Low Key for Dado

There seems to be something about black on black. It just looks so clean, don't you think? This is "Billie". A custom Rubber Bucky built for an Italian with a penchant for going fast on mats. Just the ticket then.

Billie is a 200/70 mat built for Eduardo "Dado" Girardini. She has free rocker and as you can see, Dado has gone for a bungee fitting as well to allow for a leash.

The Rubber Bucky is my larger model (which is then specifically scaled and tailored to the rider). This means that the mat has a larger planing area so offers more glide in smaller surf. Dado is aiming to open up spots around him offering waves around waist to chest high so this is the perfect mat. The wheezer option makes sense then because Dado will cover less of the deck so a slower air transfer offers a more stable mat allowing for lower inflation, despite the reduced deck coverage.

So a bit about Dado. He says:

"I grew up in northern Italy and moved to California right after high school. I became a regular at Rincon and met some of the greatest surfers in the world, including Andrew Buck. My friends and I rode anything from food trays to 12’ gliders but nothing blew my mind harder than seeing Buck going a thousand miles an hour on those little cove dredgers.

Now I live in Portugal and those waves just don’t exist around here. I started surfing bigger waves to get away from crowds but somehow riding the mat is still the most thrilling thing there is."

Hopefully Billie will open up the options for Dado to surf in his new locale.

Have fun Dado!

Cheers

G

ANALOG

ANAGLOG (yes the caps are deliberate) is a Rubber bucky built for Pete D’Ewart. Pete has had a few mats off me now, being the first person to pay for a mat off me way back. Pete knows all about mats having been a mat surfer for a looooooong time. He’s a big fan of the Rubber Bucky and has the skills to make this model really go.

ANAGLOG is a 200/70 free-breather with free-rocker. The 200d fabric is a fairly open weave, as is the navy 70d bottom skin so a light, fast mat. Pete is a fan of simple panels of grip (like on a 5 Star General). We’ve gone with clear EBT which give plenty of traction and the un pigmented sealant is more durable.

Pete lives in the Pacific North West so some long chilly walls will be just perfect for this mat.

Have fun Pete

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

Expanding the Quiver with Nancy

Here we have a 200/70 G-Mat Rubber Bucky named Nancy, built for Sean Stansfield.

People may well remember Sean. For those who don’t have long memories, Sean was the first person to host Phileas when she set off on her travels:

https://customsurfmats.com/phileas/tag/Sean+Stansfield

That was a while ago now!

Sean has previously had another couple of mats from me named Gladys and Dorothy:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2015/5/11/just-what-the-dr-ordered

The last 2 mats were a 70/70 Ute and a 200/70 Chino Racer. When Sean dropped me his order form he was pretty clear on hat her wanted. A Rubber Bucky and a fast one!

No problemo!

We mulled over the options and decided on a stable deck so went for 200 denier material, but focusing on the speed, we thought about venting (free-breather) and rocker (negative).

The rest was simple. Sean likes his mats low key and monochrome so all black with white grip was where we wound up. SIkaflex EBT Grip 3/4 length with front corners…

Nancy IS going to be fast…

Personally, I love the Rubber Bucky. The glide and the ease for the tail to break free make this a a design that absolutely epitomises the essence of the modern surfmat. It also means that for the uninitiated, there is a drift that can initially be a little disconcerting (we all love dropping the tail though right?)

I really stoked to have been able to build another mat for Sean. He’s a connoisseur of the craft of riding these craft.

Enjoy mate!

Cheers

G

Unexpected Addition to the Family!

Say hello to Inkblot.

This is an unexpected addition to the family.

The customer who originally ordered this mat was all good to go and then unfortunately ran in to some unforeseen expenses which meant they we unable to go forward. I had already dyed this deck and cut the panels.

As it turned out, the customer was very close to my size and the mat is a 70/70 free-breathing Rubber Bucky and I have been desperate to get one in my quiver but just haven’t had the free-time to build one so I made the decision to have her.

Don’t worry… I squeezed in an extra day of work on the Bank Holiday weekend to get her done so hasn’t slowed anything down production wise!

Anyway, with Inkblot and my Nouveau Racer, Unity I now pretty much have the perfect 2 mat quiver and am sorted for the next couple of years at least. I don’t tend to hang on to unused mats so I’m putting my blue and yellow mat named Michael Stripe up for sale for anyone who wants her - £145 GBP + shipping.

She’s was built in September 2016 and is in very good condition (the result of washing with 50 dunks after every session). I’ll top the grip up before she goes out.

Michael Stripe is an Ubercat (in case you hadn’t guessed) but being a 70/70 free-breather is much more of an all-rounder and goes well in pretty much all conditions. She is best suited to an experienced mat surfer or, if you are less experienced, more air and patience to get used to her floppiness will see you adjust!

Cheers, G.

His and Hers

I’ve finally got around to building a pair of mats that have been on the horizon for some time. These are G-Mats 163 (AKA “Bear”) and 164 (AKA “Bunski”) and have been built for husband and wife surfmat tag-team, Ben and Yoko Bennink.

Ben and Yoko run the wonderful Slidaholics website based in their homeland of Australia. They are both enormously experienced waterpeople with a good deal of experience riding all manner of craft, including mats.

Given that, it was a real pleasure to work with them around this collaboration. Ben and Yoko came knowing that they wanted mats that were fast and loose, with stacks of glide. Given that, a brace of free-breathing Rubber Buckies seemed to be the order of the day.

As you can tell from the picture of Bear and Bunski side-by-side, there is a bit of a difference in size between Ben and Yoko! As a result, there was a need to do some serious scaling in both directions but, job done.

Have fun you crazy kids!

Cheers

G

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March 7, 2019: FEEDBACK FROM BEN & YOKO:

I’m so stoked to get this message from Ben! THIS is why I do it:

“G-Mats Situation Report.

Yoko and i got to test the new G-mats this morning. We actually got really lucky, we scored somewhere with just the two of us, a place that's usually always packed. There was offshore / cross-shore devil wind on it. Hence the lack of crowd. But, pick the right one between gusts, and it was a good size, fast and reasonably hollow despite the bumps coming up the face.

Graeme, those "Rubber Bucky's" you scaled for us both are fucken insane.
Seriously, just fucking WOW. Bravo dude, fine workmanship. Worth the wait and every cent.

We found them to be,faster than the Ute model, and that's in tricky bumpy conditions! Which is pretty wild, the ute is damn fast too, but these are quicker.
Seriously can't wait to get them in something with a cleaner face. yes more slip, and much more sensitive than the Ute, but it's manageable, and a shit load of fun.

Can't report on crossovers at this stage, we were overtaking each other easily, but didn't risk the crossovers at that speed in the wind and bump, didn't want to hit a bump, get it wrong and knock each other out.
So mainly sharing speed runs, and swapping the lead. Made a couple of windy barrels as well.
Both hooting like kids on speed. Still smiling, and the last time I saw Yoko that stoked, was when I made a new noserider for her. BTW. That problem we had when I was on a G-mat, and she wasn't, where i kept out running her, problem solved :) Now she's as fast as me, or even faster.

G it's obvious you put a lot love and dedication into you're work. We both genuinely appreciate it.

Thanks Dude, from two very happy sliders. :)

Rattler... Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie!!!

Say hello to G-Mat 145 (AKA "Rattler"). Rattler is the third mat I've built for UK based Ozzie, Henry Marfleet. I was over the moon to build this mat as Henry's previous mats have both been built for solid waves. He goes on annual trips to Indo so you can see why.

So back to Rattler; she's a 200/70 Rubber Bucky. Henry wanted to get in touch with his Ozzie roots so opted for a bit of colour... Green deck, yellow logo and yellow bottom. We went for clear grip to to add a touch of frosty goodness and let the green really show through.

Rattler has a subtle neg rocker to work with the deeper concaved of the Rubber Bucky design to make what is going to be a fast and slippy mat. Perfect for Henry's frequent trips to Cornwall. (We always prepare ourselves for a week of onshore choss when he says he's coming down!).

Henry has also ordered a sexy green tee with a yellow logo. That's currently in the works so will be sent on later. Looking forward to getting in with Henry and Rattler next time he's down.

Cheers

G

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Been busy knocking out 3 mats of late. I'm building myself a new ride and didn't want to slow down the waiting list so thought I'd pull out all the stops. The third in the set is a "little" bit different so I'll post about that down the line. For now here's some info on the first two.

G-Mat 139

To start, here's Shi Shi. The latest addition to the quiver of my oldest customer, Pete D'Ewart.

Pete is a Seattle Seahawks fan, being from Washington State. He gave me free range on the logo and I thought it might be fun to go with blue, grey and green to match his team's colours (the white on the logo is actually grey, believe me).

Anyway, Pete is an extremely experienced mat man. By which I mean one of the elders who kept mat surfing alive, riding Neumatics through the barren years.  He has a Rubber Bucky and loved the speed so the next step had to be negative rocker. As you can see, Shi Shi has it in abundance! 

That rocker combined with a 70/70, free breathing construction and very light Puraflex 40 grip job means this mat is very pliable and will be very, very fast! 

Pete has some travels planned so Shi Shi is going to get a good run out in a range of good quality waves in the hands of a master.

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UPDATE: 24/08/2017

Email from Pete with a story about the spot that was namesake for this mat:

"Shi Shi"arrived in prefect condition.  I love the feel of 70/70.  Looking forward to some long glides. Thanks & me keep me in the queue if you will.  

Shi Shi is over an hour walk through the forest, usually muddy or a 20 minute boat ride from Hobuck.  We almost hit a gray whale returning from Shi Shi a few years ago in a Zodiac.  That trip resulted in the mat pack being made by Diane, my wife.  An herring net pouch with a draw string designed with a 2" back-pack nylon belt to stuff a rolled up deflated rolled mat into making it possible to swim out and under strong inside surf.  Dale commented at the time that if it is too big to get out with an inflated mat, you probably shouldn't go out.  I had rode to far inside on a blustery big day and had to deflate the mat and swim with one arm (the other hand gripping the mat to get back out to the boat.  The mat pack frees up both arms. Fun.

Pete

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G-Mat 140

On to the second build, this time a 200/70 Ute named "Blackfish" for Julia Graham who lives near Santa Cruz, CA. Inspired by the important documentary of the same name. 

Julia has spent plenty of time riding G-Mats with here partner, Mark Garcia having both a 5 Star General and a Ute named "The Narwhal", so it was high time that she got hold of a custom fit! 

Blackfish is built with free rocker as Julia is going to be surfing a wide range of conditions and was keen for a mat that would get her moving down the line quickly. The grip is Grey Puraflex 40 so offers that reassuring sticky feel whilst having minimal impact on the overall pliability of the mat.

Things are pretty sharky around Santa Cruz right now, but that won't deter Julia! I think she's planning on just out-running them anyway... Move over Michael Phelps!

I'm really looking forward to hearing about how Julia and Blackfish get on... Stay tuned!

Cheers

G

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UPDATE: 31/08/2017

Email from Julia. Sounds like she's having fun:

Waves weren't too great this weekend but managed to catch a few on Saturday at Manresa. Love it! Really fast down the line and I love the maneuverability...and not as much mat to wrangle around :)

Thanks!!

Blue Goose!

Say hello to G-Mat 135 (AKA "Blue Goose"). Blue 

Blue Goose is a 70/70 G-Mat Rubber Bucky heading out to Jesse Tuesday in San Francisco. This is a mat built for out and out speed with negative rocker and free-breathing internal venting. Jess was keen on maximising pliability whilst having plenty of traction so we have gone with Puraflex 40 grip. The front corners are fully covered to help with hanging on.

This is the second mat I've built for Jesse. His last mat, Sea Schmoo was a Ute built exactly a year earlier. Blue Goose will certainly open up some bottom end stuff for Jesse but with plenty of crossover, will also offer a different angle on his surfing.

Certainly a different ride to a 200/70 Ute. I always look forward to hearing about the experiences with neg rocker from experienced mat surfers.

Cheers

G

PS. After tats in SF? Tuesday Tattoo is your place. 

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UPDATE: 08/06/2017

Word from Jesse:

"Hey G,

    Got the Goose in the water and she’s brilliant. Fast enough to make sections and has enough bite take the hi-line. She even accelerates and holds well enough to get into the face of a wave when taking off late out in the crumble zone. Thank you again, your mats are definitely worth the wait!

     Jesse"

G-Mat 131

MASSIVE MAT ALERT... MASSIVE MAT ALERT...

This is Warren Pfeiffer's new mat named "Limp Biscuit". Pretty good pun that.

Limp Biscuit is a 70/70 Rubber Bucky with negative rocker. Unsurprisingly, Warren has gone for a free-breather. She is based on Warren's current favourite ride named "Doppleganger".

There is a bit of experimentation here with every dimension across the mat being blown out a little but with I-beam heights being left. Also, a little more length.

What this means is that Doppleganger has more volume. Also, all of the contours are exaggerated so the stagger is increased, the corners a little squarer and the concave a little deeper. All in all, more lift and less grab at the corners means Limp Buiscuit has the potential to fly!

Certainly not a mat for your average matter, but Warren is far from your average matter.

A real experiment this one and has a lot to live up to following Doppleganger but lets see how she fares.

Cheers

G

Fun Sessions with Bryn and Tim

I had a really good time with with Tim Ciasto and Bryn Dampney on the South Coast of Cornwall near the Devon border. Tim had his camera. Saturday was a session with just me in the water (and a crowd of about 5895)  on my Chino Racer. It had a little grunt (although I was pretty over-gunned). It was also super busy and hugely frustrating. Still, I managed to snag a few away from the pack on my favourite left which was bumpy but fun.

On Sunday, Bryn joined me on the same reef. The waves were really nice early doors and beautifully quiet when we arrived. 

The waves dropped a bit in quality as the tide pushed and Tim turned up with his camera so he definitely missed the best of it but I'm still pretty pleased with what he got. ☺️

It was nice getting the Bodybag out for a couple at the end, although Bodysurfing is probably best done before, not after a 2 1/2 hour session!  

All good fun. Tim has been sniffing around Cornwall of late and will be back. It would be good to get a few more mat riders together for his return.

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

Deep Brain Stimulation

Ahoy ladies and gents, this is DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) a 70/70 Rubber Bucky built for Pete D'Ewart in Washington State in the US of A.

I always enjoy building mats for Pete. He is a real connoisseur and this is his fourth custom G-Mat. You can see the others here:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/?tag=Chiledub

Pete was actually my first ever customer so it is always a pleasure to build a mat for him.

So back to DBS. As mentioned, she is a Rubber Bucky. 70/70 free breather with a free rocker. Being a Rubber Bucky there is a deep concave up the middle which provides good lift, with the mat being designed to ride on the wide inside pontoon in trim.

The bottom skin and I-beams are made from the very last scraps of the beautiful green 70 denier fabric from my role so Pete is in for a quick sensitive ride.  I can already hear the cries of anguish from those who have fallen in love with the green fabric. Please rest assured that I will get some more when I can.

It looks like the run of good swell continues for the US West coast so Pete should be getting plenty. DBS is more minded towards subtle sensitive low inflation glides than keeping life together in hectic conditions but she will certainly have a prime spot in Pete's quiver, I'm sure.

Cheers

G

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UPDATE - 03/12/16

Word from Pete:

"DBS, double bag and T landed today.  G-121is a beauty, another fine design realized with obvious attention to detail.  Can't wait to get it wet.  In the meantime, I've inflated DBS well beyond riding hardness to admire the contours indoors.  Thanks.  Your mats more often disappear when I'm on a wave, full body flying."

Happy so far it seems.

G

Not So Iron-Clad

This is a USS Monitor, a G-Mat Rubber bucky built for Carpinterian, Matt Herman.

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Matt surfs the waves in the Santa Barbara region, which means points... Lots of points! The locals are also very open to exploring different ways to ride waves so it's a pretty great place to be a mat rider!

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This mat has been named after the Iron Clad war ship. Monitor was a high performance, marine craft too, but that's where the similarities stop as G-Mat 122 isn't armour plated! She does have a 200 denier deck with Sikaflex EBT grip though to offer some stability (comparitively).

The original USS Monitor

The Rubber Bucky design was developed with a lot of testing at Rincon so it kinda feels apt whenever I ship one over there. We know the design goes well in those waves!

It sounds like the US Pacific post is doing well for itself at the moment too so she should get her maiden voyage pretty soon!

Cheers

G

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UPDATE - 24/11/16

Stokes to hear from mat that Ironclad it going well for him. Matt says:

Literally just got out of water now- the mat is all speed.  The negative rocker just pulls you over the face of the steepest drops supper late, giving me tons of speed but also keeping me in the pocket. 

Thanks to @tate_larrick for permission to share the shot of Matt at Rincon.

G

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PHOTO: Tate Larrick

G-Mat 119 - WUNDERBAR!!!

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It's been quite a while since I dyed a mat and, if I'm honest, it's a job I hate doing, but the results tend to make it worth while. That's certainly how I feel about Ian Wraith's new Rubber Bucky named "Wunderbar". 

Wunderbar is built with high speed glide in mind. She is a 70/70 with negative rocker and a Hestered valve.  Ian lives to ride at super-low inflation so Wunderbar is set up as a free-breather to maximise speed.

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As mentioned up top, Wunderbar has been dyed VERY green. I think this is set of nicely with the black of the Puraflex 40 grip and the black logo. Ian has gone for grip around the front corners, including the edge-lap to help with keeping hang of Wunderbar in gloves this winter.

I'm looking forward to handing this gal over to Ian. I'm also looking forward to getting a quick go!  

Cheers  

G

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Skinny Girl - Ghostly Goings On...

Say hello to G-Mat 94 (AKA "Skinny Girl"). She's a free-rockered, free-breathing grey and white, ghostly number headed off to David Lucas on the US West Coast.

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As you can see, Skinny Girl is set up with a bungee. Having recently had the first pull through of a leash (all be it in heavy G-Land) I've experimented with reinforcing the eyelets so look forward to some feedback on that.

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David also has a rather fetching cap on the way.

It was only after things were all wrapped up that it dawned on me that David owns Lucas Winery. Had I clocked that before I'd have asked for a booze barter!!!

So, off she goes. Have fun David.

Cheers

G

G-Mat 81 (AKA "Sea Wasp")

Here's Dan Lawrence's new steed. Something a bit low key...

Dan has an Ubercat currently, what with his local being a racy peaky barrel. However, he needed something with a little more range for every day waves. He likes his concave so a Rubber Bucky was the obvious solution.

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With the British summer upon us I'm sure that Sea Wasp will get plenty of water time.

Oh yeah, slight negative rocker... VROOM VROOM!!!

G

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G-Mat 82 (AKA "Pacmat")

I've had a bit of fun building Andrew Stephen Buck's latest Rubber Bucky. For obvious reason's she is named Pacmat.

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Pacmat is a gift for Andrew from his brother Mike. That is one hell of a brother!

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This is (obviously) a mat that ASB will jump straight onto. It is the first one I've built him with a light elastic rocker so I will be interested to hear how that goes. I'll also be interested to hear what the Rincon crew make of all this!

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This is one of the first mats using my new pigments. Im really happy with how that has worked out.

Oh, and this isn't even the strangest thing that ASB has me working on at the moment...

Cheers

G

Long Live EBT

Word from Adrian Paterson on his Rubber Bucky, 'Ripley':

"Hi G, just thought you'd like some feedback on 'ripley' have to say I've had some great surfs of late, due to your technical know-how! feels real positive in all sizes & conditions , love the grip. tiz real good so thanks & well done, saving my beans for another.

Regards Adrian"

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I'm very pleased to hear that Adrian's grip is going well as his mat is the first I gripped with Sikaflex EBT, the more hardy cousin of Sikaflex 11FC+. Glad to hear that Adrian has his Rubber Bucky going in all sorts too. 

Cheers

G

Feedback from John Hughes

I've had a couple of emails from John Hughes regarding his early experiences with his 70/70 Rubber Bucky, Sylvia.

John says:

EMAIL 1:
My first session was on tiny waves at the local pier. There is a break on the north side of the pier that happens only when the tide and swell direction are just right. When it breaks a wedgy peak forms right next to the end of the pier. That turns into a fast drop which usually breaks right away and puts you in the whitewater. That lasts for a few yards then it re-forms into a walled up ledge that reels right into the pilings. Just as you get to the pilings you can pull out then take the outgoing channel next to the pier and go right back to the take off zone.

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The ride is short but exhilarating.

Although the swell that day was tiny, the conditions were right and a miniature version of the wave was working. The mat handled it easily, tracking down every little seam in the wave, turning a potential non-session into an hour of fun. No pics of this. I took a camera with me but no one was there to take pics. The inflation pic is from that morning.

EMAIL 2:
I got the mat out again this morning, this time in some waist high but lined up groundswell. This mat is blazing fast! I was easily blowing by sections and the mat was smooth and controlled. When the offshores held the wave back I could hang the mat at the top of the wave until it walled lined up then let it loose. I am definately clicking with this mat. It is another level above Phileas. I can't wait to get it in some big stuff.

I didn't get actual surfing pics. I just had the snapshot camera. I include one pic of the inflation level I am at. It works very well with low inflation. Also include the latest update on my car stickers. We may be getting some big onshore slop soon. If so, I will send a report.

aloha, John

Bring on the slop!

Cheers

G

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