Last week I found that the deck of my Firewire Baked Potato had a crack in it. This discovery was a bit of a shocker considering that I had surfed it in two-foot surf the day before and couldn't recall a single wipeout of consequence. After I got over the initial shock, I took the board down to the shop from which I ordered it, Hansen's in Encinitas. The guys in the boardroom said that they hadn't ever seen a crack in a board like that before, but chalked it up to the technograin/timbertek material. They said that the damage might have been due to a structural problem in the board, as the crack had occurred right at the seam of two pieces of wood. Now hopeful instead of crushed, I left my favorite stick with the boys down there to wait for their call.A few days later I got the news that Firewire would be replacing the board free of cost. For a stick that ran me more than $700, that was obviously a big deal, but it was even more so because of how much I love riding the thing. The Baked Potato is the perfect summer board for Southern California, when you see a lot of two-foot days. It catches waves easier than any non-longboard I've ever ridden, and is one of the smoothest rides you can experience on a shortboard. It's wide and thick, and as a 6'2", 180-pound guy I ride a 5'7"; the thing floats me no problem. I mostly ride it as a quad, but it has a five-fine setup, so you can also ride it was a twin, a thruster or a quad with a little nub. I've ridden it in up to four-foot surf, maybe even a few five-foot waves, and it holds up surprisingly well, though I'd still opt for a traditional thruster for a big winter swell. The Baked Potato turns on a dime, though, is crazy fast down the line and rips apart small waves that otherwise seem unrippable. I couldn't be happier with it.
So a big thanks to Firewire and Hansen's.
