Gwahir

Meet Gwaihir, a G-Mat Nouveau Racer built for New England mat surfer, Ryan Kleinert.

I'm sure people are aware of Ryan, but in case you're not, he absolutely charges on a mat. Gwaihir is the third mat I've built for Ryan with his first two (Starchaser and Starchaser 2) being RB-JMC's. Starchaser was blown out to sea when Ryan was surfing solid 10ft barrels, hence the second coming. So you see what I mean when I say Ryan charges on a mat!

With these days in mind, Gwaihir was born..The Nouveau Racer is my gunniest model and with the 200d deck and restricted breathing will feel much more stable. It is a design that gives you a lot of confidence on big days, so is perfect for those dredging winter New England waves. Although the Nouveau Racer definitely had a bottom end to it, in bigger and more powerful surf it's a very fast design so I think naming Gwaihir after the King of the Great Eagles in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings is apt.

As you can see, Gwaihir is in Ryan's trademark hot fuschia with white grip. We've Hestered the valve too so all in all a pretty good looking mat. I showed Gwahir at the Fish Fry in Crackington Haven, North Cornwall, so thank you so much to Ryan for being kind enough to let me show Gwaihir there before shipping.

Finally, people might be wondering how Ryan has got in on the order book so regularly. Well, he said that after missing the first email of two when I opened the order book last, he just sat on his laptop all night ready to pounce on the second email! With dedication like that I'm stoked to build Ryan a mat!

So as I say, I'm excited to show Gwaihir at the Fish Fry on Saturday (it will be great to see people and both Tom @rftsurfmats and I will be there). Following that, Gwaihir will be flying off to the US East Coast to get into some winter swells.

Have fun Ryan!

Cheers

G

El Duderino!

Here's a mat for mat surfer Sebastian Pleuse.

Seb is a German matter hanging out in SW France who got in on this run of custom mats. We took a bit of time to think about what would suit Seb best. Seb was keen on a stable and versatile ride, so we settled on a Ute (that's two Utes in a row)! We went for a wheezer to help with stability (plus always a good option for a wide range of conditions) as well as a 200/70 construction. As you can see, Seb went for an orange deck with blue logo and grip, a navy bottom skin and a bungee to give the he leash option for the more out of control days!

This mat has a free elastic rocker to keep things versatile.

Seb also had a mat bag and a G-Mat Apparel hoodie, which he is stoked on.

I spoke to Seb about his journey into matsurfing, and he said:

“I’m in my early fifties and have been a surfer for more than 30 years. Four years ago I first heard of mat surfing while watching random videos on Youtube. I love to try all the water sports so I could not resist and ordered my first mat. I really loved mat surfing from the first wave on. Being so close to the water on the mat gave me an unknown feeling of speed, which I never had on a bodyboard. And with the mat being so soft and comfy it was so easy on the back at the same time. Just like surfing a sofa, really. Pulling into little close-out tubes I could never have taken on a surfboard, I felt happy like a little kid. It was so good!

When my first mat gave out on me, I looked for a different manufacturer and found G-Mat. I finally made it into one of the slots. Lucky me!

You’ve done a wonderful job building my new „El Duderino. During the process, we exchanged several emails, and I felt really heard with my wishes and questions. My new toy has finally arrived. It looks super cool, and the build quality is outstanding. Unfortunately the ocean is flat at the moment. I can’t wait for the next swell to take this stunning mat for a ride”

— Sebastian Pleuse

Stoked to hear your happy Seb! With swell in the Atlantic now hopefully you'll get some!

As Seb said, he has named this mat El Duderino. Why? Because f*cking cowabunga is why!

Cheers

G

Pacific Express

Choo chooooo! All aboard the Pacific Express!

This mat is a G-Mat RB-JMC built for Mark Garcia. Mark lives in Southern California and is a pretty experienced mat surfer. A while back, Mark picked up a couple of RFTs (200/70 and 70/70) from Mollusk and had been trying for a custom for a while.

Mark was pretty clear on what he wanted having fallen in love with the 70/70 feel and managed the snaffle up the last of my olive green 70d fabric to boot!

Mark said:

“I honestly feel like the mat riding has clicked more with each mat I’ve got. 200/70 to the 70/70. The craziest thing about the 70/70 is I’ve had insane sessions in the shitiest spring surf.
I came home from sea ( May is the worse time of year for surf in San Diego) and had some good and memorable mat sessions. Had one with Dane, Osprey Surfboards (one of the best local surfboards) where I was really in the zone. And even he was asking about the mat.”

— Mark Garcia

So then, Pacific Express is something of a step up again. PE is a Super-Free-Breather so pretty much completely unrestricted air flow internally. Mark has some long empty point breaks lined up so I was super excited to hear about how this all turns out and Mark has had his mat for a couple of weeks. I reached out via email as it turns out Mark has had his Instagram hacked.

He said:

“I got to ride the mat a couple since this last week and had some great sessions on it. So lively and responsive. It just seems to bend into the waves and fit the curve of sections. Can’t wait to get it down to the longer Baja points.

I gave my 70-70 RFT to my good friend Adam Burns to try. He’s a really stand out surfer here at the cliffs and has been riding mats for a while. Anyway he was so stoked on it after one session he reached out to Tom and ordered a 70-70 for himself.”

— Mark Garcia

Pretty stoked on that!

Have fun Mark. And have fun Adam!

Cheers

G

Pinliner - Trying New Things

TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME!!!

No... Not really but the eagle eyed among you might notice that the numbering on this mat is out of sync. The reason for this is that I number mats as I design them and this one was designed a while back and then other things took priority.

So what's the deal here? Well this mat is a bit of a prototype. It's a 70/70 RB-JMC super-free-breather with neg rocker, but with a much squarer tail. The RB-JMC design has a squarer tail then nose anyway, but this mat has that taken to an extreme. The squarer tail of the RB-JMC releases more readily giving less drag, thus more speed. This also encourages the tail to drop slightly allowing the mat to sit in its naturally faster position on the high line. This mat is taking that concept to its extreme to test its limits.

I have actually already built one for Andrew Stephen Buck and he has surfed it once. The feedback is that it might be too much with the hard corner possibly inviting cavitation but as Andrew said himself, one surf isn't enough. Also I really believe that as a builder it is important to test designs myself to get live feedback.I have left space between the end of the grip and the corners on both Buck's mat and mine to re-shape the tail if this really doesn't work.

The other part of this experiment is the aesthetic. I have had an idea about using sealant pinlines and stenciled designs to create a barrier for acid dye. Hard edges are pretty much impossible with acid dye on nylon. When I got an order for an intricate design (that one's on the way) it was obvious that it was time to try it out. Not really "pin" lines on this mat but I had the idea for a name in mind as tribute to the legend of Moonlight Glassing, Peter St Pierre who's internet handle was "Pinliner". My efforts are not a patch on anything Pete does so maybe more of an insult. Sorry mate!

Anyway, Pinliner is going to be my new mat. Whether this new iteration is what I stick with or I just reweld the tail back to what already ain't broke will have to be seen.

Cheers

G

The Widow Maker V6

This mat is an Ubercat build for one of the English South Coast’s prone stalwarts, Mike Steele. Mike has been a body boarder for many years, seeking and charging some of the phenomenal hidden gems on the Jurassic Coast. Mike says:

“Got the bug when I was 10 when my dad bought me a polystyrene board for the summer and then progressed to the Mach 7-7 and was a devout Morey fan until they sold to Mattel. Grew up surfing Bournemouth Pier, then discovered the local reefs and was completely sold on boogin’. One of the spots was in an M.O.D. training range and we got arrested for trespass for walking back from the break after we had been told to get out by the range boat. In and out of court for two years and the day before judgement they dropped the charges. The whole thing was very underhand by the M.O.D., false evidence etc. Anyway, after that ordeal we decided to buy a boat so we would never have this problem again and we discovered a few spots that were literally made for bodyboarding. We had a few eventful boat trips in the surf, one in particular was witnessed on quite a big day, my mate driving hit a big wave too fast and we were apparently fully vertical and the ‘prop was 10ft clear of the water’. How we all survived is beyond me and hence we named the boat ‘The Widowmaker’. Most of our crew has their own boat now, mine is the Mk 5, and now the mat is the Mk 6. Re: board progression, had many boogs over the years, and I know the guy who imports NMD and VS and he is very pally with Nick Mezeritz so been getting customs with experimentary tails for about 10 years. Then saw Noah Lane in Ireland riding Guy Butcher wooden boards and went down that route, again experimenting with shapes with Guy. 3 boards in and started following the fringe element and saw some clips of fellas on mats going exponentially fast and have been trying to get my grubby mitts on one of yours for a couple of years. And now I have one!”

— Mike Steele

Mike and I spoke about the amount of adjustment needed to switch from a bodyboard/paipo to a mat. He is up for the challenge!

So on to the mat, WMV6 is a wheezy 200/70 Ubercat with positive elastic rocker so has good hold and is well set up for tight S-turn surfing on slabby waves and wedges. Mike has gone for the bungee leash option as a lot of the waves he surfs involve tricky swims if losing the mat. You will notice the 2-tone blue and white bottom skin and logo. This was based on a design Mike sent me and we’re pretty stoked on how it’s come out.

Widow Maker V6 is with Mike now and with a winter of south swells looking to be on the cards we’re pretty hopeful that they will get plenty of action!

Have fun Mike. Can’t wait to hear about your journey into matting!

Cheers

G

Circe - Heading to Noosa

This is the first of two mats going to Australia for a matting couple in Noosa. "Circe", a 200/70 Ute built for Rachel Scarff. Rachel says she has named her mat "Circe" beacause:

“I’ve always loved mythology, in particular Circe, and always find myself coming back to her. Thought it would suit as her legend is based around water. Her dad is the sun god and mother is a sea nymph. She also represents femininity in the stories about her in a way that’s scares men, so thought it would be funny to have a mat called that in a sport that’s fairly dominated by guys who don’t always give women respect or the time out in the ocean. It’s like if they were mean I’d just channel Circe (she’s a goddess of sorcery) and put a spell on them and turn them into a sea cucumber or something 😂😂”

— Rachel Scraiff

Notice the mistake here?

That is perfect!!! I always love building mats for women. Unlike much of the mainstream surf media, mat surfing tends to break down the gender barriers and just welcomes mat surfers as mat surfers and we really do need more women to be surfing mats.

I asked Rachel about her matting experiences the journey into mat riding. She said:

““I’ve been living in Noosa for the last 7 years, originally from South Australia. Started out on a log, but downsized to an 8’2 V bottom made by local board shaper Ado (Maren surfboards), because I just want to trim and turn. I’m fairly new to the mat game. I started using my partners spare mat more seriously last year and have been enjoying it so much that I decided to get myself a custom mat for my size (I am very short haha!). My partner has been wanting to order a g-mat for a while now, so perfect timing!

I’ve found myself hardly surfing my board these days and only taking out the mat because I just love it so much - I can go out and even if I only get a few waves I have a blast, as opposed to taking the board out and not getting that same feeling.

Love riding the mat out at Tea Tree and always fun to mat with pals James T, Matt C and my partner Ben. Still a few other mat friends that I’m wanting to catch waves with….””

— Rachel Scraiff

That's such a familiar story. Mats get you like that!

So then, on to the tech bits. Circe is a 200/70 wheezer with free elastic rocker. Rachel has also gone with a Hestered valve. As with all customs this has been specifically scaled to meet Rachel's body size so will hopefully feel like a good fit.

Circe is on the way to Oz now along with her partner Ben's mat... but that's a story for another day.

Have fun Rachel! It's been a pleasure.

Cheers

G

Something Fishy Going Down

So then, here is a mat that has been on the radar for some time and I am as stoked as a freshly poked campfire to have been able to build a mat for a very, very talented waterman. For those unfamiliar with him, Trevor Gordon is s super talent surfer from Santa Barbara, CA. I got to know Trevor through our mutual friend Andrew Buck, when “Buck” put me in touch with Trevor’s extraordinary wife, Maddie, to build her a mat named Bumbarreller.

So back to Trevor. He is, as you would expect, a very good mat rider. His surfing style suits the mat perfectly: super smooth, no wasted energy, being guided by the wave rather than trying to impose himself on it. And of course, hailing from the stretch of coast with endless point breaks, PLUS living on a sail boat Trevor has it pretty sweet to be a mat surfer. Not that I’m envious at all!

We started talking about this mat and Trevor asked for a Mackerel Print deck. I had a few goes and you know what? I just couldn’t do it! It just came out as a greeny, bluey stripy splodgy affair and not really conveying the mood. Trevor wanted his mat to clearly be all about the mackerel! We went back to the drawing board and here’s what we cam up with… Meet MACK DADDY! All hail! Gotta say, I dig this one.

Mack Daddy is a 70/70 G-Mat RB-JMC. He has negative rocker and is a super free breather. The deck is acid dyed and there is a sexy Mack on one rail (I’m trying to work out if this is the Mack Daddy or if Trevor is like some kind of fishy Dr Doolitle). There is also a bit of branding down the other rail, just in case anyone is wondering who is coming. Finally, the grip is added using ClearFix sealant which I have started to use for clear grip jobs.

Trevor and Maddie are currently in the Canaries and with the weirdness around Eupoean shipping since Brexit we’ve agreed to ship to the US so Trevor will have Mack Daddy waiting for him when he gets home.

 I’m looking forward to sharing some waves with Trevor and Maddie either when I’m next over there or when they’re next over here.  

 Cheers

G