bought it on 30th of april, took her on 2 weeks trip to bali in may, snapped it on 7th day just duckdiving under solid 6 ft @ kuta reef. got it professionally fixed and when came back from bali didn't touch it till last month. surfed 3 ft beaches a couple times and snapped it again just duckdiving under 3 ft fat-ish wave. the total number of sessions on this board is 9 !
sent pics to firewire costumer service and got this reply

"Thank you for your email.

Sorry to hear about your board. I do hope you realise the Rapidfire's are of normal strength, so they are a high performance light weight board that are no stronger than a normal board the same weight although the bammboo can take a pounding. Having said that,
at Firewire we stand strongly and proudly behind our products. Although we do not provide a warranty with our boards, if a customer paid full retail price for a Firewire surfboard and experiences an issue within the first few surfs, and the customer believes a manufacturing fault has caused the issue, the customer is welcome to return the board to the Firewire dealer they purchased it from, together with their receipt, for inspection. If the dealer believes there is a manufacturing issue evident, they will be in contact with Firewire (or Firewire's rep) to find a resolution to the matter.
If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again."

Hmm - not good. I've never seen a snap that close to the tail before... not sure if there's anything in that in itself...

That sucks
I have snapped boards on my first surf before and that sucked as well. Glassed too light
That rapidfire tech is weak as piss though
Definitely wouldn't recommend it
I didn't snap one but put multiple pressure dings from duck diving
Moved it on pretty quick
I'd recommend FST tech that FireWire offer
Hasn't the forum already been through this

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TimKay said...

Hasn't the forum already been through this

yeah, i know, i would throw it in a rubbish bin after the first snap and forgot about it. but they only charged me $70 to fix it in bali.

but second snap just left me scratching my head. what do you think, folks, take it to the dealer for investigation ?
me thinks just don't bother

you have nothing to lose so go see them.....I have had two dealings with them in the past and have found FW fairly reasonable. That email reply looks like a standard response.

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dmitri said...

TimKay said...

Hasn't the forum already been through this

yeah, i know, i would throw it in a rubbish bin after the first snap and forgot about it. but they only charged me $70 to fix it in bali.

but second snap just left me scratching my head. what do you think, folks, take it to the dealer for investigation ?
me thinks just don't bother

Sounds like they don't want to know about it
It might cost them some money
Not sure about the snaps
I creased a board duck diving in Indo as well but I've never had or seen a double snap like that especially in such a short period of time ( maybe if I lived in Hawaii)
Usually it would re-snap fairly close above or below the repair where the weak point is
Definitely a piece of garbage

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dmitri said...

TimKay said...

Hasn't the forum already been through this

yeah, i know, i would throw it in a rubbish bin after the first snap and forgot about it. but they only charged me $70 to fix it in bali.

but second snap just left me scratching my head. what do you think, folks, take it to the dealer for investigation ?
me thinks just don't bother

Send it back, see what happens. It looks like the core is super soft tho just looking at that?!?

Did a trip down South in the early 90's & snapped my board at Cobblestones paddling out after the first wave...then bought a board off Neco Padaratz & snapped it on the 3rd surf (2nd day) at Supers.

But I took a Firewire Hellfire to Bali & Nusa Lembongan back in early September & scored double overhead waves at a few places. I'd had the board since March, hadn't even scratched it. But dinged it & put in a few bumps at Ulu's on the smallest day, the morning of the Singlefin Nightsurfing event (very small day).

Sometimes you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time...definately worth taking the board back for a look, hopefully they'll offer you a deal. Boards suck after they've been snapped just once, a second time can't be good.

To me, that board looks dodgy.
I believe FW still have quality issues to adress.

you have just paid the price for going superlight....styrofoam is great stuff.....for keeping beer cold

If you know the dealer well then take it back and have a word. It won't cost him anything if he says it's a dodgy board and firewire offers to replace.

wow you guys are are joke. Its a surfboard. They break! Cut your losses and buy a better board next time. Firewire are ****. ( For thre record...i snapped one doing a cutty!)

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stagwag said...
i snapped one doing a cutty!

Heavy weight?

I'd have definitely taken it back after that.