Pooltoy II

Here is a mat for Rincon regular Jason MacMurray.

It's been some time since I built a mat for Jason MacMurray. Jason is one of the old school (by which I mean the sold school of the new school) who cut his teeth riding Neumatics built by Dale Solomonson. Back when there weren't many of us riding mats and we all knew each other.

Jason got in on this run and immediately knew what he wanted. Being best friends with Andrew Buck, he has seen and heard all about my super-free-breather configuration in combination with the neg elastic rockered RB-JMC design and was all in! With Rincon as his local, a mat that holds a line whilst breaking out the tail and hailing ass down the line was just what he wanted. I already had dimensions for him so that was the easy part. He did come with octopuses (or octobodes if we want to get all fancy with the ancient Greek) drawn by his daughter to spice things up so stencils and dye were the order of the day.

Oh and he asked for a bungee which was a real surprise! However, you never know when you might end up in a pool so the leash option can be helpful.

I asked Jason about the name for his mat and he said:

“I think I am going to go with the seemingly uninspired ‘Pooltoy II’ for the nickname of the new white mat.  The original Pooltoy was built by Dale and was the first mat that he produced that I know of that didn’t just have the rider’s initials.  It took hours of conversations with him by both Andrew and me to convince him that he should allow us to give our mats nicknames. I’m not sure Dale ever thought Andrew and I were as funny as we think we are but we finally wore him down.

When Dale retired, I was on the waitlist for him to make me a much coveted white mat.  He had a very limited amount of a superlight white material he made a few mats out of.  I’m sure he thought I was not worthy or capable of the white mat, and he was right, no doubt, but again I wore him down.  Though my skills weren’t there yet, I think Dale knew Andrew and I had a vision of where we could take the mats and it aligned with his.

Now, roughly 20 years later the coveted white mat is finally landing thanks to you.  The mats are better than we could have dreamed of 20 years ago and I like to think I am finally worthy of such a tool.  Plus, my daughter delivered with the artwork to remind us all not to take it too seriously.  It’s just a highly tricked out Pooltoy.

Gracias”

— Jason MacMurray

That's perfect. I remember the original Neumatic Pooltoy so am personally stoked to add to the lineage.

Pooltoy II is en route as we speak so I am looking forward to hearing how things go. Maybe you'll be able to keep up with Andrew now, Jason!

Cheers

G

Blue Lotus

Mat 2 of 2 for Matty Snelling.

When Matty got in on the current run, he hit go on two mats. The first was a 200/70 5 Star General (basically a RFT) to cover all bases. This second mat is a custom RB-JMC named "Blue Lotus".

Blue Lotus is a 70/70 super-free-breather with negative elastic rocker. Very fast mat. Matt is a very talented surfer and has been riding a mat for a while and has recently been riding them exclusively. He has pretty much all conditions covered with this quiver.

I asked Matty about the name and he said:

“It was a name my very good friend gave me a while ago and she is a wonderful woman. Got a lot of time for her.”

— Matty Snelling

I'm hoping to hand deliver over the weekend and share some waves (we did hook up and shared a few fun ones!)

Matty has a trip to surf Peruvian points later in the year and Blue Lotus is going to love them!

Have fun Matty!

Cheers

G

So here's a mat that was supposed to be a quick build for Johanna Brebner, before the first order form came back for the new run. Unfortunately, things didn't quite pan out as hoped because I'm really ill with flu (yes I've done a Covid test) and jobs like doing the simple grip job were enough to wipe me out for the day. Don't even start me on cutting out the flange!

Anyway, she's all done and ready to head to Oz. For those unaware, @brebsy is a fantastic mat surfer and is the Australian stockist for the G-Mat RFT Stock Series @rftsurfmats Jo is due to head on a trip that she needed a new mat for hence the squeeze in.

So, the mat is a 70/70 RB-JMC super-free-breather with negative elastic rocker named “Marita”. Very similar to her last mat, Florence, although will feel different just by virtue of being different materials (it's amazing the nuance we notice as mat surfers that the industry swears is perceptual).

The main motivation is that Brebsy wears brown zinc and it gets on the mat. Dark colours hide stains innit! Anyway, this build has ultimately been a slog given my condition but hopefully a worthy one for the trip.

Have fun Jo and thanks for all you do.

Cheers

G

Ponyo

So then, the second mat for a Bennink in this run. You'll recall from the last mat I posted that I built a pair for Yoko and Ben of slideaholics.com and this is Yoko's. Yoko has named her mat Ponyo after the 2009 anime classic:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ponyo

That's a pretty solid Tomatometer score so maybe worth a watch!

So back to the mat. In essence, Ponyo and Ben's mat, The Tardis, are of the same ilk as they are both 200/70 RB-JMC's. Both are free-breathers and both have free elastic rocker. The key difference is the scaling. Yoko is a lot smaller than Ben and this mat, like all customs, is carefully tailored to fit. I wish I had taken a photo of these two together but you can see the size difference in the mats I built them back in 2019:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2019/2/18/his-and-hers

Yoko has gone for a dark grey deck and navy bottom. This grey material is interesting. It looks great and almost nobody asks for it but I'm really pleased with how Ponyo has come out. The pink grip and branding sit well with the grey.

Yoko and Ben love to share waves and mix crossing-over with running over so I'm really hopeful to see a bit of footage. There are a lot of mat snaps coming out of that part of the World these days so fingers crossed.

Have fun Yoko!

Cheers

G

The Tardis

Here's a the first of two mats heading down under for Ben and Yoko Bennink. For those who unaware, Ben and Yoko run the slideaholics.com site and live around Lennox. I built a pair of mats for them many years ago and since then they have been looking to extend the quiver so I was stoked to see them get in on the current run.

This mat has been built for Ben and is a 200/70 RB-JMC Free-Breather with free elastic rocker. Ben is a really big fella, nicknamed 'Bear'. He referred to himself as a hunk when I asked for his body type [NB this may be a slight distortion of what he actually said].

I still had the scaling down from the last mat which Ben said was a good fit so we went with that.

Ben's last ride was a Rubber Bucky and we both felt that the slight down-scaling and different corner templates between this and the RB-JMC would be the right step.

Ben has gone for a deck valve as he and Yoko enjoy running each other over. You will also notice the sparce front corner grip which is designed to offer something to grab but leaving clear nylon for sleeveless arm paddling.

On to the name, Ben has named his mat "The Tardis" because "it's blue and can take me where I want to go, fast!"

Lovely stuff!

The Tardis and Yoko's mat are both heading off with the courier so we'll see how long that takes with the Christmas hecticness. I'll do a post about Yoko's mat dreckly, but for now, have fun Ben!

Cheers

G

Lilo Trip

So then here's the last mat in the current run, a G-Mat RB-JMC built for the very talented Ryan Akins. Ry is currently riding a prototype super-free-breather RB-JMC I lent him. His new mat, named "Lilo Trip", is the permanent fixture for that slot in Ryan's quiver.

For those who know Ry, he is a super talented artist with a very individual style. In particular, he has documented his Surfmat journey through his creations, including contributing a piece named Lilo Life which is available as a tee and hoodie in the G-Mat Apparel clothing range and shifted a lot of tees when it dropped and remains a favourite:

https://gmatsurfmats.teemill.com/product/lilo-life/

I asked Ryan about his matsurfing and art and he said:

““My first encounter with surf mats was when I was living in Byron Bay 13 years ago and I was out longboarding the pass when I noticed somebody surfing a mat. My first thought was… yeh that’s rad and looks fun and that was about that.

Fast forward in time and I was having a coffee with my friend Huw Beynon at his house and he was really keen to show me his G-Mats. Straight away I was super stoked on them! and as I left his house I couldn’t stop thinking about mats for day’s.

Ever since that day surf mats have been my main craft in my quiver and I just can’t stop surfing them!

I’ve been recently surfing a RB-JMC Super-Free-Breather and man it’s like going into another dimension! The feeling is unreal.

Mat surfing is an extension to my art, a vessel. The feeling, the speed, the style. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in the water.

Mat surfing is art.

.RY.””

— Ryan Akins

Nicely put man!

As you can see, Lilo Trip is acid dyed in teal and features pink logo and trademark zig zags. Other than that, she matches the mat Ry has been riding. We're planning a surf together to hand over Lilo Trip. I'm always stoked to be there for someone's first ride on a mat I've built them.

The other thing I'm excited about is that Ry has given me another piece to add to the G-Mat Apparel range! The design is also called Lilo Trip is available in my clothing store now:

https://gmatsurfmats.teemill.com/product/lilo-trip-white-print/

This is available in black or white prints and mens and women’s tees as well as unisex hoodies.

Stoked to have built this for you Ry. Have fun mate.

Cheers

G

Horsemouth

Say hello to Horsemouth, a 70/70 RB-JMC built for the super talented Bryce Young.

Bryce doesn't need much introduction but for those who don't know him, he is the son of Nat Young and brother of Beau. Bryce comes from an impressive surfing heritage and is an incredible surfer.

If people haven't yet seen the Need Essentials film Following The Fall line, then I insist you do! You will see why I was so excited to build a mat for Bryce. The whole thing is mind-blowing, but for me, the section where Bryce is riding his Alaia is the best example of this kind of wave riding I have ever seen. I mean by a long way. This kind of inate talent leaves us normies in a state of confused awe!

So as I say... I was very excited when Bryce hit me up for a mat.

We had a chat and Bryce has been riding a mat that his dad picked up from George Greenough. We were left with a dilemma around the basic model and materials. On the one hand, these Aquaman types just jump on anything and surf it like they've been doing it for years. On the other, we didn't want to build something that felt 'too' different. I hit up George to get some info on the mat that Bryce had been riding and then after some umming and ahing we hit the spot (I hope) with a 70/70 RB-JMC Super-Free-Breather with negative elastic rocker, scaled to Bryce's height and body dimensions but with a nod to his current mat.

Horsemouth will be a big change but I'm hopeful will fit like a glove. Just a different glove.

Onto the aesthetics, Horsemouth (named after reggae legend Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace) has been dyed with a spruce green acid dye. The process has created subtle aqua and blue streaks across the beam of the mat that look lovely (if I say so myself!). Then we have gone with a green, yellow and red fade logo on the deck. It kinda looks like an apple... Yum yum!

I'm super excited to get Horsemouth and Bryce hooked up. We're just trying to figure where the mat is headed as he is super mobile currently. Oh and Bryce has just had a birthday so the perfect time for a new mat!

It's been a pleasure Bryce! Have fun mate.

Cheers

G