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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: - Why Timmy wears a collard shirt every Monday, and what its like to not have a 'real job'. - The fin system that Timmy says feels the loosest, and the fin system that Timmy says feels the most drivey. - The reason that Timmy usually doesn't surf on foggy days. - Why Timmy may 'un-retire' from competition this coming year in Santa Cruz. - The Huntington Beach resident who surfs Huntington Beach Pier more than anyone (Hint: it's not Timmy) - 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.