Be prepared for whatever comes your way. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Winter time, depending on where you live, means you’ll need to adjust what you’re riding most. I’m currently in a bit of a surfboard dry spell — my surfboard collection has shrunk considerably down to a measly two — and I made the incredibly dumb mistake of heading to mainland Mexico with a 5’10”. A full figured 5’10”, but a 5’10” nonetheless. I fully expected to be under-gunned, but wasn’t quite prepared for how under-gunned I would be. After a few days of struggling mightily, riding a wide variety of borrowed boards, and watching well overhead waves reel away from me, I borrowed a 7’0″ midlength. It was my last day, sadly, but what a difference a midlength makes when you’re fat and out of shape. What a difference it makes even when you’re not. In Firewire’s latest YouTube offering, the style king talks about his winter essentials.
“Shorter days and dropping water temps mean the winter season is starting to ramp up in the Northern Hemisphere, and being prepared for a variety of conditions is a must,” Firewire writes. “This winter, Pipe Master and free surfer, Rob Machado, is riding a stock 6’8″ Seaside & Beyond, stock 5’2″ Seaside, stock 5’4″ Mashup, and stock 5’4″ Groove – a versatile performance quiver that has the style icon covered for anything the Pacific sends his way.”
Of course, no matter what surfboard is under your feet, you will not surf like Rob Machado. But if you’ve got a good gamut of volume, length, and everything else, you can be sure that you’re prepared for whatever comes your way.
