Ponyo

So then, the second mat for a Bennink in this run. You'll recall from the last mat I posted that I built a pair for Yoko and Ben of slideaholics.com and this is Yoko's. Yoko has named her mat Ponyo after the 2009 anime classic:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ponyo

That's a pretty solid Tomatometer score so maybe worth a watch!

So back to the mat. In essence, Ponyo and Ben's mat, The Tardis, are of the same ilk as they are both 200/70 RB-JMC's. Both are free-breathers and both have free elastic rocker. The key difference is the scaling. Yoko is a lot smaller than Ben and this mat, like all customs, is carefully tailored to fit. I wish I had taken a photo of these two together but you can see the size difference in the mats I built them back in 2019:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2019/2/18/his-and-hers

Yoko has gone for a dark grey deck and navy bottom. This grey material is interesting. It looks great and almost nobody asks for it but I'm really pleased with how Ponyo has come out. The pink grip and branding sit well with the grey.

Yoko and Ben love to share waves and mix crossing-over with running over so I'm really hopeful to see a bit of footage. There are a lot of mat snaps coming out of that part of the World these days so fingers crossed.

Have fun Yoko!

Cheers

G

The Tardis

Here's a the first of two mats heading down under for Ben and Yoko Bennink. For those who unaware, Ben and Yoko run the slideaholics.com site and live around Lennox. I built a pair of mats for them many years ago and since then they have been looking to extend the quiver so I was stoked to see them get in on the current run.

This mat has been built for Ben and is a 200/70 RB-JMC Free-Breather with free elastic rocker. Ben is a really big fella, nicknamed 'Bear'. He referred to himself as a hunk when I asked for his body type [NB this may be a slight distortion of what he actually said].

I still had the scaling down from the last mat which Ben said was a good fit so we went with that.

Ben's last ride was a Rubber Bucky and we both felt that the slight down-scaling and different corner templates between this and the RB-JMC would be the right step.

Ben has gone for a deck valve as he and Yoko enjoy running each other over. You will also notice the sparce front corner grip which is designed to offer something to grab but leaving clear nylon for sleeveless arm paddling.

On to the name, Ben has named his mat "The Tardis" because "it's blue and can take me where I want to go, fast!"

Lovely stuff!

The Tardis and Yoko's mat are both heading off with the courier so we'll see how long that takes with the Christmas hecticness. I'll do a post about Yoko's mat dreckly, but for now, have fun Ben!

Cheers

G

Arrakis

Meet “Arrakis”… New aquatic companion to the surfmat obsessed James Prangnell.

In case you hadn’t picked it up, James is obsessed with surfmats. You might have come across him on social media (@greatestthingsinceslicedbread7 on Instagram) oozing stoke and good vibes. I can appreciate his appreciation… I have been obsessed with mats myself for over 15 years.

James was an early customer of the G-Mat RFT range buying a 200/70 RFT-M during the early runs with the life-jacket valves and deck logo. He has a number of mats and loves his RFT so when he got in on the current run of custom mats he had a clear plan in mind to get an RB-JMC. He wanted his two G-Mats to match and asked me to copy the logo height (smaller than the standard G-Mat deck logo) and also the RFT Series font for the number… Check!

Arrakis is a 70/70 build with negative rocker and free-breather venting. James has opted to Hester the valve as well. Arrakis might look like James’s RFT but is very different. James plans to find some open faced waves to let his new ride fly!

So why Arrakis? James says:

“I had a bit of a think and I’ve come up with the name ‘Arrakis’.

It’s simple really, I like the word itself. I do love the word’s connection to spice, in the story of Dune, and also where the flow state my mind goes into when I am mat surfing. It doesn’t have to be that deep though. I just like ‘Arrakis’!”

— James Prangnell

Arrakis is currently en route to Oz to hook up with James. It’s been a joy collaborating on this build and I’m looking forward to hearing how things work out.

Have fun James!

Cheers

G

Lindsay

This is Lindsay, a mat built for Californian Mat surfer Cameron Weaver. Cam is the son of Longboarding maestro Robert “Wingnut” Weaver and is a highly accomplished waterman himself. He has been riding mats for some time in good point break waves and was keen to get a mat with good speed and hold. We had a few conversations and as is often the case with experienced mat riders, he chose the RB-JMC model with negative elastic rocker.

We had a few conversations around venting and after a bit of discussion concluded that a Free-Breather rather than a Super-Free-Breather would be the best option. Free-Breathers are very responsive but will hold their shape a little better than completely unrestricted mats and as some of the waves Cam surfs can have a little bump at times we felt that going down the middle would maximise the overall speed/hold balance.

When it came time for Cam to name his mat he went for “Lindsay” after the author of the essential book “Naval Architecture of Planing Hulls”. Such a perfect name! It inspired me to revisit this book that I had in PDF. When I have tried to find a hard copy of this I have always come up against a list of books over £100 GBP. As luck (or fate?) would have it, I asked Jeeves and the next thing you know a copy of the 3rd Edition was in the post to me for £15 GBP. Happy G!!!

Anyway, back to Cam. I asked him about his journey into mats and he said:

“Caught the mat bug the last couple years as a byproduct of trying to avoid the crowds around my local and finding ways to surf windows nobody else wants to….been surfing as long as I can remember, riding whatever I can get my hands on….lately smaller planing hulls have been on the menu, a custom mat was the next logical progression….”

— Cameron Weaver

I had a couple of conversations with Wingnut about mats as he wanted to surprise Cam by paying for Lindsay. Wingnut has tried mats a bit and is keen to join Cam in the water so I squeezed in a 200/70 5 Star General for him. For those unaware, this was my original stock mat and the predecessor to the RFT. I think the green deck, black grip and logo combo look pretty sweet! I bumped into Wingnut’s good friend Sam Bleakley recently and showed him Cam’s mat.

So Lindsay and the green 5 Star General are off to California as I type along with a Lilo Life hoodie.

Looking forward to hearing the ride report from team Weaver. Have fun fellas!

Cheers

G

Pilot Pyle

Here's a mat built for Clarence Martin.

Clarence is a 12 year old who surfs boards well and is looking to expand his quiver. His mum said:

“Clarence surfs Rincon and Malibu First Point. He loves to boogieboard and wanted to try a mat that would allow more speed and mobility. Watching Buck ride a mat on days that Rincon was too big to log was the biggest contributor to his interest. Andrew [@aslbuck ] and Chet [@chet.taylor.chet.taylor] made it look too fun, he couldn’t resist wanting to try one.”

— Jen Martin

They certainly do make it look fun! I'm hoping to spend a bit of time surfing with then this summer!

So on to the mat. Clarence and Jen spoke to Andrew Buck who knows Clarence well and felt he is ready to jump in the deep end so the mat (which he has named Pilot Pyle) is a 70/70 RB-JMC super-free-breather with negative elastic rocker. Given Clarence's age, we have scaled a little large to give some growing room.

I'm really excited to see a young lad coming to the mat and am excited to see how Clarence develops as a mat surfer.

Have fun mate!

Cheers

G

Ambrosia

OK then... A quick replacement for the super-talented Chris Cravey @cat.chinwaves after his RB-JMC named Nepenthe was disemboweled by a scaredy-cat logger who turtle rolled right in front of him at his home break, Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz. Thankfully Chris wasn't disemboweled too but a close call!

With the same theme in mind, Chris has named this mat Ambrosia. Other than replacing black grip with clear, the rest of the build is the same with Ambrosia being a 70/70 free-breather with negative elastic rocker and an extra bit of fairy dust. Having seen how much versatility Chris gets out of the niche Ubercat model I'm drooling to see what he does with Ambrosia.

Have fun Chris and watch out for the looks!

Cheers

G

Football!!!!!!!!!!!

Say hello to a G-Mat RB-JMC built for Poem Surf craft shaper, Jimmy O’Brien.

Jimmy hails from Far Rockaway in New York and is a skilled mat surfer so came with a clear sense of what he was after. I always enjoy building mats for people who build surf craft. I really enjoy building mats for everyone but it is fun to talk through the concepts behind mats and the hydrodynamics with someone who spends their days thinking about it.

Jimmy came up with the name "Football" for his mat. Here why:

“Okay G, I’ve been thinking about this all day. I’m really proud to say that my wife and I are expecting a child, and we just found out yesterday that it’s a girl. I am absolutely thrilled and can’t wait to be a girl-dad. Up to this point we didn’t know what we were having, and we hadn’t really told anyone besides close family, so we referred to her as “Football” as a sort of code word and because, quite frankly, we had no idea what the hell to expect! Well, that moniker isn’t really necessary now, but we’ve grown quite fond of it anyways, so in honor of our daughter-on-the-way, I’d like to name the mat Football. Mat surfing has brought me immense joy—pushing me to unlearn things, relax, and embrace subtlety and nuance over brute strength and flash. I have a feeling fatherhood is going to be much the same. I hope the name will remind me to relax, soften myself, and keep my eyes open to whatever lies ahead—whether it’s riding a wave or living the life I am so blessed to have.”

— Jimmy O'Brien

Beautiful stuff. Congratulations Team OB!

So back to Football the Surfmat, the mat is a 70/70 RB-JMC with negative elastic rocker. We settled on a free-breather in the end as Jimmy surfs some bumpy waves at times so the slight restriction compared to the super-free will help the mat keep its shape.

That said, this is still a free-breather and football will be a super-sensitive fast ride that will get down the line quick!

I can't wait to see Jimmy and Football in the water.

Cheers

G