THE FCSII SYSTEM SAVED ME

BARRON MAMIYA - MARGARET RIVER

Bit Of A Background

Barron Mamiya said he “almost died” down there in the first guinea pig heat with R-Cal and Jacob Willcox. After falling in front of the whitewater on an end section power belt, his leggie wrapped around a rock and he was pushed into a cave. He put his hands up and felt rock above him. This was the same reef that claimed the life of competitor Creed Barnes in the 1989 event. Barron ripped his leggie off and swam out through the foam. When he recovered his board, two fins were missing, the third chipped. Half an hour later, he was spotted at Beach Life, the local surf shop, buying a backup set.

Some might wail on the FCS piñata, but instead of blowing out the boxes and destroying the board, Barron was stoked to be able to pop a new set of fins in and keep surfing his magic craft through the heat.

“It’s a sick board. I had it shaped for Sunset and it goes really good over here, so I’m stoked I didn’t have to swap it out.”

Via Stab Magazine

Images: WSL

“I felt like I was extremely lucky in that situation. Firstly, to emerge from it relatively unscathed, but also to be able to quickly swap the fins from by backup board to the board I was riding, and get back to the water so quickly, was crucial in progressing through that heat.”

For sure, my board would’ve been a lot worse off if my fins weren’t knocked from the plugs. If my fins were screwed in, I reckon the fin plugs on my favourite board would have been ripped out, and I would’ve had to swap boards mid heat. In this situation, the FCS II system saved me.”

-barron Mamiya

BArron's margAret river hardware

Sold out