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

Kopite

Here is a mat for my son, Joe.

Joe is a talented skater and has ridden a mat a bit. More recently has got out on the mat a lot more and has really clicked with the more nuanced aspects of riding, dropping his inflation levels and getting on a high line to make fast sections. His current mat, named “Treble”, is a 200/70 Ute with free elastic rocker and wheezy internal venting. Treble has a bungee fitted for a leash attachment and is also gripped with ClearFix.

Having spent more time on his mat, Joe has a clearer idea of what he wants. 2 key things were more grip and to ditch the bungee (they have their place but he never uses a leash and the extended and reinforced front flange is noticeable. With that in mind, Joe’s new ride is the same build essentially but with Sikaflex EBT grip and no bungee. The additional change is that the red deck material is inelastic so we are restricted to either positive or flat rocker. With those options it is nice to put some variety into the quiver so a positive rocker was the way which will support turns off the rail. We often surf wedgy waves and the stable deck, restricted breather and rocker will really support tighter turns.

So on to the aesthetics. As mentioned, the deck is red and the bottom has been acid dyed in red too.

Red goes faster, right?!

In our house we are big Liverpool FC supporters and Joe wanted to honour this, so a red mat with white trim does that perfectly. We also added a small Liverbird (the Club’s crest) on the left rail along the edge of the front corner grip. The name, which came from Becky (Joe’s mum), is “Kopite”. For those unaware, a Kopite is someone who stands in the Kop, the iconic stand behind the goal at the Walton Breck Road end of the Club’s stadium, Anfield. Perfect name! Not everyone is into football (soccer) and football fans are tribal, but for us as a family, our love of LFC is something that bonds us and we have so many amazing memories supporting this Club, so it means the World to me build this mat for my son.

Kopite is a Christmas present so will be boxed up. Here’s to getting some swell over the Christmas period.

Have fun Webbo. YNWA

Cheers

G

Gwahir

Meet Gwaihir, a G-Mat Nouveau Racer built for New England mat surfer, Ryan Kleinert.

I'm sure people are aware of Ryan, but in case you're not, he absolutely charges on a mat. Gwaihir is the third mat I've built for Ryan with his first two (Starchaser and Starchaser 2) being RB-JMC's. Starchaser was blown out to sea when Ryan was surfing solid 10ft barrels, hence the second coming. So you see what I mean when I say Ryan charges on a mat!

With these days in mind, Gwaihir was born..The Nouveau Racer is my gunniest model and with the 200d deck and restricted breathing will feel much more stable. It is a design that gives you a lot of confidence on big days, so is perfect for those dredging winter New England waves. Although the Nouveau Racer definitely had a bottom end to it, in bigger and more powerful surf it's a very fast design so I think naming Gwaihir after the King of the Great Eagles in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings is apt.

As you can see, Gwaihir is in Ryan's trademark hot fuschia with white grip. We've Hestered the valve too so all in all a pretty good looking mat. I showed Gwahir at the Fish Fry in Crackington Haven, North Cornwall, so thank you so much to Ryan for being kind enough to let me show Gwaihir there before shipping.

Finally, people might be wondering how Ryan has got in on the order book so regularly. Well, he said that after missing the first email of two when I opened the order book last, he just sat on his laptop all night ready to pounce on the second email! With dedication like that I'm stoked to build Ryan a mat!

So as I say, I'm excited to show Gwaihir at the Fish Fry on Saturday (it will be great to see people and both Tom @rftsurfmats and I will be there). Following that, Gwaihir will be flying off to the US East Coast to get into some winter swells.

Have fun Ryan!

Cheers

G