Posted 2009-06-02 04:34:07
The Sunova factory is in Bangkok. They are the "original" Firewire (their shaper being the brains behind firewire, but having left FW after about a year). Sunova has been around since 1989. Bert (the shaper) set up firewire to try to mimic Sunova's quality in larger volumes. I'm not sure what the falling out was over, quality at firewire fell way off after Bert left (though it is rumored to have stabilised more recently). I'd go for a Sunova. (Cobra isn't even a consideration in my mind. Plus, they probably wouldn't sell direct anyway, they are a big factory that makes boards for labels all over the world. Sunova makes an incredible range of beautiful, light, durable blow your mind performance boards.
However, they tend to be pretty busy, so if I were you, I wouldn't wait until you get there to order a board. I'd get in touch with them now so that you can put in a custom order that will be ready by the time you get to Thailand in September.
What sort of board are you looking for? Longboard? Shortboard? Hybrid?
Hit up Greg at the factory:
Their email is
info@sunovasurfboards.com
or you can check out their website (though it really doesn't do the boards justice):
sunovasurfboards.com
Where are you planning on surfing the board? Where are you from?
-Matt