Starchaser 2

Here's a quick post about something of a Phoenix from the Flames (or maybe an Albatross from the Atlantic). I've just finished a run and before starting the next one bashed out a couple of mats. The first being this one and the second a mat for winter for my business partner Tom.

Onto this mat then and it's a rebuild of Ryan Kleinert's RB-JMC named Starchaser. Those who follow Ryan may remember he surfed a solid 10ft day in Maine and lost Starchaser 😩

Starchaser 2 then is a copy. Super-free-breather, pink as you like with neg rocker and Hestered valve . Starchaser 2 will head to Maine tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled for Ryan charging more solid New England bombs in hi Vis real soon!

Have fun Ryan!

Cheers

G

Crumbs!

One for a test pilot here. James Tanner rides a mat really hard and really, really well so is the perfect person to test this design concept. This mat which he has named “Crumbs” (a name which came to him during the trance-like meditative state that is driving home after a day at work) is a 70/70 RB-JMC.

Crumbs is built to the usual favoured configuration for this model with negative elastic rocker and venting, but the latter has been ramped up. I have increased the venting to make this a super-free-breather sucking a menthol mint! It’s going to be interesting to hear how James goes. He rides with low air so I imagine he will find the ride to be super responsive.

I hope one of those Noosa cameras points in James’s direction once Crumbs gets down there.

Have fun James!

Cheers

G

Blue Darr

This is G-Mat 244 (AKA Blue Darr), a mat built for the supremely talented Nick LaVecchia.  If you aren’t familiar, Nick is an amazing photographer hailing from Maine on the US East Coast.

I spoke with Nick some time ago about mats after he was pointed in my direction by Trevor Gordon and Will Adler. We spoke about mats and Nick signed up for my mailer and, after a few miss-outs, managed to nail a spot this time around.

 Nick is a very experienced surfer and spoke about his journey into mats:

“I am a lover of the ocean and all ways of riding waves. If I’m not out swimming and making images, you can usually find me with the van loaded up with cameras, housing, fins, wooden log/single fin/fish and a mat of some sort for all kinds of conditions.
I’ve found myself never wanting to be caught at the beach without a pair of flippers and a mat. That first started back in the 2008 or so when Dave Rastovich came for a Maine visit and had his Krypt mat. Once I witnessed him lock into a nice long wall and fly by me with a smile....that was it.

Then in 2010 on a trip to Nicaragua with Tomo, he had one of his Dad’s mats rolled up in his board bag. After that trip ended he left the mat with me, and I’ve been heavily hooked since.

Headed into Winter here in Maine, my favorite time. Looking forward to getting this new mat into some waves with energy while the snow flies. Nothing like skimming along the face of a wave through a blizzard Nor’easter.

Thanks for all you do Graeme. Hope we can share a few waves in the Atlantic someday.”

— Nick LaVecchia

So when we got to talking it became clear that Nick knows how to ride a mat, enjoying the feel and performance of riding with lower inflation levels. We settled in the end on a RB-JMC with super-free-breather venting and negative rocker. Full steam ahead! Nick was keen to look at a teal colour scheme for the bottom skin and the logo. Acid dye can be funny stuff and pigmenting sealants for the logo is far from an exact science so we went into that from a “let’s have a go” perspective. All in all… pretty pleased with the match! 

I’ve already had some feedback from Nick from his initial session where funnily enough he bumped into Ryan Kleinert on his new mat! Nick said:

“Just got out of the water with Ryan. Some big beautiful rights this morning. Had an amazing vision of him coming flying around the whitewater on big overhead barreling right. So good. That pink mat

I got a few amazing rides. Totally different feel. Waaaay lighter and way faster on the water. The hold felt really nice. I sideslipped down the face on a couple late large ones(my own wrong-doing) then it grabbed and really locked in. The wave was really fast this morning. Just felt amazing to make a few and beat the section with not a ton of effort. Just skimming across the top!”

— Nick LaVecchia

Music to my ears right there! I love building mats for people who take the time to learn to ride them well. It is easy to pump up a mat, jump on it and catch waves, but it is hard and takes true commitment to explore the nuance of these craft. A lifetime of learning which gets into your bones… Just ask Nick!

Thanks again Nick. Here’s to sharing waves one day.

See Nick’s amazing work on Instagram @nick_lavecchia at his website at nicklavecchia.com and in surf mags everywhere.

Cheers

G

Starchaser

This is a mat built for Ryan Kleinert from Maine in the US of A. Ryan has got pretty into mats… Like REALLY into mats. And why wouldn’t he?!

Ryan says:

“I slept on mats for way too long but when I started mat surfing, I felt the magic immediately and become completely and utterly obsessed. I started surfing boards and body surfing over two decades ago as a grom in NJ but have called New England home for most of my adult life. I have always been drawn to alternative surf craft and experiencing waves in different ways.

Surfing for me is a spiritual pursuit that connects me deeply with the wildness of the ocean and intimately with the energy of waves. Mat surfing has been transformative and has completely transcended surfing for me. The feeling that I was seeking while surfing on a board is found over and over again on a mat. Surfing is not about what I can do to a wave but about experiencing how each wave feels and what it has to offer: unhindered speed, an intimate feeling of connection, sensations defined by the uniqueness of each wave. As you know well, mats facilitate this better than any other surf craft.

I named this mat “starchaser” for the magic portals that it will open and the infinite stoke and speed it is destined to cultivate.”

— Ryan Kleinert

Well I’m certainly hopeful those portals will open! Starchaser is certainly built with that in mind. The internal gubbins are set for easy movement of air with super-free-breather venting and being a 70/70 RB-JMC Starchaser has a perfect balance of hold and glide with down-the-line speed helped out with negative elastic rocker. All in all, not the easiest of rides but an extremely rewarding one once tamed (the rider I mean, not the mat!).

I’m really looking forward to hearing from Ryan once her gets Starchaser in the water. In all there are 3 mats going to New England in this batch. There’s a bit of a boom over there with the locals seemingly being right on it to get in on the emails I send out.

Have fun Ryan!

Cheers
G

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Feedback - 17 November, 2022

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. ”

— disneyfandom.com

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.”

— Ben Zubkevych

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

Proto Too Take 2!

You might remember I built a 70/40 prototype mat for Andrew Stephen Buck named “The Bruise”. Well… it popped. ☹ Add to that the fact that James Tanner’s 70/40 proto mat named “Chinook” had a slight delamination at the back corner and I was thinking this material is just not up to the job.

The thing is… It feels great! At low inflation it is very quick and super sensitive. The learning has been that it’s certainly not for everyone, it’s tricky to get a handle on and feels much lighter than 70/70 even. It’s also not for every type of wave as the material is quite elastic so chop can be a challenge. But it is really fast.

 What’s more, James’s mat was repairable and since then, no other problems. Oh and my 70/40 mat, “Little Boy Blue” has been fine!

With all that in mind, I decided to revisit this. I thought about the material and wondered about technique. Thermal welding TPU coated nylon involves 3 elements: heat, dwell time and pressure. I’ve had a bit of a tinker and think dwell time might have been the issue with this stuff having a really narrow window between a weak weld and being over-cooked.

With that in mind, I have put together a rebuild for Mr Buck which he has named “Sporting Lady”. My first thoughts… cautiously optimistic. Let’s see though. It may still be that this material is too inconsistent to put out to customers but hopefully we’re there. This is why I build prototypes.

Cheers

 G

El Matador - A Surfmat for Torren Martyn

Here's a mat that's been on the to do list for quite a while but we finally got around to it. I'm very excited to be able to build a mat for the super talented Torren Martyn.

For those unaware, Torren is a notable surfer who has been the subject of a number of surf/travel films created with his friend and amazing film maker Ishka Folkwell. The latest of these being the fantastic Lost Track Atlantic series. Torren's smooth surfing, open mind and eye for subtlety suit him perfectly to mat surfing which he has been quietly getting on with, with his 4GF from PG.

This mat then, named El Matador (can you believe that's not already taken?!) is a 70/70 RB-JMC with standard negative elastic rocker and set up as a super-free-breather. A very light mat with an eye on down the line speed and glide. Given Torren's penchant for the low key she is black on black which is always a winner.

Right now, El Matador is sat in Stanstead Airport, near London, waiting for a spot on a plane. Torren is currently in the Rincon area so that's where they'll hook up. Not a bad wave for a mat try out eh?

More to come. 😎

Cheers

G