G-Mat 107 (AKA "Seefarther")
/So, it's been a while thanks to a very memorable trip to California but I'm back in Blighty and my nose is held firmly to the grind stone. I was honoured to mark my return by building a mat for one of surfing's true gentlemen and a master craftsman to boot.
John Mellor's new mat, G-Mat 107 (AKA "Seefather")
John Mellor is well known to many, being a talented builder of all sorts of surf craft. I first got to know John through his mat riding, via Dale Solomonson and through John's paipo designs. This interview on MyPaipoBoards.org is well worth a read.
John recently built a couple of kick board style mini-paipo/jumbo handplanes for my son and I which he hand delivered to us in Carpenteria.
I rode my carbon beast yesterday in 1 foot Challaborough death barrels and she is absolutely incredible! (Note to self... GoPro next go out).
So then, on to "Seefarther". She is a Chino Racer scaled to John's dimensions with a little bit added. John wanted a good stable mat so we went for 200/70 black with Sikaflex EBT grip and slightly restricted the airflow. I could have gone a bit more wheezy in retrospect but I still think John will notice the added shape holding characteristics.
Seefarther has elastic rocker to get those turns happening too..
So, she ships on Monday. Hopefully John will get some waves. I think the Pacific is doing her thing of late.
Cheers
G