If I were a good capitalist, Every version of the FM thats gone into the stack would be a different model, instead of just a different size of the same model. From 6'2 clear up to 9'6, its a really mixed bag with one underscoring 'thing' - and if you've surfed one, you know what that thing is.
In a landscape where 1/8" of tail width or a slightly more aggressive bend in the rocker in the last 6" of board all of a sudden becomes a 'new model' - The FM should probably be like 67 'different boards'. The thing about my models though, is that for as far back as I can remember, a 'name' really denotes a concept or a general design theory. The v.Bowls is a great example of that...There are dozens of little tweaks and variations on the v.Bowls as a theme, but they all hold the same general concept at heart - The FM does the same.
All these tweaks and variations come from hand shaping, working with different people for different outcomes; There are guys in Hawaii that have complete spears for giant waves...they are FMs to me. There are guys that have little disc-y things for soft beachbreaks - those are also FMs to me. My entire quiver is FM....but it spans from small waves to reeling point stuff to guns to daily drivers and even people that have FMs ask me what I'm riding because it doesn't immediately look like the one they have.
'FM' is a DNA...It's a baseline design theory that the outline, rails, rocker, thickness, bottom shape depth and balance all work around. So I probably made a booboo and I could ride this one design lineage through a dozen hype-cycles with a 'NEW SHAPE', but, I'd rather build a family of FM cultists with ya'll instead.
Check this out...
Thats an FM (8'1)
This is an FM (6'6)
The core design is about 7 years old now - and while CLEARLY it's a popular board, the popularity hasn't come from marketing; its been word of mouth. The popularity has never 'boomed' its just slowly grown like a snowball...Never one huge uptick, just constant growth through people sharing and feeling and exploring.
This is an FM (9'6)
Until the last year I've hardly had a single good FM video clip - I've had little bits here and there but still nothing *to me* that defines the model - because it's a feeling. You have to surf it to understand it, then all of a sudden you don't want anything else. The FM is a sensory board...The feeling underfoot is the drug - The same dimensions in another twin fin midlength feels WORLDS apart, and there's nothing that'll show 'it' to you, you have to feel it, and, lucky for me, ya'll do. All the time.
this, too, is an FM. Matthieu Ducros, 6'6 FM deep in the ments...
I rest my case...all of these videos and images would hold up as being different models in any other brand or project, but, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here and chasing a feeling, tweaking shapes for different goals, and putting them on the table for you to devour or not. We just dumped a smoldering pile of FMs (WHATEVER 'FM' EVEN MEANS) in the shop - you can check out all the flavors, and, as always, hit us up if you've got questions cause we've got answers.
