Waimea and the Future Primitive 13 footer

The FP 13 is an excellent board in ALL conditions, and would be a great board for WaimeaWhen I built the first FP 12 in 1997 we were living out the back of a huge old mansion in Gisborne which had been converted into a backpackers, it's in Harris st Gisborne. The place was run by John Gisby, who is a very well knomn NZ surfer and competitor. John and I knocked an interior wall out of a small shed at the property so that we had enough room to build the board . When the board was laminated John studied it carefully for a while and said " This board's for Waimea " I had built it as a surfboard just for riding waves, so was non commital, but after 5 years of riding it in everything the Pacific produced on the coast, I have to say that it will handle very big waves with ease, and is a delight in waves of any size. It is an incredibly reliable board and can take the steepest of drops with ease, it has amazingly accurate control and snakes its way through big ragged choppy conditions as if it were glass. It can just about be surfed with the eyes shut. . . one of the main advantages is the riding position.. . riding from the middle of the board gives better control than boards designed to be ridden from right back on the tail.It just so happens that the board is at Waimea right now with Garrett McNamara , and the Eddie Aikau contest will be run in the next few days. Garrett is an alternate for the contest . . . .