Dan Mann with his creation built alongside Kelly Slater. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
If we’re being totally honest, someone like Kelly Slater probably isn’t a guy whose surfboard preferences align with the average surfer. Sure, he’s got a wealth of design knowledge — and the practical skills to put it all to use — but Slater’s ability to surf a door better than the Average Joe can surf a surfboard makes an explanation from him a bit like Einstein explaining quantum physics to a second grader. Still, though, when Slater, Dan Mann, and the Firewire team introduced the Boss Up, it was an easy lesson for the second grader to learn.
Mid-lengths are enjoying a bit of time in the sun right now. The surfing masses slowly moved from riding high-performance pro models with half layers of glass and the volume of a ping pong ball to riding surfboards they could actually surf on.
The Boss Up is a “performance mid-length,” which basically means it’s a stretched out version of the S-Boss, a high-performance sled built to surf a little easier than most. The Boss Up, like a million other surfboards, claims to be the one-board quiver.
“Our crew has really been enjoying this midlength when keeping it mellow and cruising is top-of-mind (or the need to be more mobile to battle crowds),” Firewire explains. “That said, Dan Mann’s also been putting it in punchier surf with an open face – as it’s perfect for carving. Michel Bourez has ridden well-overhead barrels at home in Tahiti, and loved it equally in those conditions.”
Mid-lengths, of course, don’t require a surfer to really have your volume dialed in. They’re inherently meant to be a little more all-around surfboards, and Mann routinely switches things up from a 6’8″ to a 7’0″. Slater and Shane Dorian, as you’d expect, stick to the short end of the spectrum, riding mostly 6’8″s. Bourez, though, was a fan of the 6’10”.
“We recommend riding this around 13 liters more in volume than your standard shortboard,” Firewire writes. “The increased volume means paddle power is incredible, but doesn’t compromise performance.”
