Taj Burrow Talks Surfboards
May 08 2007 / TEAHUPOO, Tahiti
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Last year, Burrow made history when he rode a Firewire board to second place at the J-bay event. It was the first time an epoxy board had been surfed in a WCT event. Soon after, Burrow officially signed with Firewire surfboards and has been riding them ever since.
"I heard about the durability of them," Burrows says about being introduced to the boards a couple of years ago. "I was breaking a board of week, pretty much. So that was the thing I was most excited about."
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Even though he signed with Firewire last year, only recently he's seen even more improvements. He received a new batch of boards right before the Bells Beach contest and he went on to win that event, as well as the Boost Mobile Surf Show the week after.
"Now they feel amazing," he says. "They're the best boards I've probably ever ridden. Just the strength is amazing."
Burrow is hoping the magic continues with the Firewire boards when Round Two of the Billabong Pro starts up -- he didn't come close to France's Jeremy Flores in Round One, and now faces a tough challenger in Round Two with Manoa Drollet, who, hailiong from French Polynesia, is completely familiar with the waves at Teahupoo (indeed, Drollet was a double nominee for the Billabong XXL Big Wave awards this year for a July 2006 ride).
Drollet had the misfortune of facing Kelly Slater in the first round, where Slater dominated, with a 9.50 score for one wave and an overall heat score of 18.17 -- both were the best numbers on the day among all surfers. Otherwise, Drollet's 12.50 combined score was better than most surfers for the day -- in fact, he tied for the best 12th best overall heat, alongside Andy Irons. However, the wildcard entry will have his hands fuill against Burrow, who currently shares the No. 1 rank on the Foster's ASP World Tour with Mick Fanning.
"I'm just trying to take it one heat at a time. Nine years I've been coming here now so I'll try to use that experience to my advantage," Burrow tells Australia's The Age.
"I've had a few results here in the past, a second and a third so I'm hoping to get one of those or if not win it".
Current swell forecasts indicate Round Two may not start until Thursday or Friday, as that's when conditions appear most promising. The contest needs to be completed by Monday, May 14th and there are still three full days of competition are required to complete the contest.
And as for Burrow, how are these board holding up?
"I've broken a couple... in extreme conditions," he says, before noting another benefit to the boards.
"I can ride the same board as I do in heats as I do free surfing. So I never used to be able to do that."
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