Firewire Sweet Potato - decent for a newb?

[spongeInside]

hey rs-ers,

bought a 6'2" chilli red peppa last year to learn to surf on (transition from the lid) as I can't get used to the extra length of the mini-mal. Anyway long story short, went out on it three times for a paddle, had no luck, then went to the snow and broke my knee in the park on the snowboard. I pretty much haven't got back into the water until last weekend... took the chilli out and quickly remembered how damn hard it was.

I don't really want to pull out the mini-mal as i hate that thing... and i can probably persist on the chilli and see how i go.. but just stumbled across some vids on youtube of the firewire sweet potato and it looks really easy to get into waves on.. the 6' board has 51L volume (i'm 79kg, 5'9") so was thinking it might even be suitable to learn on, or easier than the red peppa anyway.

Should I try and find one 2nd hand? Most that I can see for sale seem to be pretty short (5'4-8").. anyone that's ridden one think a 6 footer would be decent to learn on?

[purple pyramids]

what the hell are you doing standing up? get a kneeboard. short, wide, and plenty of volume to get onto waves. see, it's your perfect board.

[spongeInside]

what the hell are you doing standing up? get a kneeboard. short, wide, and plenty of volume to get onto waves. see, it's your perfect board.

except it's a kneeboard

[purple pyramids]

what the hell are you doing standing up? get a kneeboard. short, wide, and plenty of volume to get onto waves. see, it's your perfect board.

except it's a kneeboard

you can lead a whore to culture...enjoy the mini-mal because that's where you're headed.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Don't listen to this man's drivel.

That board sounds great to learn on. Its high volume and will paddle into waves incredibly early. It might even be touch over-volumed for the type of board it is, but bear in mind you're probably surfing a similar volume to a mini-mal hybrid.

Worst case scenario, as you get more confident in more solid waves you'll notice all it does is slip around the wave like a bar of soap with no control, and you'll need to eBay/GumTree it to upgrade to something that can hadle a little more wave power.

The plus side of that board will be its stability and blinding speed so you can have a good hoot surfing it, even if you're just going in a straight line.

My verdict - get that Sweet Potato, or the next size down.

[legge]

I transitioned from a bodyboard to a surfboard through a surf club after a knee injury. Balance exercises like balance boards and skateboarding might help as it helped me. The balance boards are awesome-after rehab using one it clicked really quick. After owning a FireWire for me they're not cost effective and different to repair than a fibreglass. I often find my epoxy repairs are much worse than my fibreglass repairs besides the extra cost of owning a firewrie. But i ride my boards to the death. Gum tree is a great place to find cheap surfboards. it's good to think about a board in terms of volume depending what you're trying to do. Generally, one litre of board will float one kg of man without submerging. Windsurfers are very particular about this. You can theoretically jump on a paddle board chase some chop and stand up for afew seconds on the rescue boards while gliding but don't let those clubbies see u using their equipment that way. You can also practise standing on a shortboard by submerging the board and standing on it while its submerged waiting for waves out the back-low volume boards. I reckon stick to the minimal and make sure you're using a tail pad. Focus on ur front foot, that's where most of ur weight will be for the takeoffs.

[Davros]

I reckon don't have 2 rounded a nose, one day you'll want to get it above the lip.Just saying.

[spongeInside]

thanks for all the replies fellas.

I had a look at a sweet potato and it definitely looks like a fun board, however it might be suited to someone with a bit more experience (maybe coming off their first step-down board, etc)..

Anyway, I decided to go with a Webber Fatburner in 6'10". It has plenty of meat in it and at 6'10" it bridges the gap between the mini-mal and the chilli board nicely. I took it out yesterday in the 1ft surf and could catch maybe 1 in 3 of the waves I attempted, which is actually pretty decent I think considering how small the surf was. Anyway, didn't get up on it, but found that it was super easy to paddle and not too cumbersome at all. It was knee deep where the waves were breaking yesterday so decided to call it quits after a couple of hours... hopefully i'll be able to get out there on a mid>high tide sometime soon and have another go.

[purple pyramids]

yeah, i thought the sweet potato was a summer "fun" board. a bit skittish.
webber looks a much better choice. have fun.

[JamPacific]

If you are looking for a Sweet Potato board or anything with a similar shape and volume Jam Pacific has a good range of Hybrid and Fun boards.

They're almost half the price of the top shelf brands, to make it easier to make the decision to experiment with new shapes in case you might not like it Jam Pacific offers a 100% Satisfaction guarantee so you can get your money back if you want.

[Natho]

Calling Trev calling Trev. I think this bloke has already been warned once for flogging his cheap Chinese pop out bits of Sh!t on these forums in the past few days. Time to gas him I say. over to you Trev.

[BA]

in case you might not like it Jam Pacific offers a 100% Satisfaction guarantee so you can get your money back if you want.

Like when you realise it goes like it's made from paddle pop sticks?

[JamPacific]

Sorry guys I didn't know that I was not allowed to give out any advice, I’m only giving someone a cheaper alternative. The Sweet Potato is made in Thailand so does that make it a bad board?

[grimshine]

Sorry guys I didn't know that I was not allowed to give out any advice, I’m only giving someone a cheaper alternative. The Sweet Potato is made in Thailand so does that make it a bad board?

Yep...

[Natho]

Yep agree. The Firewire is also pop out rubbish.

[Cpt.Caveman]

I personally think Firewire should be sold for generally less in price, purely for the fact they are mass produced pop-outs. A custom taking someones time, blood, sweat and tears should be the one that costs more. A board to respect and a relationship with your shaper to be involved with.

[Natho]

Agree captain, but someone has to pay for all the marketing BS and to fund people like Taj to ride em. Mind you Taj's actual boards were nothing like the Firewires you buy off the rack, and some of em were PU with a stringer.

[Topher]

I had a few firewires, great feeling lively boards BUT I'm glad I didn't pay the new price for them. Also they all got damaged more than my pu boards and were more expensive to fix. It seemed like an impact that would have caused a dent or minor ding on any other board would crack the outside skin and the layer of foam underneath.


Good decision with the board. The sweet potatos are pretty skatey, probably not what you want in a first board.