Shearwater - Custom Surfmat Taiwan Bound!

This is Shearwater, a G-Mat Ute built for Chris Goodwin. I'm sure people will remember the classic shot of Chris riding his Chino Racer The Onion on a Typhoon Bomb in Japan.

Photo by AJ Goodwin

A Shearwater glides over the open ocean. Pic By John Harrison

Shearwater is a 70/70 build with free rocker and complete free breather. Chris was keen to add some range to his quiver so we figured a lighter mat with an all round configuration would be a perfect addition.

I'm really stoked to have been able to build another mat for Chris. He and his wife AJ are a cool as it gets. Living the dream and travelling around East Asia, soaking up the culture and introducing the lineups to the joy of Surfmats.

Currently they are in Taiwan. I have to admit, I did enjoy the irony of sending a custom surfmat over there!

Chris is a really solid (or floppy?) mat rider and I really value his feedback. I'm really excited to hear about the adventures he has with Shearwater.

Cheers

G

Chris & AJ's Adventure Continues

Word from Chris Goodwin that all is well in Japan. In fact, it seems that all is very good in Japan, bar one mishap.  

Shot by AJ Goodwin

Here's what Chris had to say:

Hi Graeme -

The Onion has seen some Japanese typhoon swells and done really well. I attached some stills and a gif which is of one wave.  We were doing stills not video this time.  This is at a break called Motel Shita near a town called Nachi in Wakayama prefecture, Japan

The bad news is two days later I peeled the Onion on some rocks and now will attempt a repair with what I hope is the right kind of Japanese glue.  We will see how that goes.

Chris

Hmmmmm... Done a proper job there. 😲 

I've given Chris soideas for repairs so hopefully we'll see the Onion back in action soon. 

G

UPDATE ON 2nd SEPT, 2016

Repair is all done. Great job! 

Chris says:

I didn't mention but the local elders here thought I was crazy going out on the mat.  They thought it was hilarious in a good way and enjoyed watching me surf the big stuff and get demolished by a few. 

Chris Goodwin - Opening minds around the world. 😊

G

AJ and Serenity hit the Small Time.

I've just heard from AJ Goodwin and her Ute, Serenity. Although they've been hooked up for aa little while, hooking up with waves on this leg of their amazing world tour hasn't been so easy. Here's what AJ had to say:

Hi Graeme - I finally got "Serenity" wet yesterday. The waves weren't awesome and the water is darn cold here but the mat is perfect!

Getting out through messy beach break was no problem, I could get up to speed with a quick paddle and kick to catch a wave and even on some pretty low power wind swell I got some serious speed. Had a blast until I got so bone cold I had to stop.
Next week we head to Japan... Will share when we hit the waves there. 

AJ

Great stuff! I'm looking forward to seeing/hearing about that! Phileas will be heading to Japan at some point so maybe AJ and her husband, Chris will get to hook up with her. 

Two surfmat adventures crossing paths. Sounds pretty good. 

G

Adventures

I'm had emails from a couple of people off travelling with their G-Mats of late.

First up is Chris Goodwin who is taking a trip with his mat, The Onion. Chris and how wife, AJ are currently in Taiwan.  

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 Here's what he had to say:

Hi Graeme, 

I wanted to send you a few pics of The Onion's first time getting wet in Taiwan.  This was at a rivermouth/jetty spot called Fulong Beach in the north east.  It is about an hour and a half by train from Taipei.     We had a ton of fun.  

Chris 

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Only a small day but I'm guessing winter is a pretty good time to be in that part of the World so fingers crossed that Chris, AJ and the Onion come across some more solid surf. 

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As it happens, I'm currently building a mat for AJ. More on that dreckly.  

Next up is US East Coast legend, Jeremy Grosvenor. 

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Jeremy has just been making the most of the wonder that is the Icelandic coast with his low key Flying Carpet named Celeste. 

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Word is that Jeremy might head over to my neck of the woods next year so I'll be happy to get him into some local delicacies. For now though, he's making do with a trip to Hawaii. Let's hope we get to see some pics of that too. 

He might even get to hook up with Phileas again!  

Cheers  

G

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