Horsemouth

Say hello to Horsemouth, a 70/70 RB-JMC built for the super talented Bryce Young.

Bryce doesn't need much introduction but for those who don't know him, he is the son of Nat Young and brother of Beau. Bryce comes from an impressive surfing heritage and is an incredible surfer.

If people haven't yet seen the Need Essentials film Following The Fall line, then I insist you do! You will see why I was so excited to build a mat for Bryce. The whole thing is mind-blowing, but for me, the section where Bryce is riding his Alaia is the best example of this kind of wave riding I have ever seen. I mean by a long way. This kind of inate talent leaves us normies in a state of confused awe!

So as I say... I was very excited when Bryce hit me up for a mat.

We had a chat and Bryce has been riding a mat that his dad picked up from George Greenough. We were left with a dilemma around the basic model and materials. On the one hand, these Aquaman types just jump on anything and surf it like they've been doing it for years. On the other, we didn't want to build something that felt 'too' different. I hit up George to get some info on the mat that Bryce had been riding and then after some umming and ahing we hit the spot (I hope) with a 70/70 RB-JMC Super-Free-Breather with negative elastic rocker, scaled to Bryce's height and body dimensions but with a nod to his current mat.

Horsemouth will be a big change but I'm hopeful will fit like a glove. Just a different glove.

Onto the aesthetics, Horsemouth (named after reggae legend Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace) has been dyed with a spruce green acid dye. The process has created subtle aqua and blue streaks across the beam of the mat that look lovely (if I say so myself!). Then we have gone with a green, yellow and red fade logo on the deck. It kinda looks like an apple... Yum yum!

I'm super excited to get Horsemouth and Bryce hooked up. We're just trying to figure where the mat is headed as he is super mobile currently. Oh and Bryce has just had a birthday so the perfect time for a new mat!

It's been a pleasure Bryce! Have fun mate.

Cheers

G

First Light

This is a G-Mat RB-JMC named "First Light" built for Aussie mat surfer and super-talented potter, Gus McDiarmid (see Pan Pottery).

Gus one of the crop of talented Noosa mat surfers. He is a tall fella and is also of a relatively streamlined build so we had to think carefully around scaling his mat to match his height; not be too wide for his frame but retaining an aspect ratio that allows the mat to still be an RB-JMC. In short, simply whacking a bit of extra length on isn't enough to achieve these things! Nonetheless, I'm very hopeful we got there in the end. There is only one way to find out of course!

Gus has spent a bit of time in South Devon, UK (where I now live) and it was at my South Coast local that he first got into mats. He said:

“Jim Newitt pulled a mat out and surfed the left corner of Chally in 2008. When I got back home to Australia, I ordered one straight away. It’s been ecstatic joy ever since.

There is so much to say about the mat, but ultimately it’s the feeling of pure joy and the fun I get when matting, that is what I love most about it. The Noosa mat crew is dynamic and most sessions are comedic. Five mats on a set wave is the highlight of this year!

Ben (Zubkevych) and I live on the same street and we like it to hit it early. The time we like to get in is 20 minutes before first light, hence the name.

Thanks G, and thanks for stretching this one out! Long live “First Light.”

— Gus McDiarmid

Long live indeed! First Light is a super-free-breather with an elastic neg rocker so built to go very fast. She is perfect for those long Noosa rights. Gus was inspired by James Tanner's mat named Crumbs colour-wise and I think it's a fine choice.

I'm really excited to hear how things work out with First Light. Have fun Gus!

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

Care Package

One for Derek Hynd, an emergency G-Mat RB-JMC. Since building a mat named 'Donald Campbell' for Derek a few months ago he hasn't been on a board and reckons he's had over a hundred sessions including a load of heavy freefall drops in big surf at The Pass. The deck material (not our main supplier) suffered a small TPU delamination. DC is currently heading back to G-Mat towers for some TLC and this mat named "Care Package" was shipped over a week ago so is due to land any second.

Derek is the ultimate test pilot surfing twice a day in whatever conditions and pushes his mat way beyond usual use so it's great to get this direct feedback.

Care Package is another 70/70 RB-JMC with negative elastic rocker and super-free-breather venting so a very fast mat. As mentioned the material is the same throughout and I've added a little more grip given the amount of water time Derek's mats get.

Have fun Derek!

Cheers

G

Bulgy the Whale

It's Bulgy the Whale Kids!

Surfmat supremo Andrew Stephen Buck is heading over to the UK and having only palmed off protos to him in recent times we agreed it was high time we did something just for him. People who have seen his previous mats (Fluffy Sunshine, Comrade Napoleon and Mick Dundee) will be aware of his penchant for animal pool toy themed mats.

With that all in mind Bulgy was born! Bulgy was an actual toy inflatable whale so the perfect name for this ride!

Bulgy (this one) is a 70/70 RB-JMC with negative rocker and super-free-breather venting. I stepped up the venting in the super-free at the beginning of the year and think Andrew will appreciate it. Bulgy has been painted with acid dye and then mouth, eyes, fins and blowhole stenciled. A time consuming build but I'm super pleased with the result.

You might also notice the bungee up front and be thinking "WTF?! Buck with a leash?!" Don't worry, no such nonsense. Andrew is coming over to the UK and we're meeting up at the Wave pool on July 4th of all dates! Hopefully someone will get some footage.

We're hoping we'll get some actual real waves whilst he's over. Maybe a flight down to Newquay airport is in order

Anyway... Bulgy is a thing now.

Have fun ASB

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