Speed Thrills!

A quick in-between-builds mat for Derek Hynd.

Derek has become fully absorbed in mat surfing over the last couple of years or so. We'd spoken a few times over the years and he always expressed respect and appreciation for the craft and people who surf them. One day when I asked the question (not for the first time) "is it time to get you on a mat?" he replied with a yes!

A obvious step really for the master of free friction surfing when you think about it.

After a couple of RB-JMC's, I built Derek a Nouveau Racer (named Evil Twin M) for some of the heavier and hollower waves around Byron. He came back to me saying he loved the more structured feel of the 4 pontoon mat, but obviously being a gunnie surfmat, the Nouveau Racer misses the bottom end of other models. With that in mind I suggested a 70/70 Chino Racer would be a great all-rounder to compliment 'ETM' and we agreed to do it at some point.

And then tragedy...

Some clumsy f*ck ploughed a surfboard fin through Evil Twin F, Derek's RB-JMC, and his Chino Racer suddenly became more of a priority.

Rest in peace ETF - Taken too soon

I had a stack of builds locked in so it was a case of wait until the end or find a day and thanks to the wettest February in recorded UK history and me still coming back from the 'mega-cold', I found that day so here we are.

This Chino Racer is built with free elastic rocker and is a wheezer, to soak up the chop on windy days. Derek wanted to lock in the number 369 and has named her "Speed Thrills", saying the name is:

"... in tribute to my mentor Terry Fitzgerald - his Bells 1981 board was called this. Woo Hoo! "

So Speed Thrills is on the way Down Under. They've had it tough around Byron wave wise apparently but the season is getting going so hopefully will timed.

Have fun Derek!

Cheers

G

NB. locking in numbers usually involves waiting for the number to come up but emergency as we said.

Evil Twins

Having just taken deposits for the next 10 builds, I have quickly slipped in a couple of mats for Derek Hynd as Australia slides into winter. We went for a quiver of two to cover all bases.

This is mat number 1 named Evil Twin F. She is a 70/70 RB-JMC free-breather with negative elastic rocker.

Derek puts a lot of pressure on his mats, taking late drops in solid waves. We talked about grip patterns and opted for diagonal strips to give grip both length ways and across the mat, whist still maintaining maleability as Evil Twin F is Derek's all-rounder out of the 2.

Mat 2 of 2 for Derek is Evil Twin M is the gun of the quiver, ready for the solid winter swells at The Pass.

Evil Twin M is a Nouveau Racer; a mat with a lot of hold. As is standard for this model, ETM is a 200/70 wheezer, meaning the ride is stable with the mat holding it's shape more. It also means that when cutting back you have air in the outside rail (when in trim) for longer when you make the turn, giving more hold. The narrower, rounder outer pontoon, more acute curve in the rail and rounder corners also help with hold.

I personally think the RB-JMC and Nouveau Racer are pretty much the prefect quiver combo. I'm looking forward to the feedback on the Evil Twins.

Have fun Derek.

Cheers

G

G-Mats at The Pass

Seeing in the New Year with Ari Browne, Johanna Brebner, Derek Hynd and Peter Abbott - G-Mat Surfmat Session at The Pass.

Camera: Milo Inglis

Water footage: Tania Buijten

Mats:

Johanna - G-Mat RB-JMC

Derek - G-Mat RB-JMC

Pete - G-Mat RFT

Ari - G-Mat RFT2 (that's right... Stay tuned...)

Care Package

One for Derek Hynd, an emergency G-Mat RB-JMC. Since building a mat named 'Donald Campbell' for Derek a few months ago he hasn't been on a board and reckons he's had over a hundred sessions including a load of heavy freefall drops in big surf at The Pass. The deck material (not our main supplier) suffered a small TPU delamination. DC is currently heading back to G-Mat towers for some TLC and this mat named "Care Package" was shipped over a week ago so is due to land any second.

Derek is the ultimate test pilot surfing twice a day in whatever conditions and pushes his mat way beyond usual use so it's great to get this direct feedback.

Care Package is another 70/70 RB-JMC with negative elastic rocker and super-free-breather venting so a very fast mat. As mentioned the material is the same throughout and I've added a little more grip given the amount of water time Derek's mats get.

Have fun Derek!

Cheers

G