McTavish Fireball
9’2 X 22 ½ X 3”
I had been looking for a general purpose longboard for quite a while, something that could nose ride a bit and still surf off the tail. Among my friends the fireball was a really popular board. Between them I know that the fireball had been ridden comfortably at over double overhead however I was aware that they could noseride really well. I had tried a friends 9”6” with a greenough 9” single fin in small waves and it rode really really well off the nose.
I picked up a 9’2” model in “well used” condition and it came with a greenough stage 4 fin. I was really surprised at the amount of foam packed into the board. The nose, rail and tail are quite thick and not overly foiled out like pure performance longboards. Saying that The Australian longboard championships were won on a fireball some years ago.
The blurb on the McTavish website describes the board as follows:
“Big waves, small waves, beach breaks and point breaks – performance is guaranteed in all conditions. The Fireball has a loaded double concave tail for quick turns, a deep nose concave for stable noserides, and bevels up front for a stable walking platform. Whatever your skill level, weather you’re a beginner or an experienced surfer, we can customise a Fireball to suit your specific needs”
I have known beginners buy this board and subsequently didn’t like it. I’m not too sure why. Initially I rode this board with the single fin and I didn’t really like it too much, even though I did like the 9’6” with the same fin, however I had been riding thrusters a lot.
So looking at the options I decided to go quite thruster like with the fin configuration. I went with a rusty 6.5” TK flex fin with small FCS H-2 as side bites. Wow this made the board come alive. I know some people don’t like to see longboards ridden performance style but there is something satisfying about slamming 8ft of board out the back of the wave as you bring it around. The board really surfs insane allowing you to do the big off the lips and reo’s with ease even in small waves. At the same time it still nose rides pretty good.
In summary it really is the ultimate all round longboard for mixed surfing. Note this was an Australian made board in standard construction and performance may not be comparable on the SLX or thai made boards.
