Mehve - Glide On
/Here is a mat named “Mehve”, built for Aussie mat surfer Ben Zubkevych.
Here is a mat named “Mehve”, built for Aussie mat surfer Ben Zubkevych. He has chosen to name his mat “Mehve”.
According to disneyfandom.com:
“The Mehve (also known as the Möwe) is a small and fast one-person powered glider that appears in the Studio Ghibli film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. ”
All in all I’d say that’s a pretty apt name!
Ben has been riding mats for a while now, regularly surfing with mat maestro James Tanner over in Noosa so wanted a mat to really make the most of what he has on offer down there.
Mehve is a 70/70 RB-JMC with super-free-breather internal venting to maximise morphatasticalness on the go. The skins are cut to give a negative elastic rocker to further maximise down-the-line frictionless glide and speed. In summary, Mehve is going to fly on those endless point waves that Ben is so keen on:
“I grew up on the mid coast of South Australia and started surfing as a kid cause my dad surfed. I wasn’t super into it, as it was competitive and everyone rode stupidly narrow boards with lots of rocker (the early 2000’s was a great time for surfing haha). I still kept surfing, but mostly skated in my early teens, getting back into it through seeing some videos of people riding fishes and logs.
I first noticed matting in Thomas Campbell’s Sprout, wanted one right away, but didn’t get one until years later when I found a Krypt on gumtree for $80 in 2016 up in Noosa (where I’m living now). Actually, funny cos I realised my dad had a copy of Fantasea when I was a kid, but I don’t remember ever seeing surf matting on it!
I popped the Krypt a few months after getting it, but was already hooked. I had been bodysurfing heaps around this time at the open beach near my house, so getting on the mat at the points felt insane! The same low-to-the-water speed feeling of bodysurf minus all the drag (which means so much speed!). I got worked a lot haha, but once you get a wave where you line everything up right and just speed through sections you don’t think you’re going to make it’s pretty hard not to get addicted (and somehow spiral into collecting old swim fins etc. haha).
I’m usually riding mats at the points at Noosa whenever it’s breaking. It’s my go to for cyclone swells, but also anything over 2 foot. The points have perfect mat waves (minus the fact that it gets so crowded), but wave count doesn’t matter as much on a mat and I usually just let the waves come to me instead of hassling with everyone else. I have a few friends to share waves with, James (who has a few of your mats and is a guru and great person to learn from/get tips off), Matt (we spent a few weeks matting in Sri Lanka, which was amazing), Gus (when our schedules align haha), Joseph (who is also from Devon) and my partner Rachel who has recent been bitten by the mat bug.
If I’m not on a mat at the points I’m usually out on my free friction board or a log if it’s little, and a fish or just bodysurfing at the open beaches.”
Mehve went over to Austrailia sharing a seat on the plane with Rachel Scarff’s mat “Circe”. I’m really looking forward to seeing some party waves!
Have fun Ben!
Cheers
G