The Chief

This is G-Mat 193, a RB-JMC built for Jamie McClellan by way of wages for his work on the MatSurfers.com website. This mat named “The Chief” is a super free breathing, neg rockered affair. Well, Jamie is an exceptional mat rider so that makes sense.

Jamie has gone for a hard-hitting image on the bottom of this mat as you can see below. A technically very difficult image way beyond my skills, which required Jamie to collaborate with the immense talent of Ian Jermyn from Organic Devolution.

You can see Ian’s workings and Jamie’s inspiration Ian’s Instagram post below:

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Acid dye on 70 denier TPU banked nylon - Custom artwork completed for a client in the US. The artwork was supplied and then scaled up for the fabric - 80cm x 130cm. From the client: "The bandana is my favorite (of many, I’ve got heaps ) and it’s made by Kapital Japan. The image itself on the bottom of the mat is a not so subtle reminder that in the US we stand on stolen ground and this country was built on a foundation of native genocide and slavery."

A post shared by Ian Jermyn (@organicdevolution) on Aug 24, 2020 at 3:42pm PDT

As someone who really cannot draw, I am always in awe of those who can and Ian is an exceptional talent even among his peers. His work carries Jamie’s message off perfectly I think. My job was the easy bit, thinking with Jamie about colour matching to fit the artwork. I really do like the effect of the brown grip and with the white logo, I think this three-way collab has landed.

The Chief is en route to North Carolina right now to get into some of that east coast goodness.

Cheers

G

It's Opposite Day!

It’s been a bit slowed down of late with some family stuff going on but I’m back with a mat for Jamie McClellan. This mat, which Jamie has named Wheezy Jefferson iis built by way of wages for Jamie’s work for MatSurfers.com.

Jamie is one of those mat riders that has a special talent. He’s put in the hard hours and surrendered himself to the craft and is, as a result, able to work with very lightweight and plable mats to manage the drift and tap in to that sought after quality of surfmats…

SPEED!

Weezy then is something of an ironic name because Weezy Jeffereson is the very opposite of being wheezy. This mat is a free-breather with I-beams with crescent cut ends and 5 breather holes. What that means is that the internal venting is completely unrestricted.

Weezy Jefferson is bult withnegative rocker, very light weave 70d bottom skin and I-beams and a slightly denser (but still very light) 70d deck. She also has slightly squarer than normal back corners wihich further relaease hold in the tail. The grip is also applied thinly as Jamie is more than able to top it up if needed.

All in all, this is an incredibly lightweight and pliable surfmat that will go like a greased turd off a hot shovel!

At the time of writing this post, Jamie and his family are hunkering down to ride our Hurricane Dorian so Weezy Jefferson is still sat in G-Mat Towers and will go out once things calm down. In the meantime, take care of yourself McClellans.

Cheers

G

Dirt McGirt

Ladies and Gents I'm pleased to introduce G-Mat 152 (AKA "Dirt McGirt" is a free-breathing 70/70 G-Mat Ubercat built for Jamie McClellan. 

She has an elastic rocker and is gripped with Sikaflex EBT. Jamie lives in a land of solid, heavy waves so she's a good fit and that grip offered that bit of stability without adversely affecting the pliability.

Hestered valve to protect Jamie's beautiful face. 

As you can see, the Ubercat's deep concave will give a stack of lift, working will to support the slim-Jim plan shape. 

Looking like a run of Atlantic swells this summer so hopefully Dirt McGirt will get plenty of action.  

Always a pleasure building mats for Jamie and it's been a pleasure to build this mat. 😁 

Sometimes you build one that's just that bit too hard to let go.

Have fun Mr McClellan!

Cheers

G

A Bit More Noir

Jamie McClellan is something of a connoisseur of surfmats. The UK Mat Surfers king of Social Media likes them light, sensitive and low key. So here's his latest...

G-Mat 126 (AKA "Angela Davis") is a 70/70 Rubber Bucky with negative rocker and a Hestered valve. The grip goes over the corners to help Jamie to hang on which might be handy because this mat is gonna be quick.

She set sail on Tuesday so should make it fit the weekend. 

Let's see how they go. 😀 

G

Introducing the Nouveau Racer - Haven't We Been Here Before?!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to formally announce the Nouveau Racer. As you can probably tell, this design has been born out of the Chino Racer to be, well, what the Chino Racer was meant to be!

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What happened was this; I designed the Chino Racer with good sized waves in mind and as a mat, it loves a good wave, giving natural hold and stability. The thing is, the feedback from the owners was that they couldn't believe the range of waves their mats were going in. Even a couple of foot would get the Chino Racer flying, as long as there was a bit of shape to it. Of course these mats were also eating up good sized waves but there turned out to be a point where it just felt like a bit too much mat!

The Nouveau Racer was born out of this. The I-beams are the same height as a Chino Racer but every thing else is pulled in giving a comparatively smaller mat with more depth to its length and beam, as well as a slightly enhanced concave. What we have then is lift and hold in a fast, manoeuvrable mat.

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The original re-workings went to Bob Booth in North Cornwall and Henry Marfleet. Henry took his to G-Land and rode her in some pretty heavy conditions so it it safe to say that this design is tested! The latest is built for Jamie McClellan for his impending trip to the US West Coast. She is called the Black Mat. I'm not sure what inspired the name.

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Henry Marfleet, G-Land

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Jamie McClellan's "Black Mat"

I've updated all the mat information on the site to include the Nouveau Racer. Keep in mind of course, these are custom mats so are still each scaled to the individual rider.

Any questions, just ask in the comments below.

Cheers

G

Jamie McClellan - Feedback

For those unaware, Jamie McClellan is a mat surfer of some note from North Carolina on the US East Coast. (Find out more about Jamie HERE). 

Anyway, Jamie has ridden a few of my mats (see the banner pic at the top of this blog!) and recently scored a G-Mat Bullet named "Lucky" which is the orange mat featured on the home page of this site. After a really long lay off due to work commitments, Jamie has finally managed to get a session in on Lucky.

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Jamie McClellan riding G-Mat 13.

Photo by Dan Murphy

Jamie offered some brief feedback:

"Lucky did everything I asked of her and I didn't have to think about it which is a very good first impression. Felt great!"

Action without thought... Music to a mat builder's ears. 

Cheers

G