Marellen

Here's a mat for @therollonforever over in California. @therollonforever values his privacy so I won't share his name but he has said his Insta handle is fine.

The mat is an RB-JMC named Marellen. Unusually for an RB-JMC, we have gone for a 200d deck but this is certainly in line with @therollonforever's tastes, plus Marellen is quite a big mat so the influence of the heavier deck is mitigated a bit.

@therollonforever opted for free elastic rocker as he is keen get the balance between turning and out and out speed. We spoke about venting and have gone for my standard free-breather set up. Having only ridden wheezers, it will be interesting to hear how @therollonforever's finds a less restricted mat. I think he'll dig it from our discussion.

Here's what @therollonforever had to say:

“So I ordered because I’d only ridden stock mats up to this point. As a tall, 6’5 rider, I’m hoping this size is what I’ve been missing with a custom fit. I’m looking to boost my mat riding to its pinnacle. I’d say I want to be more serious about mat riding, but that defeats the “fun”of it. So I’m looking for a more serious effort toward fun: making sections, perfecting the cutback, and because it’s red— fast down the line trimming.

The mat name which combines my mother’s name and my youngest sisters name is a tribute to the women in my family. The name Marellen is a variation of Maryellen, which is a combination of the names Mary and Ellen. Mary, of Hebrew origin, means “bitter” or “beloved”. Ellen, of Greek origin, means “light” or “torch”. Therefore, Marellen can be interpreted as “light of the sea” or “beloved of the sea”.”

— @therollonforever

@therollonforever has gone for a bungee up-front for those occasions where a very long swim is the consequence of losing his mat. He's also gone for a mat bag.

Finally, @therolloforever has ordered a G-Mat Apparel Tee. Lovely stuff. As these are printed to order (with sustainably sourced materials and eco friendly ink) I am always stoked when I get to see one in person.

They're ace! You really should get one!

https://gmatsurfmats.teemill.com/collection/products/

Anyhoo, the grip is about cured so Marellen will head off to Cali tomorrow. I'm looking forward to hearing about her adventures!

Cheers

G

Happy Place

Say hello to a G-Mat Ute built for Californian, David Connor. David came with a clear idea that he wanted a 200/70 Ute with a grey deck (this grey material really seems to be in vogue), but other than that gave me a free reign. He likes to be fairly low key so the seemingly popular colour combo of grey deck, navy bottom seemed a good fit.

As a contrast, I've added a bit of colour with a deep orange and yellow logo and dedication that I think pops nicely. I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm also pleased that David is pleased with it! The mat is a free-breather with free elastic rocker so a perfect all round mat. I love the Ute for it's versatility.

David has named his mat "Happy Place" and with all the turmoil and nonsense going on around the globe, we certainly all need one. If this mat helps David to inhabit his then I'm stoked.

Have fun David.

Cheers

G

Executive Order

So here we have Colin McCrindle's new ride named Executive Order (we did discuss Gulf of Matsico too ).

Colin is a very experienced mat surfer and has ridden my mats for many years now. He surfs around Santa Barbara and has a boat, meaning he gets about and is seen (or should I say not seen) dodging the crowds and surfing quiet reefs and points, tucked away from the masses. Colin's Insta page is worth a follow with some stunning photography, but you won't see shots of him surfing. I have some tucked away, but they come with a strict "do not share" attached, for good reason. Colin likes to keep his surfing low key and to that point, likes to keep his mats low key too.

EO is no different on that front. The deck is grey (after having this roll for years, this colour is suddenly becoming popular), with a navy bottom. The grip and branding are both in black and I think gives a really clean look.

On to the tech gubbins, EO is a 200/70 Ubercat free-breather. Colin asked for positive elastic rocker. What this means is that EO will be inclined to get up on the rail, have a tighter arc through turns and will be well suited to riding tight in the pocket.

EO sets off to the US today. Colin is one of my earliest customers and knew what he wanted and where it fits in the quiver. I'm looking forward to hearing how she goes and, maybe, seeing some photos.

Have fun Colin!

Cheers

G

No Pressure

Here is a mat named "No Pressure", built for Zach Kerns.

Zach has been a mat surfer for some time and has a range of mats so was pretty clear when he got in on the list about what he wanted. He surfs a range of waves around Santa Cruz, some of which are petty hollow and racy, with some power. With that in mind a Nouveau Racer was the go. 200/70 wheezer with free elastic rocker and a bungee for an occasional leash when surfing some sketchy spots.

Zach had a design idea in mind to nod to the weather systems that create our playground. We tried a few options but settled on this stencil of a high pressure system moving into a low.

I asked Zach about his surfmat journey and he said:

“Twas a cold and drear day. The water was frigid and flat. The horizon blended sky and water into a single slate grey. I was in the water but not having a lot of fun, and a change of pace was needed. Fun was missing, style difficult to discern, and surfing was flat. In a masochistic viewing session of surf videos, I happened across a clip featuring a weird dude on a mat, blowing by a bunch of board surfers. That guy, free of posturing and claims, was having a blast. That looked like fun. A few days later, In a twist of fortune, I found out that a local fun-loving fella was selling one of his mats (thanks, Steiny). I FLOUNDERED for a year, with occasional glimpses of intention, but the entire learning process has been so much fun. So much fun. Some kind of style (not so much grace) came as I improved my skills. After many mat iterations, with valuable feedback and mats from Paul Gross and Matt Fedden, I slid prone back into the stoke.

The prone slide of stoke continues with a new G-Mat. With lots of valuable input from Graeme, we’ve put together the bright idea of a Nouveau Racer to increase the stoke even more and meet the challenges of some Santa Cruz area – and beyond – breaks. There are many fast reef breaks with a tendency to section out, but a fast ride can link things up on a good day. I am sure the Racer will tip the odds in my favor.”

— Zach Kearns

I think it just might! No Pressure should land with Zach soon so let's hope they get some swell over there.

Have fun Zach!

Cheers

G

Dusty

So, what do you do when you wake up on a Sunday and the winds are a bit shifty, the rivers up and wind-blown and you have already knocked out a bunch of miles on the chase over the last few days?

That's right... Make something... In this instance it was welding up the new addition to my quiver: A Nouveau Racer named "Dusty".

As I've mentioned, I've had a real hankering to get back to my roots of monochrome surfing with black wetsuit and white craft. I sold my old quiver and have been embarking on replacements when I have the time. The first was the one that kicked this off, A BodyBag mini mat. When I committed to the monochrome project, my next was a white 5 Star General to give me a mat for all bases.

We've had some really solid swells so the next was something for that, hence dusty. I cut the bottom skin last week to get the Dusty Bin artwork done (google "Dusty Bin 321" if you're wondering about the reference). On Sunday, I cut the other panels and did the whole build.

I'm really stoked to have a Nouveau Racer back in my life. The confidence this mat will give me in juicy, heavy and/or hollow waves is a really important bit of the quiver.

Just to cover the techno-waffle. Dusty is a 200/70 free elastic rockered wheezer. You'll notice I have added a bungee (for those big days in spots where a swim isn't really an option and I need a kook-cord). I've also added a Cornish St Piran's Flag. I was so pleased with this that I've added flags to the 5SG and the BodyBag too and will go with it for the rest of this quiver when I get to it.

Anyway, back to the slog. A fun mat for Jason MacMurray to post next but for now, enjoy Dusty.

Cheers

G

Ponyo

So then, the second mat for a Bennink in this run. You'll recall from the last mat I posted that I built a pair for Yoko and Ben of slideaholics.com and this is Yoko's. Yoko has named her mat Ponyo after the 2009 anime classic:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ponyo

That's a pretty solid Tomatometer score so maybe worth a watch!

So back to the mat. In essence, Ponyo and Ben's mat, The Tardis, are of the same ilk as they are both 200/70 RB-JMC's. Both are free-breathers and both have free elastic rocker. The key difference is the scaling. Yoko is a lot smaller than Ben and this mat, like all customs, is carefully tailored to fit. I wish I had taken a photo of these two together but you can see the size difference in the mats I built them back in 2019:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2019/2/18/his-and-hers

Yoko has gone for a dark grey deck and navy bottom. This grey material is interesting. It looks great and almost nobody asks for it but I'm really pleased with how Ponyo has come out. The pink grip and branding sit well with the grey.

Yoko and Ben love to share waves and mix crossing-over with running over so I'm really hopeful to see a bit of footage. There are a lot of mat snaps coming out of that part of the World these days so fingers crossed.

Have fun Yoko!

Cheers

G

The Tardis

Here's a the first of two mats heading down under for Ben and Yoko Bennink. For those who unaware, Ben and Yoko run the slideaholics.com site and live around Lennox. I built a pair of mats for them many years ago and since then they have been looking to extend the quiver so I was stoked to see them get in on the current run.

This mat has been built for Ben and is a 200/70 RB-JMC Free-Breather with free elastic rocker. Ben is a really big fella, nicknamed 'Bear'. He referred to himself as a hunk when I asked for his body type [NB this may be a slight distortion of what he actually said].

I still had the scaling down from the last mat which Ben said was a good fit so we went with that.

Ben's last ride was a Rubber Bucky and we both felt that the slight down-scaling and different corner templates between this and the RB-JMC would be the right step.

Ben has gone for a deck valve as he and Yoko enjoy running each other over. You will also notice the sparce front corner grip which is designed to offer something to grab but leaving clear nylon for sleeveless arm paddling.

On to the name, Ben has named his mat "The Tardis" because "it's blue and can take me where I want to go, fast!"

Lovely stuff!

The Tardis and Yoko's mat are both heading off with the courier so we'll see how long that takes with the Christmas hecticness. I'll do a post about Yoko's mat dreckly, but for now, have fun Ben!

Cheers

G