We recently had Bert in-store and fired him up with a few beers.
Bert Burger (the man behind the parabolic rail and Firewire) is larger than life with an amazing story of survival through the ups and downs of the surfboard industry since the 70's.

So here it is - the first part of Bert talking about how it all started and an in-depth talk on board design.
Grab a beer as we did, sit back and hear from the brilliant mind of an intelligent and creative man possessed with a life-long desire improve his boards and the experience for all those who use ride them.

Part one of the series covers his history and how outline, contour and rocker affect a boards performance.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!



Part 2 on its way!

Thanks AA I got to about the 4 min mark will watch later,I love that sort of presentaion just talking about how it was and is.

Thanks AA - will watch this later

Thanks guys, yes it is worthy of a sit down and a beverage at the end of the day. He is at Surf FX tonight if you can get along Mac.

I enjoyed that...I'd like to hear Bert talking about a shortboard which appears to have a medium rocker from the side with a late kick in the nose. But the majority of the rocker scooped out enough to make the board have very little rocker through the middle. So you might in effect have a great turning circle when up on rail & also have great speed & easy paddling...I know plenty of people are doing this, I'd just like to hear him talking about it

That was fantastic thanks AA.

yeah impressive. given me a few things to thinks about

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laceys lane said..
yeah impressive. given me a few things to thinks about

Please no more thinking PLEASE

Tommy #12 on approach Mac. Stand clear of the runway.

Looking forward to part 2 AA. Can you get to talk more about the construction please

Mac - that 3 stage rocker section was tailor made for you !

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Ted the Kiwi said..
Looking forward to part 2 AA. Can you get to talk more about the construction please

Mac - that 3 stage rocker section was tailor made for you !

yep I loved the rocker part..like his idea on making the tail flat for speed. I would still rather a JD over his pop outs though

The old three stage rocker,what came first the chicken or the egg

That clip at the end was a very good example of the flatter tail rocker I would have liked to have seen more.

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Macaha said...
The old three stage rocker,what came first the chicken or the egg

That clip at the end was a very good example of the flatter tail rocker I would have liked to have seen more.

I thought I saw bob in the background lurking about and taking notes

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laceys lane said..

Macaha said...
The old three stage rocker,what came first the chicken or the egg

That clip at the end was a very good example of the flatter tail rocker I would have liked to have seen more.

I thought I saw bob in the background lurking about and taking notes

Bob told me to tell you to sled off

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Macaha said...

laceys lane said..

Macaha said...
The old three stage rocker,what came first the chicken or the egg

That clip at the end was a very good example of the flatter tail rocker I would have liked to have seen more.

I thought I saw bob in the background lurking about and taking notes

Bob told me to tell you to sled off

Haha bag me but not my shaper hey

Dont know if I can use my mct nose rider this weekend

Why cant you ride your mct nose rider this weekend oh forecast guru?
Hang on you got a what?

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Macaha said...
Why cant you ride your mct nose rider this weekend oh forecast guru?
Hang on you got a what?

What did I say.ooòps

Here ya go boys. Stoked your enjoying it! Part 2 with more to come!



The man makes perfect sense even after a few beers!

Just one other observation from that first video was the size of his hands - huge!! Must paddle like a demon

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Ted the Kiwi said...
Just one other observation from that first video was the size of his hands - huge!! Must paddle like a demon

Crazy ted. Get him to mould up his hands for you and you can have bb paddle gloves

Some fascinating stuff by the man

Cheers for the share, the part about rail shape & thickness was the most interesting part for me here

Most excellent clips. I like how he's pointing out the importance of surface area vs straight up volume of foam.

Stoked you guys are enjoying them too. How's his encyclopaedic brain for board and numbers
recalling the dimensions of his boards going back 20 years or more!

This session was one the most interesting of all to me.

CRUNCHY vs POLYWAFFLE

Another interesting vid, cheers for the share...I did always think stringers were about strength, not flex...enjoyed/enjoying this series

That just made me realise how little I know about the intricacies of surfboard design, switched on or what

Yeah they need to wheel out Bert more often. He's a walking, talking encyclopaedia.

On the Flex note, you can feel the flex in his SUP's but it is way more subtle due to the thickness of the board.
On a Mal it is a whole different ball game. I rode his JR 9'2 Pro today in some decent waves down our way and wow - there is life in there!
I have always loved my epoxy Mal's for their swing weight but nothing compares with a light board which also gives back
It felt like carving a snowboard.

so enjoyed that. never thought about fin systems and flex before,yet it makes so much sense. really the whole flex thing made sense after watching that vid...to think I always thought stringers were there for strength

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chrispy said..
so enjoyed that. never thought about fin systems and flex before,yet it makes so much sense. really the whole flex thing made sense after watching that vid...to think I always thought stringers were there for strength

yeah ive got a lightweigh wombat coming and was asked new or old fcs system.


making a phone call on monday

A nice blend of fact and fiction.

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AA said..
Yeah they need to wheel out Bert more often. He's a walking, talking encyclopaedia.

On the Flex note, you can feel the flex in his SUP's but it is way more subtle due to the thickness of the board.
On a Mal it is a whole different ball game. I rode his JR 9'2 Pro today in some decent waves down our way and wow - there is life in there!
I have always loved my epoxy Mal's for their swing weight but nothing compares with a light board which also gives back
It felt like carving a snowboard.

If the flex is ruined by fin boxes tying up the tail as claimed then what's the long central box doing there?

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Cuttlefish said..
Most excellent clips. I like how he's pointing out the importance of surface area vs straight up volume of foam.

That part was good, though painfully obvious and containing factual errors e.g. 'planing hulls don't displace water' (they always do).

The Bernoulli part was utter BS though, the same old cringeworthy myth based on the equal transit time nonsense taught in high school.