Firewire – Baked Potato

Firewire – Baked Potato

 

Hi and welcome to Rogers Surfaris and Reviews. Today we are talking about one of Dann Mann’s most successful boards with Firewire, The Baked Potato. The Baked Potato falls into the Hyper Groveler category only with its brothers the Sweet Potato and the Potatonator, though the Potatonator has been removed from the line up and in its place is the Chumlee.

 

The original three boards, Sweet Potato, Baked Potato and Potatonator pretty much made a full quiver of boards if you like surfing this type of board. The Sweet Potato really is only good in 1-3 foot wind swell with flat faces and not much else. The Baked Potato can be used as your everyday board as it is more foiled out and has slightly more rocker and more sensitive rails. The Potatonator would be more of a step up as it’s a more foiled out version of the Baked Potato with a little more rocker again.

 

My Baked Potato is 6’3 x 23 x 3 coming in at 52.9L. Now this was well over what I would normally ride a groveller and if I was to get one again I would likely choose the 5’9 or 5’11 as I found this board had to much float and was sometimes a little hard to control because is sat too high on the water. My only other issue with the Baked Potato, and this is more or a construction issue, is with the rails sloping down so much I found in the LFT construction it was very clear where my hand would end up. This wouldn’t be an issue on the Timber Tech or the FST I don’t think as they are more durable.

 

Pros

• Paddles like a dream
• Easy to ride
• Still turns really well
• For how flat it is has a fairly wide wave range

 

Cons

• The LFT construction I think is a little weak for this style of board
• If had a late take off chances of making the drop weren’t great due to the lack of rocker
• Can feel a little out of control if the waves have some juice

 

Overall I really enjoyed the Baked Potato. I surfed it in blown out 1-2 ft days right up to solid 3 foot days and it handled it all really well. Other than a few nose dives from taking off too late. The board turns really well and I mean really well. I remember one day I was surfing this 3 foot left at my local and it was just running for ages and I could just keep doing cut backs and little snaps for about 100 meters while some of the other guys out couldn’t make over the dead spot at the 50 meter mark. It really is a board you can have loads of fun with and I believe everyone should have a board like this in their collection.

 

One thing I will say is that it is not a long board so while it will surf like a longboard in a shortboard body the Baked Potato does not paddle into waves like a longboard. It is certainly a wave catching machine! There were days I almost felt guilty as I kept getting into waves earlier than the shortboards out there.  I took way more than my share of waves, but it doesn’t glide in as early as say a 8 or 9ft longboard where they would be up well before the wave starts breaking.

 

I messed around with fins a lot in this board trying to find a set I really liked. In the end I found the Neo glass FCS 3 carvers worked the best for me or if I wanted to surf quads I used FCS 2 Neo glass accelerators in the front and FCS 2 Accelerators in PC (grom size) in the rear. I found most other quad set ups too stiff. But as I’ve said before I’m not a big quad fan and generally always surf thrusters.

 

When sizing this board I wouldn’t go too big. If you know your everyday surfboard size and litre-age, then add 2-5 litres at most. If this is your first board then I would ask the shop what they think to give you a starting point. I’m 100kg and would prefer the 43.6L 5’9 or the 47.3L 5’11 as I’m 6’1 I would likely go the 5’11 just to suit my stance a little more.

 

This is a great board for anyone. Whether you’re coming off a longboard, wanting to reconnect with a shortboard but you’ve gotten a bit older or want to learn on something that is stable but will actually turn making it more usable for longer, The Baked Potato will suit all. If I were to by one again, I would get the Timber Tech as it is way more durable and will stop that hand indent you see in the photo of mine.

 

Till next time Happy Surfing.

 

Full Size Range:-

 

Length	Width	Thickness	Tails	Volume
5′ 1″	20 3/4″	2 1/4″	diamond	29.3
5′ 3″	21 1/4″	2 3/8″	diamond	32.4
5′ 5″	21 3/4″	2 1/2″	diamond	36.0
5′ 7″	22 1/8″	2 5/8″	diamond	39.9
5′ 9″	22 3/8″	2 3/4″	diamond	43.6
5′ 11″	22 5/8″	2 7/8″	diamond	47.3
6′ 1″	22 3/4″	3″	diamond	50.9
6′ 3″	23″	3″	diamond	52.9

 

You can check out my video at

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhVjXYd6k7k

 

If you would like to get one visit the Friendly staff at Beach Beat Aleandra Headlands

 

164 Alexandra Parade,

Alexandra Headland

Queensland 4572

Phone: 07 5443 2777

noel@beachbeat.com.au

gary@beachbeat.com.au

 

Or online at :- http://beachbeat.com.au/

 

To find your local stockist visit Firewire at:-

 

https://shop.firewiresurfboards.com/collections/firewire/products/groveler-baked-potato