ANALOG

ANAGLOG (yes the caps are deliberate) is a Rubber bucky built for Pete D’Ewart. Pete has had a few mats off me now, being the first person to pay for a mat off me way back. Pete knows all about mats having been a mat surfer for a looooooong time. He’s a big fan of the Rubber Bucky and has the skills to make this model really go.

ANAGLOG is a 200/70 free-breather with free-rocker. The 200d fabric is a fairly open weave, as is the navy 70d bottom skin so a light, fast mat. Pete is a fan of simple panels of grip (like on a 5 Star General). We’ve gone with clear EBT which give plenty of traction and the un pigmented sealant is more durable.

Pete lives in the Pacific North West so some long chilly walls will be just perfect for this mat.

Have fun Pete

Cheers

G

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Been busy knocking out 3 mats of late. I'm building myself a new ride and didn't want to slow down the waiting list so thought I'd pull out all the stops. The third in the set is a "little" bit different so I'll post about that down the line. For now here's some info on the first two.

G-Mat 139

To start, here's Shi Shi. The latest addition to the quiver of my oldest customer, Pete D'Ewart.

Pete is a Seattle Seahawks fan, being from Washington State. He gave me free range on the logo and I thought it might be fun to go with blue, grey and green to match his team's colours (the white on the logo is actually grey, believe me).

Anyway, Pete is an extremely experienced mat man. By which I mean one of the elders who kept mat surfing alive, riding Neumatics through the barren years.  He has a Rubber Bucky and loved the speed so the next step had to be negative rocker. As you can see, Shi Shi has it in abundance! 

That rocker combined with a 70/70, free breathing construction and very light Puraflex 40 grip job means this mat is very pliable and will be very, very fast! 

Pete has some travels planned so Shi Shi is going to get a good run out in a range of good quality waves in the hands of a master.

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UPDATE: 24/08/2017

Email from Pete with a story about the spot that was namesake for this mat:

"Shi Shi"arrived in prefect condition.  I love the feel of 70/70.  Looking forward to some long glides. Thanks & me keep me in the queue if you will.  

Shi Shi is over an hour walk through the forest, usually muddy or a 20 minute boat ride from Hobuck.  We almost hit a gray whale returning from Shi Shi a few years ago in a Zodiac.  That trip resulted in the mat pack being made by Diane, my wife.  An herring net pouch with a draw string designed with a 2" back-pack nylon belt to stuff a rolled up deflated rolled mat into making it possible to swim out and under strong inside surf.  Dale commented at the time that if it is too big to get out with an inflated mat, you probably shouldn't go out.  I had rode to far inside on a blustery big day and had to deflate the mat and swim with one arm (the other hand gripping the mat to get back out to the boat.  The mat pack frees up both arms. Fun.

Pete

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G-Mat 140

On to the second build, this time a 200/70 Ute named "Blackfish" for Julia Graham who lives near Santa Cruz, CA. Inspired by the important documentary of the same name. 

Julia has spent plenty of time riding G-Mats with here partner, Mark Garcia having both a 5 Star General and a Ute named "The Narwhal", so it was high time that she got hold of a custom fit! 

Blackfish is built with free rocker as Julia is going to be surfing a wide range of conditions and was keen for a mat that would get her moving down the line quickly. The grip is Grey Puraflex 40 so offers that reassuring sticky feel whilst having minimal impact on the overall pliability of the mat.

Things are pretty sharky around Santa Cruz right now, but that won't deter Julia! I think she's planning on just out-running them anyway... Move over Michael Phelps!

I'm really looking forward to hearing about how Julia and Blackfish get on... Stay tuned!

Cheers

G

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UPDATE: 31/08/2017

Email from Julia. Sounds like she's having fun:

Waves weren't too great this weekend but managed to catch a few on Saturday at Manresa. Love it! Really fast down the line and I love the maneuverability...and not as much mat to wrangle around :)

Thanks!!

Deep Brain Stimulation

Ahoy ladies and gents, this is DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) a 70/70 Rubber Bucky built for Pete D'Ewart in Washington State in the US of A.

I always enjoy building mats for Pete. He is a real connoisseur and this is his fourth custom G-Mat. You can see the others here:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/?tag=Chiledub

Pete was actually my first ever customer so it is always a pleasure to build a mat for him.

So back to DBS. As mentioned, she is a Rubber Bucky. 70/70 free breather with a free rocker. Being a Rubber Bucky there is a deep concave up the middle which provides good lift, with the mat being designed to ride on the wide inside pontoon in trim.

The bottom skin and I-beams are made from the very last scraps of the beautiful green 70 denier fabric from my role so Pete is in for a quick sensitive ride.  I can already hear the cries of anguish from those who have fallen in love with the green fabric. Please rest assured that I will get some more when I can.

It looks like the run of good swell continues for the US West coast so Pete should be getting plenty. DBS is more minded towards subtle sensitive low inflation glides than keeping life together in hectic conditions but she will certainly have a prime spot in Pete's quiver, I'm sure.

Cheers

G

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UPDATE - 03/12/16

Word from Pete:

"DBS, double bag and T landed today.  G-121is a beauty, another fine design realized with obvious attention to detail.  Can't wait to get it wet.  In the meantime, I've inflated DBS well beyond riding hardness to admire the contours indoors.  Thanks.  Your mats more often disappear when I'm on a wave, full body flying."

Happy so far it seems.

G

Surfadelic!

Pete D'Ewart is a connoisseur of surfmats so I'm always honoured when he has one built by me. The latest is a G-Mat Ute named "Surfadelic."

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Surfadelic is a 200/70 build with elastic rocker. The grip panels are Sikaflex EBT to offer additional stability to the deck. Blue deck, navy bottom. 

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Just the ticket for winter in the Pacific North West.  

Cheers  

G  

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