Akamata!!!

My good friend Ian Wraith AKA “Piskian” is an ex-pat Cornishman living in Japan. Ian lives on a beautiful, quiet (by Japanese standards) tropical island with his wife and two children. Ian is also a pretty great mat rider.

Anyway, Ian was lined up for a mat and we managed to line his mat up with his visit, and so it was that Akamata was born…

Akamata is a Nouveau Racer so designed with more solid waves in mind. There is a particular point break on the Island that is very reminiscent of a certain North Cornish point with long lefts of a shallow boulder bottom. The difference is, you have a huge paddle just to get to the inside! With this in mind, Ian took the pragmatic decision to break form and go for a bungee leash fitting.

This isn’t to always have a leash, just to have the option when those huge typhoon swells come in. These leash fittings have developed over time and the nose flange is now HEAVILY reinforced. The leash fits to the middle loop so the mat concertinas to absorb the energy and the bungee is elastic. All of this combines to give a fitting that can take on the job, although it is still best to hang on to your mat!

The deck it 200d nylon dyed Fire Red with an added experimental tattoo (that didn’t show well so that is why we experiment).

The bottom material is an open weave 70d that goes juuuuust lovely! Restricted breather to help Akamata to hold her shape in big surf and to handle surface chop at speed.

Ian has given her a go and reports:

Just rode Akamata in head-high double-up dry tubes. Flies! Like a magic carpet. Turns fast, glides like a beuton. Grip is perfect!

Stoked!

On that grip, it’s clear Sikaflex EBT but I have modified how I texture it and the feedback (including my own experience) is that it’s spot on!

I’m glad I’ve been able to build Ian a mat. It’s been a while and this is just right for what he will get over the winter.

It was great to get Ian over although it was a flying visit. We were lucky enough to get a couple of sessions in too. A shame it was so small as we have an intuition on party waves but still great fun surfing with Mark “Tom” Underwood one day and my son, Webbo, the next.

Here’s a few party waves from 2016 anyho…

Great morning that!

Cheers

G

PS Follow Ian on Instagram @piskian.

Expanding the Quiver with Nancy

Here we have a 200/70 G-Mat Rubber Bucky named Nancy, built for Sean Stansfield.

People may well remember Sean. For those who don’t have long memories, Sean was the first person to host Phileas when she set off on her travels:

https://customsurfmats.com/phileas/tag/Sean+Stansfield

That was a while ago now!

Sean has previously had another couple of mats from me named Gladys and Dorothy:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2015/5/11/just-what-the-dr-ordered

The last 2 mats were a 70/70 Ute and a 200/70 Chino Racer. When Sean dropped me his order form he was pretty clear on hat her wanted. A Rubber Bucky and a fast one!

No problemo!

We mulled over the options and decided on a stable deck so went for 200 denier material, but focusing on the speed, we thought about venting (free-breather) and rocker (negative).

The rest was simple. Sean likes his mats low key and monochrome so all black with white grip was where we wound up. SIkaflex EBT Grip 3/4 length with front corners…

Nancy IS going to be fast…

Personally, I love the Rubber Bucky. The glide and the ease for the tail to break free make this a a design that absolutely epitomises the essence of the modern surfmat. It also means that for the uninitiated, there is a drift that can initially be a little disconcerting (we all love dropping the tail though right?)

I really stoked to have been able to build another mat for Sean. He’s a connoisseur of the craft of riding these craft.

Enjoy mate!

Cheers

G

The Mat with No Name

There was once a guy named Kerry. Kerry Burns to be exact.

Kerry once watched a movie named The Man with No Name and Kerry had a dream of a brown mat with white patterned grip to be something like that poncho... Something like it.

Of course, that grip needed to do the job of... erm... gripping! So we had to get creative. But with the deck looking so fancy, the big white expanse of the bottom looked like a big white bottom. It needed filling (please do know that these buns are accidental).

That's where Bryn came in.

Bryn Dampney is a super talented artist. Graphic Designer by profession, kneeboard shaper by passion and all-round waterman in the ocean. And I mean ALL round. We approached Bryn with the general theme - "It needs to look kinda Mexican?"

Bryn did the rest.... Amazing!!!

So Kerry is about to hook up with his Mat With No Name. A 200/70 wheezy Ubercat that is going to fly on those points around SB. If you're over there, keep an eye out for them!

Been a LOT of fun this one. Thanks to Kerry for the opportunity and thanks to Bryn for his genius.

Cheers
G

PS For those who score custom mats, Bryn is available to add art to them.

Jamu Jamu - Something Orange for Indo!

Mariah Ernst is a name some might recognise. Mariah is a New York surfer, journalist and writer who tells me that she hates the cold. In fact, she hates the cold so much that she has fled the US Eastern Seaboard for Indonesia. Even then, she is so hostile to the cold that you can see her wearing rubber in the tropical paradise!

Maybe on the rubber… Hard to tell if she was pulling my leg on that one.

In any case, Mariah came with a clear idea in mind of what she wanted. “A mat that will hold well in steep Indo waves and in a colour that I can see easily when it’s washing around on the inside at Ulu’s.”

Roger that..

After weighing up the options, 2 tone orange was the go. With Mariah’s local being somewhat heavy, a Nouveau racer seemed the obvious choice. Positive elastic rocker to help the mat get off the bottom and respond rail to rail but nice and stable with restricted breathing. Mariah opted to name her new ride “Jamu Jamu” after her favourite local turmeric based beverage.

At the time of writing, Mariah is getting over some gnarly illness. On the mend and what better tonic than a new mat!

Jamu Jam sets sail in the morning so should be with Mariah by the end of the week.

Bon voyage!!!

Cheers

G

PS. Read more about Mariah here:

https://whalebonemag.com/ice-cream-headaches-writer-mariah-ernst/

Unexpected Addition to the Family!

Say hello to Inkblot.

This is an unexpected addition to the family.

The customer who originally ordered this mat was all good to go and then unfortunately ran in to some unforeseen expenses which meant they we unable to go forward. I had already dyed this deck and cut the panels.

As it turned out, the customer was very close to my size and the mat is a 70/70 free-breathing Rubber Bucky and I have been desperate to get one in my quiver but just haven’t had the free-time to build one so I made the decision to have her.

Don’t worry… I squeezed in an extra day of work on the Bank Holiday weekend to get her done so hasn’t slowed anything down production wise!

Anyway, with Inkblot and my Nouveau Racer, Unity I now pretty much have the perfect 2 mat quiver and am sorted for the next couple of years at least. I don’t tend to hang on to unused mats so I’m putting my blue and yellow mat named Michael Stripe up for sale for anyone who wants her - £145 GBP + shipping.

She’s was built in September 2016 and is in very good condition (the result of washing with 50 dunks after every session). I’ll top the grip up before she goes out.

Michael Stripe is an Ubercat (in case you hadn’t guessed) but being a 70/70 free-breather is much more of an all-rounder and goes well in pretty much all conditions. She is best suited to an experienced mat surfer or, if you are less experienced, more air and patience to get used to her floppiness will see you adjust!

Cheers, G.

Siobhan Heads to Hawaii

G-Mat 165 is a G-Mat Nouveau Racer heading off to hook up with Craig Jerome in Hawaii.

She is a 200/70 wheezer with free-rocker made to eat up decent waves with some push but with some scope built in to the bottom end to open her up in more average conditions too.

Craig has named his new mat Siobhan. Funnily enough, that’s what I was going to be called had I been a girl, so I have a natural soft-spot for this one.

Craig says there’s a bit of solid swell on the wat so looking forward to seeing how he and his new ride get on with that.

Have fun you two!!!

Cheers

G

Off to Cali!

Hello there!

I’m off to California for a couple of weeks from Saturday so keen to hook up with people and maybe sort a couple of matmeets over there.

The time I was there I got a session in with ASB in tiny Rincon.

And the meet at Cottons was such a blast!

Our itinerary for this trip is:

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WEEK 1:

Based in Carpinteria at Santa Miguel Campground from Sunday April 4th until Saturday 13th April.

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WEEK 2:

Based in San Onofre at San Mateo Campground from Saturday 13th April until Friday 19th April.

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Be good to to hook up for some sessions so give me a yell. Another matmeet would be great! Mike Janich is staying at the site over that week too! :)

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In other news, I’ll be sending out an email to take a couple of custom orders over the next couple of weeks to get started when I’m back so keen an eye out if you’re on the list and if you’re not, HERE’S THE LINK.

Cheers

G