Firewire introduce side cut technology with The Cornice
Press release from Firewire.
The Cornice proves that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. “I remember a casual conversation with Paul Naude over two years ago encouraging Firewire to explore a side cut design, so when Eduardo Cenzano, Managing Director and lead engineer at Trinity Technologies in Spain approached us with the idea, we decided to pursue it”, said Firewire CEO Mark Price.
Eduardo explains the principles behind the enhanced performance of side-cut technology, “Trinity has significant computer resources due to our work designing products such as wind turbine blades and modeling how they perform in different conditions. I believe this is the first time anyone has applied that much computing power and engineering expertise to determine the functionality of a surfboard design. After countless months of computer modeling, we’re convinced that the side-cut design offers significant performance advantages”.
Eduardo continued, “Firstly, the water flows more smoothly through the ‘waist’ of the board rather than buffeting against it. The way the board fits into the flow of water, reduces the water pressure from the wave, allowing the board to respond intuitively to maneuvers. The overall effect is the sensation of travelling on rails, and a feeling that you have complete control over the most radical turns”.
“In addition, the side-cut shifts the majority of the board’s volume from the mid-point towards the ends, and in the Cornice outline in particular, towards the tail, leading to a most effective area in contact with the water. The board literally displaces less water, leading to minimal friction and in surfing terms, increased speed that is noticeable.”
'Radical Curves: Sidecuts in surfboard design' a Swellnet feature on side cut design with Mick Mackie, Hayden Cox, and Cory Russell.
Firewire collaborator Dan Mann adds, “Reviewing Trinity’s original design, what grabbed me immediately was how this challenged what we all think a high performance board should look like. It shows how radical you can go and still have that familiar feeling of a regular board, but with in my view notably increased performance.”
“While we’re not the first to explore side cut on a surfboard, the challenge was to make it work with predictability in a wide range of surf. The rocker, bottom contours and fin clusters are tried and true through all my designs. Obviously the outline is the design's biggest feature and after a couple waves it all made sense... it takes less force and time to tip the board on its rail. That fast twitch sensitivity, especially on late drops or hollow waves, is where you feel the side cut really engage, and the wide tail still allows for speed in the flats”.
On that note, to overcome the possibility of exaggerated slide from such a wide tail, The Cornice incorporates a Step-Rail design through the tail, creating a blade-like profile in the tail rail, which acts like an additional fin in some respects.
Dan continues, “as Eduardo mentioned above, the design shifts most of the boards volume and planning surface well behind center, which is a significant departure from today’s widely accepted foam and volume distribution ratios, and tips its hat to the 1980’s McCoy Lazer Zap in some respects. This essentially places most of the planning surface under your back foot so you have a sensation of riding an even smaller board with total control and responsiveness, and the ultra narrow nose makes it even faster through turns”.
Firewire CEO Mark Price added, “Dan Mann, Chuy Reyna (Firewire’s Marketing Director and ex pro surfer) and I have been riding The Cornice in a wide variety of conditions, and we’re absolutely convinced that the design has a legitimate place alongside other high performance designs in the market today”.
Comments
What's a 'planning surface'?
Ha! Thought someone would pick holes in The Cornice's short turning arc (see vid) before they got stuck into the grammar.
And for the record, I didn't write the above. It's a press release from Firewire.
nice offload stu \0/
Shrunken Meyer hoffer.
Was thinking the same Udo.
Cross between shrunken Meyer Hoffer and Vanguard it seems.
I was thinking that if I was trying to promote a new high performance design, I would include some real high performance surfing in the video. No offence to those doing the surfing but the wave was soft and there was nothing out of the ordinary about the surfing.
Thinking likewise BB. I'm sure the feelings the board offers are new and unique, the press release says as much, but the surfing on display is pretty average.
My experience with side cuts is they work best in small, steep, and bowly waves. They've got a very tight turning arc (notice how the board wants to cut the turns short in the video?) and they're not fast down the line.
Maybe the design does have some merit but I'd like to see it in different waves.
Hmmmm.......they seem to surf slower than a normal bd...and release off the top by pivoting not carving.......nice spiel by the owners on why you should have one....because its amazing to see someone ride a supa weird board and nearly perform as well as a normal bd......nice to walk down the beach with...
Pics on Firewire site of these ugly fuckers show the front fins right on rail edge with nil toe in.
I saw a board recently with adjustable toe-in to test the effects of changing the fin angle.
Conclusion - a large change had little effect.
This is what Mark Price FW CEO said from surfer mag forum to relating to a question on fin placement and look that there is no toe in.
"The side cut distorts the actual tow in. As an overall cluster, Dan kept the grouping of the fins in relation to each consistent with his standard placements, however the curve in the side cut does place the front fins much closer to the rail and makes it look like there is no tow in but there is."
Honestly i think they have lost it with this model,at 900 dollars or so it would be a real gamble to hope its going to work over a proven shape thats been around for ages.
I like to give one a go but they look damn ugly.
I do like that for quite a big company there willing to think outside the box though, i think thats a good thing for overall surfboard design (not that it hasn't been done before) but its good when these designs get out to a bigger audience.
Do agree the surfing doesn't look great, technically surfing pretty good but there something that doesn't look right, maybe looks a bit narrow and flicky or something..cant put my finger on it.
BTW. CEO Mark over at Surfer mag forum, said the reason why they didn't get exceptionally great surfers or pros riding them on the footage, is because if they did people will just go…yeah but pros can ride anything and make it work.
The obvious answer is to give one to me then.
CHUY REYNA LIVES!
i want one . same outline as my alaia
Looks like some of the snow boards from the early eighties
http://www.burton.com/default/history#year-1984
Not sure if if its the surfing, but the board doesn't appear to hold any speed at all through turns
Nick Carrroll I know youre following this thread, could you give us your thoughts on the surfing in the vid......and the boards performance ? every one seems to think something isn't quite right.
Looks like they are filling the niche in boards where you want something that is 5'6'' but goes like a fairly standard 6'8'', without the benefits of the extra length.
There are a lot of boards that would look good in such nice conditions, 3', glassy, peeling waves. How many boards wouldn't go well in those conditions? More to the point, where were they surfing. (don't answer that, under threat of personal harm from someone else).
I'm with the others, seemed to bog a few times, pivots nicely but doesn't want to carve, can rip a short arc turn but not a longer arc, seems to need nursing in a few conditions and didn't seem to be any better in the steep sections or the fat sections.
And I hate the look.
But apart from that, it's all systems go.
Good luck to anyone who is trying new things, I have to rap them for that, but that doesn't look like another option in high performance surfing, I'm not sure it should be in that category.
I wonder what fins they have in it.
Mackie been going side cuts for many years
http://www.mackiesurfboards.com.au/boards/sidecut-fish/
Yep, see side cut story here with Mick: https://www.swellnet.com/news/design-outline/2012/05/17/radical-curves-sidecuts-surfboard-design
And Mackie surfs so smooth on them too Floyd.
He is an absolute nice bloke as well, no ego just good soul.
When I used to surf down that ways and seen Mick rock up you kind of knew you were surfing the right place at the right time thats for sure;)
Yeah, my experience also.
Stuff the board...how is that Right Hander??
looks good off the top but got no grunt off the bottom
don't rekon its the surfer....or the wave
maybe a whale took a bit shit and made the water all sticky or something
who knows
Everyone paying out on the surfing, jeez you all must rip. I'd say for non-pros their surfing pretty darn well.
guess the question is - are these guys still surfiing standard boards when not on doing a promo or have they switched over to these full time because they go so well?>>>>>>>..
It looks like a toned down version of the dick board that fisher character was riding a while back.
Those guys where surfing really well , the older guy rips .
theres a guy from Currumbin thats been doing sidecuts for a while!
http://thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/hiltons-side-cut-simmons....
http://thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/hiltons-dog-bone-simmons....
@joeyjo they look very interesting . i would love to hava go on those things .
i was at groove surfshop (burleigh)a couple of weeks ago and there was a second hand one there; that's what sparked the interest!
dont know if its still there though?
joeyjojo commented-
theres a guy from Currumbin thats been doing sidecuts for a while!
http://thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/hiltons-side-cut-simmons....
http://thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/hiltons-dog-bone-simmons....
.............these actually look more functional because he has placed the cut further back leaving the front foot area
intact. I gather he worked that out without expensive technology.
It appears down the line driving the board has a bit of a hop to it, not a lot but still there. If that is the case it's pushing a bit a water in front of the wetted area?
Got merit though, could be a good baord in the right waves/surfing mood...good to see the crew doing something out of the box, ya never know what may come next.
I'd be interested to know how this board compares to a Tomo (also made by Firewire)?
looks like they are surfing on one leg, the back leg. No drive or forward momentum, hence the turns seem to be confined to a certain square on the face only occasionally able to penetrate outside the square. (modern surfing is all about outside the square) A combination of a narrow board in the middle reducing front foot resistance but a wider board in the tail. Tow boards have reduced area in the middle to reduce front foot resistance in super powerfull waves. Don't know if you need super technology to come up with that though.................. Perhaps the concept could be more suited to powerfull waves but definitely appears to need more work.