Breaking the Sound Barrier
/Here we have a G-Mat Ute built for Olaus McLeod. For those who don’t know him, Olaus is a board builder from Cornwall UK specialising in building paulownia paipos and alaias. More on that in a mo.
First, let’s talk about this mat. Olaus comes from an aviation background and has named his mat X-1 after the first aircraft to break the sound barrier. Olaus is planning to have a crack at doing the same I think!!!
X-1 is a G-Mat Ute. As you can see, Olaus has gone for a sexy low-key black on black colour scheme. Mats always look good like that don’t you think? X-1 is a 200/70 wheezer. She has free rocker too and is a perfect mat to take out in any conditions, confident that she is going to perform.
Olaus is not a hugely experienced mat rider, but has ridden them enough to get into the groove quickly and is used to surfing on his belly so X-1 should be just the ticket.
As mentioned earlier, Olaus builds wooden boards under the Kiri label and they are lovely! His boards are very mice indeed hand shaped from Paulownia and sealed with linseed oil. Olaus and I did the old swap-a-roo. Check out the board he shaped in return for X-1. This stunner is coming my way and is going to be a gift for my son who’s prone style will be perfectly suited to this beauty.
Im going to be getting more than the odd go on this beuty myself too!!!
If you fancy getting some wood in your quiver then take a look at Olaus’s work on his Instagram page:
Have fun with X-1 Olaus. Hopefully I’ll get to join you in breaking the sound barrier in the not-to-distant future. If we ever get any waves again over her in the UK!
Cheers
G
PS. It was only after I had packed up the mat that I realised I really do need to hoover up the cat hairs!