FireWire vanguard ?

[Rotule]

Would this board be a good choice for river surfing?

We have some river Surfer's here in Montreal and I know at least two who fell in love with the VG.

[Billy25]

Thanks for the reply's you two, I think I will be picking one of these up. Now I just got to decide on the height.

[TommyDuotone]

Would this board be a good choice for river surfing?

We have some river Surfer's here in Montreal and I know at least two who fell in love with the VG.

I have heard nothing but good things as well, even ordered a 5' 6" to kite with. However, I heard the new Vader might be the best of the Tomo bunch, to surf with anyway. Hopefully get a chance to demo one soon. And, hoping Firewire will make it in FST like they did with the Nano(also a fun board to kite with).

[sckitesurf]

Thanks for the reply's you two, I think I will be picking one of these up. Now I just got to decide on the height.

Go short! The Vanguard's planing will let you get away with a much shorter board. At 165 lb a traditional board would be 5'8"-5'11" for me and the Vanguard 5'0" is my daily ride even on the lightest wind days.

for 185 lb and above go 5'4" or 5'6"
for 185 lb and below go 5'0" or 5'2"

[kmun]

Wanted Vanguard 5’2” FST (Used)

A used board with appropriate price will make it easier for me to bear implanting foot strap inserts into it (if necessary).

Shipping within USA only. I live in The Gorge, Oregon so let’s at least keep the shipping within North America. Just in case; I will be traveling to La Ventana Mexico and Maui this winter & can pick it up then.

Thank you,

Ride-on!

[sckitesurf]

More info about the Vanguard...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2387055

[Da Yoda]

I've had my board since April and it already has several dents and a stress crack along the rail from the learning process of strapless airs and rolls. It's the kite specific model too. I'll be amazed if I can get more than one season on this board before it breaks. Time will tell.

After almost a year, I'm really blown away by how may heel dents I have on this board. I also got two big dents from hitting it with my kite bar... you'd think the deck would resist a cushy rubber-ended bar, but no. This board is more fragile than I thought, but I love it too much to part with it.
Btw, I had to remove the grip and old wax because I have to get the board repaired. The Thermotech fin I had on there (which is designed to break upon impact) broke the fin box and blew it into the core and damaged the topside of the deck. I'm surprised how fragile it was and that it broke the way it did. I can honestly say that Thermotech fins are MUCH stronger than touted to cause such damage to the fin box. Beware!

IMG_1874.jpg (69.05 KiB) Viewed 1497 times

(I put blue tape on all the dents to show them easier)

[mr moon]

May I ask what have you been doing with it? They are supposed to be used to surf only and they are known not to be the toughest ones either. Were they bad landings??

[felixp]

Mr Yoda,
Looking at your board after a year of use . It looks great.
The boards a built proof compared to other boards out there.
A normal surfboard would be broken in half by now.
A little bit of care with cleaning off your wax clumps and not bang stuff on it when putting in in the car will also pro long your life.
Smashing a bar end on board is never good no matter how tough the board is.
The Firewire kite vanguards have the best strength - flex- performance ratio in the kiteboarding industry.
Stoked you love the board.
Lots of life left in it.

[Da Yoda]

May I ask what have you been doing with it? They are supposed to be used to surf only and they are known not to be the toughest ones either. Were they bad landings??

I've been doing a little of everything from strapless freestyle to just carving waves and river swell with some aerials thrown in for fun.
I can only conclude that some of the dents (and stress cracks on the rail) may have been from landing too hard on some strapless tricks, but I believe that the majority of the dents and cracking have been caused from hitting some big chop and shore break... several dent locations are evident of this based on my usual foot placement. I even put a front pad on it to add some comfort and help mitigate any denting issues, but obviously that didn't help much.
Btw... The standard FST models are for surfing only and not the toughest. The Kite versions are made to handle the rigors of modern kitesurfing (so they claim). Just watch what Felix and Cynthia are doing on this board and neither of them are having these issues. Maybe I just ride harder than them. Lol
Jokingly I have told Cynthia that Firewire should make me a product tester since our riding styles are similar (and I seem to be the only one hammering this board).
I'm only 66kgs, so I'm a lightweight. I also have an experienced background in skimboarding. Skimming allowed me to adapt a style of landing aerials (and hard shore landings) on the balls of my feet and to use my arches and legs to absorb the rest of the landing. I learned this technique over the years to avoid heel dents, broken boards, and to save my body from injuries. So far my technique has served me very well, but not well enough when it comes to this board.