Donald Campbell - A Mat for Derek Hynd
/Well here is a mat I’ve been itching to build for years. A G-Mat RB-JMC built for wave riding royalty… Derek Hynd.
If anyone is unaware of him, Derek is one of the best surfers in the world. Having been a competitive monster back in the day, Derek has shifted his attention for many years now to stripping things back… Literally!
Derek is the master of friction free surfing as illustrated beautifully in this short from Andrew Kaineder.
“It’s jazz compared to rock ‘n’ roll. And that is a constant breath of fresh air.”
You can see why I’ve been so keen to build Derek a mat! We have spoken about mats in the past and Derek has been intrigued by them, speaking highly of Warren Pfeiffer (who featured in Derek’s film Musica Surfica), James Tanner and of course our mutual friend Andrew Stephen Buck. Derek showed a genuine fascination in the intricacies of mats and the morphing, structureless nature of them. If you’re into friction free wave riding then why wouldn’t you dig mats?
The conversation about the mat design was interesting. By his own admission, Derek had no idea what to ask for and gave me full licence to build him a mat. I turned to Andrew for guidance…
“Build him the most advanced mat you can. He will jump on that thing and master it straight away!”
I told Derek what Andrew had said and we both agreed to trust his judgement!
So on to the mat. After talk about aesthetics we agreed on a yellow and brown colour scheme up top. I really do love that combo! But this is the least important aspect of any surfcraft of course unless you’re hanging them up and as such this was an extremely brief chat with Derek far more interested in the techno gubbins do let's move on to that.
Following Andrew’s orders and further discussion with Derek I have built him a 70/70 RB-JMC. This is a highly technical model which is very loose and very fast. Internally I have gone with a super-free-breather set up so the air flow is completely unrestricted. In addition, the mat has a negative elastic rocker so when set in this will work with the concave to maximise lift.
The last part of the process of course was for Derek to name his mat. He went for “Donald Campbell”, the only man to simultaneously hold the land and water speed records.
It remains to be seen how close Derek gets to those speeds. I’m sure he’ll have a good go!
It’s been a real pleasure to build this mat. I love talking to people about all things hydrodynamic and friction free and Derek’s huge knowledge and genuine interest are an inspiration. I have learnt a lot through this and am so excited to hear how he goes on a mat. It’s about time!
Have fun!
Cheers
G
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