Firewire Surfboard Review (2026): Neutrino, Revo Max, Machadocado

For decades, the process of making a surfboard has much oregon little been the same: Cut a portion of foam. Put a woody stringer down the mediate to supply operation and strength. Shape it, past wrapper it successful fiberglass, soil it, and permission holes for the leash and fins. That was until Firewire Surfboards came along. Now the institution uses a 21-step operation process and a dizzying assortment of aerospace-grade foams, c fiber, and bio-resins to nutrient a committee that looks consecutive retired of subject fiction.

The surf satellite tends to favour the tried and true, but successful Firewire's case, each caller worldly and plan serves a purpose. Much to each Luddite wave-rider’s chagrin, the boards enactment truly damn well. I spent astir of the autumn and wintertime investigating retired 3 caller boards from Firewire—the Neutrino, the Machado, and the Revo Max. Each uses antithetic materials and antithetic designs made for antithetic question types (and surfers). Here’s what I found.

A Bit of Backstory

In December 2005, Clark Foam abruptly closed its doors successful an lawsuit that became known arsenic “Blank Monday.” Clark made astir 90 percent of the accepted polyurethane (PU) surfboard blanks that were being sold, and abruptly committee makers were forced to scramble for alternate halfway materials. Many successful the manufacture turned to expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, which besides required the usage of epoxy resins, due to the fact that accepted PU resins melt EPS.

However, EPS presented immoderate important show issues. First, it possessed astir 8 percent much buoyancy than PU, resulting successful a "corky" thrust that near surfers feeling similar they were floating awkwardly connected apical of the h2o alternatively than digging into it. It besides didn’t flex the aforesaid way, which changed the mode a committee turns.

Around the aforesaid time, Australian shapers Nev Hyman and Bert Burger were collaborating connected a radically antithetic design. A platform tegument was affixed to the apical and the bottommost of the EPS foam core, successful what became colloquially referred to arsenic “sandwich construction.” These skins were made of 3-mm heavy aerospace composite worldly that added structural integrity and vibration dampening, arsenic good arsenic dent resistance. The full sandwich is vacuum-bagged together.

The astir noticeable change, though, was the removal of the cardinal woody stringer that ran down the committee from chemoreceptor to tail. Instead, it was replaced with 2 parabolic rails that tally down each broadside of the board. Not lone did these 2 woody rails supply much control, but they popular you retired of your turns with a small much speed. This operation would go known arsenic Future Shapes Technology (FST).

In 2006, Mark Price, a erstwhile Association of Surf Professionals (ASP) World Tour surfer and past vice president astatine Reef, tried a prototype of the FST board. He near his cushy occupation to recovered a surf startup, called Firewire, with Hyman and Burger. In 2007, Taj Burrow—one of the top-ranked and astir innovative pro surfers connected the satellite tour—began competing connected Firewire boards. That aforesaid twelvemonth helium won the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (defeating Kelly Slater successful the final), arsenic good arsenic the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. It was the archetypal clip an elite World Tour surfer won a large lawsuit connected non-traditional construction. In 2015, Kelly Slater (still the all-time winning-est competitory surfer successful history) became the bulk shareholder of the brand.

Helium and I-Bolic

Over the adjacent decade, the Firewire squad continued to iterate connected Future Shapes Technology. In 2017, the basal operation mislaid astir 15 percent of its value and became known arsenic Helium.

New and improved foam and deck-skins were swapped in, the vacuum process was refined to usage adjacent little resin (further reducing weight), and the rails went from coagulated balsa to a operation of balsa and paulownia woods. This resulted successful a committee that had a softer, forgiving flex. It's besides quicker and easier to turn.

I’ve tried respective of Firewire’s Helium boards implicit the past 5 years, which includes this year’s Machadocado. Shaped by iconic pro surfer Rob Machado, the board’s bulbous outline is inspired by arguably the world’s champion fruit. It’s a short, wide committee that is billed arsenic a hybrid “designed to make velocity successful anemic waves and power velocity successful bully waves.” I tested the banal 5’8” version, and portion it doesn’t drawback waves arsenic readily arsenic a existent groveler, it had ample glide to get maine astir flatter, mushier sections. The Helium operation felt springy, particularly erstwhile pumping down the line. I felt similar I came retired of turns with a spot much velocity than usual.

While Helium is large for crappy waves, what happens erstwhile you get into waves of consequence? "When Kelly [Slater] got onto our Helium technology, helium was like, 'This is amazing. However, it's similar riding a chaotic stallion. When I travel retired of a turn, I request to cognize precisely what my board's gonna bash and wherever it's gonna go,’" said Brett Savage, who is Firewire's wide manager and leads probe and plan astatine the company.

After galore trials, they came up with I-Bolic construction, which is the astir analyzable smorgasbord of materials the surf satellite has ever seen. The bulk of the committee is simply a 1.5-lb EPS foam halfway (stronger than the 1-lb utilized successful Helium), but it’s divided successful half. Instead of a woody stringer down the middle, it has a file of adjacent higher-density foam with high-density, fiberglass-wrapped platform springers connected apical and bottom.

This efficaciously gives the committee an I-beam moving down the middle, which is 1 of the strongest shapes successful civilian engineering, enabling the committee to flex without breaking erstwhile turning astatine precocious speed.

Like Helium, the perimeter of the committee features bent parabolic rails, but present they are made of high-density EPS truthful that they lucifer the foam utilized successful the I-beam's outer caps. Keeping these components wrong the aforesaid household of composites ensures a stronger molecular enslaved betwixt the interior foam and the outer fiberglass shell. It’s not arsenic springy arsenic the wood rails, but it’s inactive lively.

While the I-Bolic boards person the aforesaid 3-mm composite platform tegument connected apical arsenic the Helium boards—which besides makes them dent-resistant—it doesn’t spell afloat sandwich. Instead, for a tegument connected the bottom, the I-Bolic boards usage 2 layers of 4-ounce E-Glass fiberglass, on with a c reinforcement portion moving from the chemoreceptor to the process on the bottommost deck. This portion acts arsenic an further headdress implicit the level of the I-beam to supply longitudinal strength, reinforcing the fin container country against interaction and giving the committee much spring.

If you’re wondering wherefore I-Bolic doesn’t usage the platform tegument connected the bottommost of the committee similar the bequest Firewires, it’s due to the fact that the 3-mm thickness of the tegument smooths retired the bottommost contours. That’s good for the bulk of subtle concaves and convexes you spot retired there, but erstwhile it’s conscionable bladed fiberglass, the vacuum-bagging mechanics allows for deep, precise contours, and that’s wherever things get truly interesting.

Mastering Hydrodynamics

When I archetypal got a look astatine the Neutrino—the newest committee from shaper Daniel Thompson that uses I-Bolic—I thought, “There’s nary mode this is going to go.” It looked similar an ironing board. The rails are ace consecutive and parallel. The chop process looks abruptly chopped off, leaving it ace wide. The bottommost contours are heavy and dramatic. It looked much similar a subject task than a surfboard. I hemmed and hawed for weeks earlier really trying it, due to the fact that I didn’t privation to discarded a time of bully surfing.

When I yet took it out, I recovered that it paddled amazingly easy for a 5’10” board. It had a spot much measurement than I was utilized to, but I could inactive duck-dive it without issue. I teed up a wave, popped up, and the committee took off. And what I mean by that is, it astir changeable retired from nether me, astir similar you’re lasting connected an escooter and deed the throttle earlier you were ready. It turned, too! I changeable down the line, raced astir crumbling sections, and chopped backmost into the powerfulness pocket. I couldn’t judge it. It felt similar sorcery.

Daniel “Tomo” Thomson is known arsenic 1 of the astir experimental shapers successful the world. He’s besides 1 of the fewer shapers that inactive surf astatine a pro level, making him a benignant of self-contained R&D lab. Back successful the precocious oughts, Thompson was moving with surf historiographer Richard Kenvin successful San Diego. Together, they studied the humanities boards and planing hull philosophies of mid-century surfboard decorator Bob Simmons. Rather than replicate past designs, Thomson wanted to use Simmons' concepts successful a modern surf context, incorporating principles from naval architecture and the boating world.

"I wasn't trying to pursuit what has been done before,” Thomson said successful a call. “I started to usage these technological principles to technologist a committee to make much effectual aboveground areas and much usable obstruction lines, packaged into a smaller space."

His archetypal committee to diagnostic these modern planing hulls (MPH) was the Nano, released successful 2010, followed by the fashionable Evo. The Evo begat the Revo and past the Revo Max, but successful 2025 helium went backmost to the Nano and turned it into the Neutrino. The Neutrino has a quad concave—four heavy channels wrong 1 deeper channel—on the belly of the board. It’s designed to make assistance astatine little speeds.

“This bottommost contour perpetually tries to assistance the committee retired of the h2o truthful it tin level connected a ‘boundary layer,’" Thompson said. As the committee accelerates, it teeters connected this bound layer, reducing “wet areas,” which successful crook reduces the board's wide drag.

While his superior method of investigating his theories is conscionable by surfing the boards, helium besides wanted to marque definite helium wasn’t conscionable loving the odor of his ain cooking, truthful helium turned to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to survey his shapes successful machine simulations. The simulations demonstrated however this accrued assistance straight translates into "drive.” As the h2o is channeled and forced to travel down these narrower concave corridors (the planing surfaces), it generates the “unnatural” acceleration and bursts of velocity that helium was experiencing successful the water.

Over the decades, determination person been plentifulness of boards with heavy channels successful the belly. Generally speaking, they went truly fast, arsenic agelong arsenic you conscionable wanted to spell straight. But thing astir Thompson’s geometry makes this happening crook effortlessly. I didn't property excessively hard; Firewire didn’t privation to springiness up the secrets.

The Results

The Neutrino has turned retired to beryllium 1 of my favourite boards. It’s an implicit amusive machine. I’ve taken it retired astatine some pitchy and mushy formation breaks astir L.A. I’ve had it successful accelerated constituent breaks successful Malibu and Ventura. I adjacent took the committee to the North Shore of Oahu wherever a grizzled surf teacher confidently told me, “That committee won’t enactment here.” Then I paddled retired and caught a clump of waves.

The committee has 3 fin boxes, allowing you respective ways to customize the ride. It worked good arsenic a thruster, but utilizing it with a 2+1 setup (two larger fins connected the side, and a tiny trailer fin successful the middle) is wherever it truly came alive. My favourite acceptable I tried was the Endorfins Twin + 2 acceptable (size large), though I besides truly liked the Tomo Max Keel fins (plus a tiny trailer).

I’ve been surfing for 20 years, but I’m inactive highly average. When I was connected this board, though, I had radical coming up to maine successful the line-up and the parking batch asking maine what I was riding astir each session. It isn’t a Swiss service weapon built for each wave, but it works good successful a wide range. I had specified a blast connected it I bought the demo alternatively than instrumentality it—the highest compliment a reviewer tin give.

Firewire boards aren’t cheap. The Neutrino and the Machadocado some commencement astatine $995. If you privation thing similar the Revo Max—a truly amusive midlength that utilizes a volcanic basalt cloth, which is simply a much sustainable mentation of c fiber—that’ll commencement you astatine $1,125. Generally speaking, that’s astir $100 to $300 much than a comparable PU oregon epoxy board. That said, Firewire boards are known for being durable. After dozens of sessions connected the Neutrino, there’s inactive not truthful overmuch arsenic a unit dent connected the deck.

Just arsenic I finished testing, Firewire launched a caller committee from Kelly Slater and Mike Woo called The Spaceship, and it uses an wholly caller operation called Proflex. It has neither a stringer nor parabolic rails, but it does person a ton of c utilized successful a full clump of ways (though the bulk of it is connected the bottommost of the committee to forestall wax from melting off). I didn’t person clip to trial it, but it’s designed for precise bully surfers successful precise bully waves (think Slater successful Indonesia), truthful I’m beauteous definite my LA waves and I wouldn’t qualify. Maybe that tech volition marque its mode implicit to a much intermediate board, but until past if you spot maine successful the water, the likelihood are I’ll beryllium connected the Neutrino, having a blast.

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