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Kelly Slater is one of the most influential surfers. This includes not only how we look at competition and high-performance surfing, but also how we look at the modern surfboard.   The Cymatic blends the best elements of the Sci-Fi and the Omni, but also has entirely new elements that thrive on their own merits. One of these is an increase in rocker throughout the board and especially in the tail. This added kick allows for control in larger waves and provides a platform, from which to maneuver. Increased rocker makes a board agile and able to turn on a tight radius. The first edit of...

Slater Designs FRK Shaped by Dan Mann   Kelly Slater has been called a lot of things over the years. Champ. GOAT. The King. And, of course, the Freak. When Kelly Slater approached Dann Mann about designing him a surfboard, Dann knew exactly what he wanted to make Slater—and what it should be called. The FRK is medium-wave performance machine with an aesthetically pleasing outline, medium rails, and a rounded pintail that almost gives the surfboard a quasi twin-tip look. In a word, the board looks fast—and if Slater’s performances on it have been any indication, that’s exactly what it is. The...

Next-Generation Dominance With Dan Mann’s Dominator 2  SHOP NOW  Forget all the hippie hoopla about dancing with the waves—when you are out in the water on a shortboard, you want to dominate. You want to paddle with confidence, take waves from behind the peak, and tear the heck out of them all the way to the shoulder. That’s what Dan Mann designed his original Dominator shape for—and the new Dominator 2 is no different. It’s just better The original Dominator was an easy board for Dan to design—it virtually leapt out of his mind and onto the foam. It featured...

Unleash Your Inner Surfer: Master the Art of Groveling with the Firewire Sweet Potato SHOP NOW While Dan Mann has proven himself to be a master shaper of all types of surf craft, it was the Sweet Potato that first made him a household name. A short, wide, volume-heavy groveler with straight rails and a deep double concave that effectively “splits” the board in half in order to allow it to turn and transition from rail to rail, the Sweet Potato was an instant hit with anyone who found themselves stuck surfing tiny longboard waves but not wanting to ride...

Double-enders have always been a weird little niche in the world of surfboard shapes—almost snowboardish in design, with noses and tails that are difficult to differentiate between. Tomo loves unique, innovative designs, so it’s no surprise that he’d come up with his own version of a double-ender. What is surprising, however, in our world of cookie-cutter shortboards, is how popular the Omni has become. Ever since Slater tore the Surf Ranch apart on the disc-shaped board during the WSL’s test event, the Omni has been a solid staple of the Firewire/Slater Designs quiver.

Be Cautious! Fake Firewire Website They say that if it’s too good to be true, then it probably isn’t—and that’s precisely the case with a fake Firewire website that’s been tricking lots of surfboard buyers recently. As you probably know, Firewire is one of the leading surf brands in the industry. It has revolutionized epoxy board construction and has a huge stable of shapers and team riders, ranging from Tomo and Dan Mann to Rob Machado and the entire Slater Designs team. Firewire also recently added the Thunderbolt line of boards, which includes designs from longboarding legends such as CJ...

DAN MANN ANSWERS QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS NO BRAINER MODEL Dan Mann is an avant garde surfboard designer and shaper who has recently joined the stable of shapers at Slater Designs. Dan recently took the time to answer some questions about his No Brainer model, covering topics such as fins, sizing, skill level, ideal wave, and more. If you’ve ever considered adding the No Brainer to your quiver, here are some guidelines straight from the man who created the board. Fins: The No Brainer works best with a quad setup, giving you drive and speed through flat sections when you are...

🍒 Cherry Picker 🍒 Ben Skinner is one of the world’s best performance longboarders, and a master shaper as well. But lately he has had to step outside of his comfort zone and focus more on traditional logging. Over the past year, the Longboard World Tour (under the guidance of Devon Howard) transitioned away from performance surfing and more toward traditional surfing, emphasizing single fin logs, extended noserides, and powerful, traditional turns. Ben loves logging as much as the next guy, and is an excellent noserider, but over the years had specifically focused on performance longboarding because that’s what was required...

The Dominator II with Dan Mann  “The Wire” Podcast Summary Shaper Dan Mann recently sat down with The Wire podcast to talk about Firewire sandwich construction and his new Dominator II shape. Feel free to check out the podcast, or read on for a summary of the highlights from his conversation. Kevin Schultz has been ripping on the Dominator II, which has been a pleasant surprise for shaper Dan Mann. Kevin tried one of Kelly Slater’s Dominator II's awhile back, and is now genuinely stoked on the board. He is especially excited about the sandwich construction, which is something Dan...

The Slater Connection—How Akila Aipa Became a Household Name Akila Aipa was content to quietly create beautiful, custom boards in the Waialua Sugar Mill, without much fanfare or hype. But when you are a master craftsman (and an excellent surfer with an undeniable pedigree, to boot), people will eventually begin to take notice. A few years back, Kelly Slater (which is from the same generation of pro surfers as Akila) asked Akila if he would like to collaborate on a quiver of boards, to see if they couldn’t dial in something special. Akila ended up shaping seven boards for Slater—a...

NEWSLETTER JULY 2020 Staying Safe in the Sun   Understanding the UV Index and How to Stay Safe in the Sun   I was chatting with FCS rep Keoni Watson the other day, and he mentioned that the UV index was going to be super high this weekend—pushing as high as 11. That sounded pretty gnarly to me, but I realized that I didn’t really know what the UV index meant, or where it even came from, so I decided to do some research. I found an online guideline from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and discovered some really interesting...

Daniel "Tomo" Thomson the man behind the greatest Surfboards.

Dan Mann Talks Us Through the Twice Baked

The Sci-Fi 2.0 - A New Daniel “Tomo” Thomson Shape With Input From Shane and Jackson Dorian Now Available at Hawaiian South Shore Honolulu Surf Shop

Daniel “Tomo” Thompson’s Futuristic Quiver   Daniel “Tomo” Thompson has been one of the world’s best surfer/shapers for over a decade. Growing up near Byron Bay, Australia, with a shaper for a father, he has known George Greenough since before he could talk and started surfing the right-hand points of Lennox Head and Broken Head before he could walk. The influence of this childhood had a massive impact on Tomo, who quickly became a pro-level surfer, a skilled shaper, and an open-minded advocate of speed and hydrodynamics. After revolutionizing the fish design in the Australian points—both as a surfer and...

Firewire - "It's one of our best selling small wave boards" Tomo’s EVO is a modern take on the classic double-ender, with a nearly symmetrical nose and tail. A tweaked-out version of the MPH, the EVO has softer design elements and more curve in the template to make it forgiving and maneuverable in the pocket. While the EVO also has a wider center point, allowing it to thrive in smaller, more gutless waves, like most Tomo designs, it also does well in overhead surf. The board’s bottom contours are quite unique, with a “double inside single concave into split quad...

What is the Cymatic Model About? SHOP NOW Kelly Slater is one of the most influential surfers. This includes not only how we look at competition and high-performance surfing, but also how we look at the modern surfboard. Kelly’s ultra-rockered potato chips of the 1990s set off an entire generation of copycats. Around the turn of the century, Slater took things in an entirely new direction with shorter and wider flatter boards. Again, we all took note and followed. Slater has invested in Firewire and started his own line of boards in collaboration with renowned shapers like Daniel “Tomo” Thomson,...