"Before Firewire," says 3x World Longboard Champion and Oceanside local, Taylor Jensen, "I just had problems with lightweight longboards breaking all the time."
Taylor would break 6-7 longboards a month, and could never keep a favorite board intact. After coming over to Firewire and working with Dan Mann, "I immediately saw results, and the year after I won my first World Title in 2011." Jensen was struggling prior because he was constantly changing equipment, but "the consistency in Firewire's construction really made it easy for me to stay consistent in my contest results."
Dan Mann explains, "I originally joined Firewire from a materials perspective, I had a lot of excitement for both EPS and epoxy resin, in addition to vacuum bagging lamination. These material and manufacturing combinations make it possible to build surfboards that give you the performance of a light and fragile board that your typical pro surfer wants, combined with all the durability against breaking that every surfer on the planet wants." This constant pursuit of innovation has been our mission at Firewire, and will be a never-ending effort.
The Singleton model, designed by Taylor and Stu Kenson, was based on Taylor's desire to "have a log that doesn't feel like a log." It has the spring and feeling of a performance board, but it suits the WSL's competitive longboard judging criteria at the same time. Outside of competition, the Singleton has become Taylor's favorite shape in small waves that don't offer much punch or power - different from his TJ Pro model that is one of the most desired performance longboards in the world for high high to overhead waves.
Stu Kenson is a legend in the Southern California shaping community, "there are very few people making boards in this part of the world today whose knowledge or success isn't somehow derivative of Stu or at least earned in collaboration with Stu," says Dan Mann. He goes on to explain, "Stu Kenson's design brilliances reaches far beyond traditional logs, he's also a master at critical shapes for waves that can kill. Nobody makes a better Mavericks gun than Stu."
