fine-tuning shapes and surfboard building technologies because he hasn't just surfed every surfboard shape and surfboard building technology in Firewire's history, he also surfs at the most important level of talent when it comes to deciding what surfboards will land at surf shop racks and which ones won't - he shreds hard enough to hang in a lineup with professionals, but he's not a freak, he's normal. He bridges the gap between everyday surfers and sponsored surfers, and his opinions matter to everyday folks. That's why he's the man in the (demo) van.
It’s not physically possible to fit each of you who read this inside the Surf Ranch gates at the same time, but we still wish you had been with us on April 10th in Lemoore.
By now you’ve most likely seen the result of our time there with Kelly and the Surf Ranch crew. The video we made just reached 100,000 views on YouTube and it shows Kelly riding both he LFT Gamma and Helium Gamma.
To celebrate the recent 100k benchmark, we thought it would be fun to share some stories and stoke with you from such a fun day of watching Kelly surf and also surfing the wave ourselves.
We share our thoughts on the best boards for surf ranch, subtleties of the wave that first-time surfers there will find useful, our garden pavers that were installed while we were there, Jordy Smith on an Omni and a Cymatic, and more.
To invent something is to take nothing and turn it into something.
To innovate is to take that something and significantly improve it.
The surfboard leash was invented by Jack O’neill’s son Pat, a Californian. And it’s most recent innovation has been crafted by Jan Pearson, a Swede - he is from, and currently lives in, Sweden, where he surfs often, in a part of the world bordered by Finland and Norway, often dodging blocks of ice like crowds of surfers. It is fucking cold in his corder of the world. But there are waves. Fun ones.
In Jan's travels to surf destinations that don’t involve dodging mini glaciers that can destroy boards and bodies, he noticed that while other parts of the planet didn’t have ice cubes in the lineup they did contain other things that float. These things could not kill you, but they could kill animals and Jan imagined, could eventually threaten humanity.
It was plastic that he saw. Trash. Other waste. And it inspired him to found Revolwe.
Jan used his new company as a laboratory for innovation. He started with surfboard bags, water bottles and other accessories.
He saw each product as an opportunity to innovate through reduced environmental impact, and what impressed us was his leg rope.
Press play to join us.
John Van Hamersveld designed The Endless Summer poster - very likely the most iconic graphic design ever produced in surfing - an enormous cultural achievement that was only the first rung of many on a ladder that has since led him to become one of the most recognizable graphic artists ever.
John has designed album artwork for The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Eric Clapton. He has also worked with artists of the day like Asher Roth. His art is seen throughout surfing, for example on posters promoting the Pipe Masters by Billabong.
Today he crafts murals for cities. He designs sunglasses for Electric Eyewear. He lives in a gorgeous home in Palos Verdes overlooking a stretch of ocean so storied that it has stayed locked tight under local reign for decades.
In this episode of The Wire podcast, we get inside John's head as he uses words to describe what's on his mind, a rare break from so elegantly conveying his thoughts through art, which you'll find examples of in the show notes for this episode.
Deep Shaper talk. Thoughts on Craftsmanship. And freezing in Poland followed by getting stranded in Dublin. Dan Mann has had a wild week, and we dig deep into it in this episode.
Kevin Whilden is a scientist with a Masters Degree in Geology and a lifelong interest in how the world works. Today he is partnered with Michael Stewart at Sustainable Surf, overseeing a host of programs like Deep Blue Events, an initiative directed at helping surfing's largest brands lower their carbon footprint at surfings most respected events, and The ECOBOARD project, a collaborative effort with over 150 surfboard brands dedicated to lowering the environmental impacts of surfboard production. This episode covers much about climate change and its impact on surfing, but it also covers much more, for example, your opportunity to win a Slater Designs surfboard of your choosing by filling out The Deep Blue Survey in this episode's show notes. Our favorite part is about four minutes in when Keven details the time he spent in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Enjoy!
Taylor Jensen has just become the WSL's World Longboard Champion for the third time. A huge accomplishment for a huge human. At 6'4 200-something he's called 'The Big Predator" by Firewire teammate and longboarding legend Wingnut - and Taylor has more than one legend in his life - his father in law is Australian legend Nat Young who won three Australian titles in 66', 67' and 69'. So championships run in the family. In threes. But in spite of his competitive nature and successful run when it comes to the contest side of surfing, he's not scared of jersey-less sessions, and experimenting with multiple styles of longboard and varied styles of shortboard as well. For example, the Slater Designs Omni which you'll see in the show notes for this episode. Regarding variety in his sessions, he shares; "I think that the different feelings you can get from all different kinds of boards is an amazing thing. It's so rare in any sort of sport." He continues that "In baseball, you have a bat and a ball and that's it. That's your game. but in surfing, you can have a different board for every condition. Every time it changes you can have something different. You ride what fits the surf. That's how you get the most enjoyment out of every single session." Sounds good to us.
By partnering with Mafia Backpacks in San Francisco and renowned designer Yves Bahar, Michael Stewart was able to build the Deep Blue Bag out of repurposed kite sails, boat sailes, and climbing rope from Yosemite. In the process, he pulled off what many would like to pull off on Kickstarter - complete funding for his Deep Blue Bag project, allowing him to bring Deep Blue Bags to the masses next year. But there is a lot more to Michael Stewart than designing surf friendly and environmentally minded accessories. At Sustainable surf, he and his partner Kevin Whilden manage The ECOBOARD Project, a third party 'eco-label' for surfboards that are made with a measurably reduced carbon footprint when compared to more traditional materials and production methods. Sustainable Surf also helps SUGA make yoga mats out of used wetsuits. They make sandals out of tires and fishing nets in collaboration with Indo Sole. They have even partnered with the city of Malibu to turn styrofoam waste into surfboard blanks and collaborated with brands like Rip Curl to eliminate over 90% of the waste at events like the Rip Curl Search San Francisco. All this and more in this brand new episode.
Over the past couple months, some of the most popular videos we've released have featured zero surfing. Shocking. Why? Because we're a surfboard company. And surfing is what we do. It's the reason we exist. And the most reasonable thing to assume is that surf videos would be the most popular videos we release. But it hasn't been the case over the past couple months. Instead, our most popular videos have shown the way we turn trash into paving stones, and the way Dan Mann turns trash into surfboards. Together these two videos combined for nearly 200,000 views on Instagram during the two week period they were released. This excited us because environmental sustainability is front and center at Firewire, and if our audience is as excited by it as we are, then that means more sustainability for everyone. More actions towards a healthy planet. Higher awareness of the environmental crisis. More people doing more than standing on the sidelines as climates change, species die, and the fate of our ocean becomes more uncertain. With these two videos in our rearview, Dan Mann and Mark Price hopped onto this episode of The Wire Podcast to talk about both Firewire's paver program and Dan Mann's interest in building things from trash. It's a fun episode that covers much, and we think you'll enjoy it.
The details behind technical catastrophes, nearly stolen prize money, Graham’s relationship with Andy Irons, and what the WSL might do with wave pools. Plus way more. Graham was an executive at Billabong for more than 10 years. And before that, he was the CEO of the ASP - remember that? The ASP? It’s what the world tour used to be before it became the WSL. Graham has been a part of professional surfing since its inception and today he has one of the most intense and exciting jobs in all of surfing at the WSL, overseeing more than 180 events a year. This episode was recorded at the WSL North American offices in Huntington Beach during the U.S. Open of Surfing.
When Dan Mann was a kid, he built an illegal shaping bay in the most precarious of places - a military base on an island south of San Diego, CA. The story is hilarious, and he's on The Wire today to share it alongside Rafa Gomez. Rafa runs Firewire Surfboards in Southern Spain, but he also spends three months of the year in Nicaragua where he owns a business. Rafa is a textbook example of aligning work with surfing and we're always happy when he visits us here in California. This episode also covers much about boards and fins, specifically the Spitfire, Dominator, Chumlee and Unibrow. We hope you enjoy this episode. And we hope you go surfing when it finishes.
Troy Eckert was the marketing mind behind Volcom for 20 years. He was the first employee at Volcom and retired young in 2010. Derek Sabori was a surf industry outsider who joined Volcom in 96' and worked his way up to Vice President of Global Sustainability before leaving in 2015. These two guys were hugely successful as surfers inside Volcom, and they say much of their wins both personally and professionally have come from yoga, which they are now representing through KOZM - a yoga-inspired clothing line for men, made fair with care. This episode covers a ton about surfing, yoga, Volcom and KOZM, and it's one of our favorite episodes so far.
Today on The Wire we’re joined by Daniel ‘Tomo’ Thomson, who you already know as the designing mind behind The Sci-Fi, The Omni, The SKX and many more surfboards, like The EVO, which after several years is still one of the most popular boards at surf shops around the world. This conversation was recorded during the Hurley Trestles Pro in September and it covers many things. Like the low point in Daniel's life that inspired him to set the path that has led to his current position as one of the world's most well known and respected surfboard designers. He discusses the difference between working with Kelly Slater and Stu Kennedy. He also shares the backwards approach to designing surfboards for big waves and why it works so well, and much more. Enjoy.
You're flying westward towards the ocean above Orange County, moments before landing at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, and there you see it. Out the window. Painted on top of a factory roof big enough to take in clearly from your seat on American Airlines. It is Birdie. Wearing his Birdwells. He is the iconic mascot of Birdwell Beach Britches, and he is the X that marks the spot on Birdwell's HQ, only visible from airplane or helicopter. Birdwell is the longest running advertiser in SURFER Magazine because they’re one of the longest running board short manufacturers on earth. In fact, they were one of the first companies to sell boardshorts commercially; specifically tailored to the needs of surfers, as still evidenced today by the wax pocket on each pair, designed to hold an entire bar of wax. It’s design elements like this along with the easy to notice label on Birdwell’s high waisted trims that make these shorts some of the most recognizable articles of surf wear in lineups today, even among surfers who don’t wear them. After a storied history, Birdwell is today owned by an unexpected group of surfers from Facebook and Instagram. They grew up surfing and today shepherd the board short maker from a rich past towards a future horizon, at the same address that Birdwell has called home for decades. C.E.O. Geoff Clawson joins us on today's episode of The Wire Podcast to discuss what life is like as a surfer at Facebook and Instagram, what made Birdwell Beach Britches seem like such an exciting company to own, and how he carefully balances product innovation with paying homage to Birdwell's traditions. We also cover much more. Enjoy!
This episode is an hour and a half of hanging with Kelly Slater in his San Clemente home alongside Action The Dog. We talk about The Gamma (his new surfboard), golfing with Bill Murray, and the difference between finding yourself stranded on an island with Eddie Vedder vs. Jimmy Buffet. We also dig into the details behind Kelly's role at Outerknown, what life was like when he was sponsored by Quiksilver, and previously unheard stories about his friends Dane Reynolds and Bob Hurley. We also go on a lot of fun and unexpected tangents such as cryogenically freezing yourself on accident (don't do it), the curiosity of brain traumas, the social habits of dogs vs. humans, and what it's like to make deep changes in your diet, life habits and more If you enjoy this episode, you can rate it 5 stars on iTunes.
Jess Lambert meditates calmly on what others might find tedious. She’s known around her home in Byron Bay, Australia as someone who can spend as much as 10 to 30 hours drawing intricate lines on surfboards that interweave to create the enchanting aesthetic you can see in the show notes for this episode at firewiresurfboards.com/the-wire. Since drawing on her first surfboard in 2014 she has created over 50 pieces in total that have have been sent to clients across Australia, the U.K., China and more. But her art on Timbertek and LFT boards from designers like Daniel Thomson and Dan Mann doesn’t just hang on the wall in clients homes and offices. Jess often has her work coated when finished, so that clients can slide it across the water on waves, and not just show it off to friends. Enjoy this episode.
Without Dougall Walker you might not be surfing a Firewire Surfboard and Kelly Slater might not own a surfboard company. Before he became CEO of Volcom Australia, Dougall Co-Founded Firewire. But this story doesn't begin there. In 1980 he was the first person ever to surf a thruster in Hawaii. And in 1986 he was tapped by Billabong Founder Gordon Merchant to join Billabong as Sales Manager. Dougall spent the next 18 years helping to grow Billabong, eventually retiring from his post as General Manager of Billabong Australasia in 2004, a year that Billabong earned hundreds of millions in revenue. Not bad for a brand that started out making board shorts on a kitchen table. It was difficult for Dougall to leave his staff of 300 people but he wanted to surf more and wanted to hang more with family. And now he's excited to hang with you in this episode of The Wire Podcast.
Ron Shine sorts through at least 300 photos a day. Each one shows a surfboard. and each one was sent to him by a fan who has emailed, tagged, texted or messaged him. To give you an idea of just how sought after his surfboard centric attention is, we recorded this podcast when Ron had 135,000 followers. He now has 145,000. A 10k increase of audience in just weeks for BoardPorn - the account he owns, manages and oversees on Instagram. It’s a task that would tire many but for Ron, it’s an energizing endeavor that brings surfing into his life in the moments that he’s not actually surfing. The first 25 minutes of this episode explores the details of why Ron started BoardPorn, and how he turned it into what it’s become today. This conversation then turns to Tomo Surfboards, Dan Mann, and more as we settle in for an hour of surfboard talk. Enjoy!
This new episode of The Wire Podcast focuses on three of Dan's most recognizable surfboards: The Sweet Potato (2010) The Baked Potato (2012) and the Chumlee (2017).
Each board has grown a loyal following for different reasons, and each board has a party of surfers ready to claim it superior over the other two. These three boards highlight just how personal surfboard preferences are; the likelihood of the Chumlee being your favorite board and the Baked Potato being your best friends favorite is strong. And this is the focus of this episode.
Dan, Chris, and Mark each have different favorites, different preferred fins, opinions, etc, and this is a conversation that will be fun to drop in on.
John Moore’s magic fits into a single sentence: Without John, the world’s most authentic surf brand wouldn’t exist today, and neither would the world’s least authentic surf brand. John went to Art School as a surfer from California in the 90’s. His intention was to study painting and printmaking. Designing clothing never crossed his mind. But John was so talented that Abercrombie and Fitch wanted him. He was recruited heavily. The pitches came and he ignored them. And then one day he allowed the opportunity take him and he proceeded to create the look and feel of Hollister Surf Co. It was years later in 2011 that he resurrected M. Nii. These are the initials of a 1940’s tailor from Waianae Hawaii who made the world’s first surf specific shorts for surfers. Think about that – a tiny tailor; M. Nii was the first mover in what has now become the defacto poolside fashion for kids in Montana and adults in France – board shorts. See, John’s craft is creating things out of thin air and also employing a keen eye for the interesting. His superpower is taking whatever crazy idea you have and actually creating the thing. Because of this, he’s uncommonly impactful in the act of designing board shorts and living spaces and human experiences. Visual landscapes even. He can discuss the jacket and the pants. And the way their fabric print compliment the skin tone of a model as she stands in front of a camera. And he’ll actually know what he is talking about. This is why surf brands like Quiksilver have consulted him for input and opinions on the design of swimwear and clothing and the creation of entire brands. It’s how he and Kelly Slater became friends and collaborators. Today, John is the Creative Director at Outerknown. The brand he and Kelly created to represent travel, sustainability, and style. And this episode will keep your ear close to the speaker for more than an hour. Because John’s story is an example of the incredible control someone can have over the way they live their life and the things they spend their time doing.
This episode is a long and calm hour and five minutes of deep talks with Rob that you’ll want to sink into. So pour a cup of Yerba Mate or whip up an Acai bowl and set some headphones on your head. Catch the vibe with us. This episode, like every episode, begins with an introduction. And in this case, it's an introduction that shouldn't really be there. See, the purpose of an introduction at the beginning of a podcast is to whet the audience's appetite in a way that gets them excited to listen. But exciting listeners for a conversation with Rob Machado is a bit like getting people excited to surf. Surfing is its own justification. So is Rob Machado. In fact, what this episode should really begin with is a segment where Rob introduces you to The Wire Podcast. Because Rob is the show here. Not The Wire. Rob is bigger than The Wire. In this episode we discuss his Go Fish, as well has his upcoming board models; The Midas and The Melted Butter. We also talk about the filming and editing of Proximity, why he never gets tired of surfing at Seaside Reef, and the surprising story behind why getting paid a lot of money to go surfing can actually be the scariest experience of your life. Enjoy.
Inside Firewire there are two types of surfers. The first surf the same board over and over. For example, Mike Miliken who mostly rides mid- lengths like the 8’6 Special T. Or Mark Price who mostly surfs a Vader, and an occasional Omni. Then you’ve got the other side of the spectrum - these guys surf everything. Any Tech. Any shape. They’ve got everything in rotation from a Seaxe to a Sci-Fi and everything in between. They know what they like and what they don’t. They have some techs they favor more than others, but they’ve got experience on everything, and their garage looks like a surf shop. Today we have three guests from inside of Firewire. And each one is from the second category. Mike Thomas, who is Firewire’s Art Director (who has a really wild rule that determines the volume he surfs), Mark Pesce, who is Firewire’s U.S. Shop and Sales Consultant ( who surfs the weirdest looking set of fins you’ve seen - hint: They look like the letter L), and Tony Curto, who is Firewire’s U.S. production manager (who is hilariously notorious for blowing his board selection at the Kelly Slater Wave Co’s pool in Lemoore). These guys surf Spitfires and Sweet Potatoes, Baked potatoes and Omnis. And you’ll find this episode interesting if you want insight into what your next board might be. You may also find clues about why you like certain shapes and build technologies more than others.
Andy Stern enlisted Futures Fins and The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in pursuit of a breakthrough in the way humanity understands the ocean. And a breakthrough in surfboard fins. A Yale graduate and former professional squash player, Andy has created a fin set that measures ocean chemistry and gathers data while you surf. Salinity. PH balance. Temperature. Wave data. It’s all collected through your fins as you ride waves. But Andy is not just the founder of a noteworthy achievement in fin design. He also commissions sculptures of extinct birds and places them in the wild where the species was last seen before vanishing. He also has a Zen Buddhist meditation practice that often entails week-long silent retreats. This is a special episode and we’re excited to have you join us on The Wire.
Punker Pat surfs an Evo. He also has the keys to a recording studio at Hurley. This episode was recorded in the same space that Blink-182, Weezer and Social Distortion have recorded. It's housed inside a building on the campus that Hurley and Nike call home in Costa Mesa. It's the place that Michel Bourez, Rob Machado and others under the Hurley / Nike umbrella come to re-fill on board shorts, pick up new wetsuits and strategize upcoming surf trips, like the explorations seen in John John Florence’s 'View From A Blue Moon'. This episode covers much, such as the role Pat had in designing the Unibrow years before Firewire released it, the one trick to getting in and out barrels while bodysurfing, how anyone can record good video footage of themselves surfing and much more, like Pat's thoughts on the mental habit that makes his friend such a formidable competitor. If you enjoy this episode, you can let us know by rating this podcast 5 stars on iTunes and Stitcher.
Kelly Kingston travels with two board bags wherever she goes. And she goes everywhere. There are enough obscure stamps on her passport pages to cause even the most jaded TSA agent to blink twice - Haiti, Peru, Columbia - her travel bag of choice is made by FCS, and it’s most often filled with Firewire boards like the Sci-Fi, Baked Potato, and Omni - her favorite. She surfs it often near her home in Lake Worth Florida. In 2016 Kelly received more than 150 surfboards from Firewire. But she didn’t surf them all. They were distributed worldwide through her organization Share The Stoke. Since 2008 Kelly has used Share The Stoke as a vehicle to donate over 700 surfboards to kids in more than 20 countries. But she began small. In fact, the origin story of Share The Stoke carries the same intrigue as any tale of inception, whether two computer programmers in a Palo Alto garage or Jeff Kelly, founder of Sanuk, creating prototypes in a Del Mar garage and making all the original sales calls himself. In this new episode of The Wire Podcast Kelly shares a lot about the accidental path that led her to her purpose in life which is to, in her words, ‘Share the gift of surfing”. We’re excited to have you join us.
As CEO of the Surfrider Foundation, Chad Nelsen drops hammers on the people who tread on your surfing experience. And he’s damn good at it. From saving Trestles, to stopping off-shore drilling to banning single-use plastic bags in California, Chad has directed Surfrider through their most successful year ever in 2016, with 60 coastal victories achieving outcomes such as stopping the flow of up to 240 million gallons of waste into Huntington Beach waters each day, and ending the way gambling boats used to dump 44 million gallons of waste into the sea each year in Florida. See, if you’ve ever ridden a wave in North America, there’s a good chance the Surfrider Foundation has, at least in a small way, enabled your ability to enjoy whatever surf break you got wet at, and that’s the reason we asked Chad to join us for this episode of The Wire - he is uncommonly good at organizing action and influencing change. This episode is both a mood enhancer and a how-to guide; listening to it will make you happy if you surf because we discuss the many ways surfers won in 2016 and the progress being made this year, and anyone in a non-profit or startup will benefit from Chad’s perspective on everything from fundraising to spending funds effectively for maximum benefit. Please enjoy, and rate this podcast 5 stars if you want to make it easy for others to find, but of course, the choice is yours.
Dan Mann has retired in Australia. And Spain, South Africa and Portugal, all while being the most successful surfboard designer no one has ever heard of. And in this episode, we crack his secrets wide open. Consider for a second some of the surfboard models you've ridden: The Baked Potato, The Sweet Potato, The Potato-Nator... The list could go on for another ten or twelve surfboards. But Dan's face remains unrecognizable when walking the streets of Coronado in San Diego, and he receives 2% of the attention that more well-known designers do, even though they might have less than half the amount of surfboards under the feet of surfers that Dan has. And the best part? This has been intentional. Dan rides a bike to the beach on most mornings with his son Lance, and surfing isn't the only activity taking place in the Mann household. His wife dances Flamengo. His daughter does Ballet. And his family has a vibe that seems more similar to Swiss Family Robinson than his proximity to downtown San Diego would imply. Behind it all is Dan's decision to devote time and energy to family and surfing, and participating in uncommon ways of thinking that inspire his yoga and movement practice. So join us in the studio behind Dan’s home, for this episode of The Wire.
Before becoming CEO of Firewire Mark Price had executive positions at many of the surf brands you’ve heard of - Gotcha, Rip Curl, Reef and others. He competed as a professional in the early 1980’s before beginning a career in the surf industry that has spanned 35 years. Today he arrives at work in board shorts on many days where he runs a surfboard brand that is owned by Kelly Slater and his group of environmentally minded investors. This makes Mark one of the better examples in our industry of making a living as a surfer, close to the beach, over ones entire lifetime. This episode functions as a toolkit for business owners, entrepreneurs and others who want to navigate buzzwords like “sustainability” and “environmentally friendly”. But we also cover much more. Enjoy!
Jess Ponting was the first person in the world to earn a PHD in Sustainable Surf Tourism Management years ago. Today he is the Director of The Center for Surf Research at San Diego State University. Sound fun? It is - he dables in many exotic surf destinations you've heard of promoting environmental and social sustainability. He is also the co-founder of Stoke Certified; the world's first sustainability certification program for surf and ski tourism operators. Jess is exciting as a case study on how to align career ambitions with life passions, but he's also much more than that: this conversation contains a fascinating look at the way our actions as surfers in the ocean (or in wave pools) have impacts both good and bad, on everything around us. Enjoy!