Zawn

Here is a mat built for west Cornwall-based mat surfer Matthew Geyman.

Matt surfs way down west getting into some of the short, sucky beach breaks down that way so wanted a mat that would get in and get hold quickly. Matt has a 4GF Omni from PG so we settled on a Nouveau Racer to concentrate on hollower or bigger days. Matt opted to name her 'Zawn'.

Matt says:

“Zawn is named for those secluded places along the Far West’s remote North Coast. Coves accessible only via a scramble, or by canoe, are a treat to explore. Packing a mat on a summer coast path walk, in the hope of spotting an unexpected wave is real treasure hunting. Originally a temporary way to stay on the water after a back injury, mats quickly became a source of joy for my whole family, often replacing more traditional craft: boards and hand planes. Because a mat’s so easy to transport, its rewards were multiplied.

Our closest break (a lesser visited spot in the far west) has waves better suited to short craft and bodysurfing. We snag treasured family memories here: daughters hooting and skidding on mats down the face of Christmas Day growlers, with no other soul about.

‘Zawn’ joins a stable including a 4GF Omni, Catherine’s G-Raft (a birthday gift when she fell out of love with surfing), and a behemoth Redback with chunky handles that the kids love (a great summer mush machine, sent by my brother from some godforsaken town near his home on the east coast of Australia). A mat’s joined the annual Morocco pilgrimage a few times in 20 years, but usually stays rolled up as it’s unlikely to replace a board for the long paddle out to Killers. Zawn will feature more heavily and it’ll love Cathedrals.

After a life in the water, it’s only a surfmat that makes me giggle uncontrollably and I’d do anything to keep the maniacal cackle factor.

Cheers n gone

Matt”

— Matthew Geyman

Zawn is a 200/70 Wheezer. We had some debate around elastic rocker versus free rocker. The new red material kinda made the choice for us being pretty inelastic. I suspect this might loosen up after a surf or two. I'll be checking in with Matt. Matt has also gone for a bungee for long Moroccan swims!

Have fun Matt!

Cheers

G

Ziran

So then first build of this run and this is a mat for Dom Davenport.

Dom has an RB-JMC already and was keen to think about how best to add to the quiver. After some discussion weighing up the benefits of an Ubercat or Nouveau Racer we settled on the latter (Dom has a 4GF @4thgearflyer Lotus Blue Streak so has that area covered).

With a trip to surf Moroccan points on the horizon the Nouveau Racer is the perfect addition. To be honest, the Nouveau Racer is the perfect partner to the RB-JMC anyway. There's a bit of overlap between the two and the Nouveau Racer extends the scope handling bigger and more critical waves better.

So onto this mat and Dom has named it Ziran which means "to push away outside influence and embrace one's authenticity, while living natural, spontaneous, and free".

Perfect.

Ziran is a 200/70 Wheezer built with free elastic rocker. Dom asked for a bungee for a leash. We are both in agreement that leashes are an absolute P in the A and should never substitute good form and keeping hold of the mat but some of those swims in Morocco can be pretty long and/or sketchy so nice to have the option.

Ziran is heading off to hook up with Dom now so I look forward to seeing how things go.

Cheers

G

Wu Wei

Stealth is the order of the day sometimes. This is one of those times.

Dom Davenport has been on the list and trying hard to get in for a mat for some time so I was stoked when he did. A dedicated mat surfer who has fallen hook, line and sinker for these craft and I always love to build mats for those people. Here’s a word or two from Dom:

“I have been riding mats for about 10 years, having started with standup surfing in my 30s I saw someone riding a 4GF one day whilst living in California, flying along a point break like a pelican and I knew it was for me. Since then I have almost exclusively ridden mats, although I discovered the joys of the kneelo as a compliment, particularly the displacement hull as perfected by Paul Gross. Now living back in the UK, I spend my time heading to the reefs and hidden points of the Dorset coast.

There is a feeling when riding a mat that can’t be found with any other surf vehicle, a bag of air brings the opportunity for complete integration with the wave’s energy. The lack of substance in a mat stops you from forcing things or from trying and moves you to respond to the moment.

There are no bad days on a mat and the pure joy I’ve experienced surfing them has made my life better in so many ways. I’m excited to get my hands on one of G’s mats, the RB-JMC is an evolution of surf mat design that I couldn’t miss out on trying.”

— Dom Davenport

Dom has a trip to Morocco planned so with long points in mind a 70/70 neg rocker was the order of the day. Dom wanted a responsive mat and enjoys surfing lower inflations so the super-free-breather was the obvious choice for him.

Also, a low key colour scheme as you can see. Dom also went for a bungee as living in the South East of the UK these days, trips to artificial waves are often his only option and they insist on leashes. Horrible things but needs must.

As for the name, Dom has called his new mat “Wu Wei” meaning non-action or without force which sums up the approach to mat surfing. Responsiveness as opposed to reactivity.

So as I said, Wu Wei and Dom are off to hit the points of North Africa and I really hope we get some pics!

Have fun Dom.

Cheers

G

The Widow Maker V6

This mat is an Ubercat build for one of the English South Coast’s prone stalwarts, Mike Steele. Mike has been a body boarder for many years, seeking and charging some of the phenomenal hidden gems on the Jurassic Coast. Mike says:

“Got the bug when I was 10 when my dad bought me a polystyrene board for the summer and then progressed to the Mach 7-7 and was a devout Morey fan until they sold to Mattel. Grew up surfing Bournemouth Pier, then discovered the local reefs and was completely sold on boogin’. One of the spots was in an M.O.D. training range and we got arrested for trespass for walking back from the break after we had been told to get out by the range boat. In and out of court for two years and the day before judgement they dropped the charges. The whole thing was very underhand by the M.O.D., false evidence etc. Anyway, after that ordeal we decided to buy a boat so we would never have this problem again and we discovered a few spots that were literally made for bodyboarding. We had a few eventful boat trips in the surf, one in particular was witnessed on quite a big day, my mate driving hit a big wave too fast and we were apparently fully vertical and the ‘prop was 10ft clear of the water’. How we all survived is beyond me and hence we named the boat ‘The Widowmaker’. Most of our crew has their own boat now, mine is the Mk 5, and now the mat is the Mk 6. Re: board progression, had many boogs over the years, and I know the guy who imports NMD and VS and he is very pally with Nick Mezeritz so been getting customs with experimentary tails for about 10 years. Then saw Noah Lane in Ireland riding Guy Butcher wooden boards and went down that route, again experimenting with shapes with Guy. 3 boards in and started following the fringe element and saw some clips of fellas on mats going exponentially fast and have been trying to get my grubby mitts on one of yours for a couple of years. And now I have one!”

— Mike Steele

Mike and I spoke about the amount of adjustment needed to switch from a bodyboard/paipo to a mat. He is up for the challenge!

So on to the mat, WMV6 is a wheezy 200/70 Ubercat with positive elastic rocker so has good hold and is well set up for tight S-turn surfing on slabby waves and wedges. Mike has gone for the bungee leash option as a lot of the waves he surfs involve tricky swims if losing the mat. You will notice the 2-tone blue and white bottom skin and logo. This was based on a design Mike sent me and we’re pretty stoked on how it’s come out.

Widow Maker V6 is with Mike now and with a winter of south swells looking to be on the cards we’re pretty hopeful that they will get plenty of action!

Have fun Mike. Can’t wait to hear about your journey into matting!

Cheers

G

Z-Brah

A bit of a weekend project here building a mat for myself. It was flat and absolutely freezing cold so a warm workshop and podcasts seemed very appealing. I've had a big hole in my quiver for some time now with a Nouveau Racer named "Steady Eddie" and a RB-JMC Ultralight named "Featherweight Fordy" and nothing in between. Basically, if it was ether solidly overhead/heavy or upto shoulder high glass I was golden. The 80% in between I was having to work a lot more and poor FF had been taking a right pounding!

So then, on to this mat. It's called "Z-Brah" because the name makes me laugh and works however you pronounce "Z". Z-Brah is a 70/70 Ubercat. Standard free-breather with positive elastic rocker to get tight on the turns. I've also added a bungee for leash attachment for night surfs and wave pools so all in all... I'm covered! Weight off my mind to be honest!

I've actually finished another mat before this one for Mike Steele which I'll post dreckly.

We have waves at the mo so Z-Brah should see some action pretty soon.

Cheers

G

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UPDATE/FEEDBACK 06/03/2023

Well after all that I sold Z-Brah to Chris Cavey over in Santa Cruz. I ended up building my son and myself mats over Christmas and needed money for a trip so with heavy heart let Z-Brah go.

Here’s feedback from Chris. It’s good to see that the Ubercat does what it says on the tin.

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UPDATE - APRIL 2024

A little edit of Chris Cravey riding Z-Brah at the Kelly Slater wave pool.

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

Transmogrifier

Ladies and Gents please say hello to G-Mat 199 (AKA "Transmogrifier"). She is a 70/70 G-Mat RB-JMC built for @agentholmes over in Santa Cruz, US of A.

Ryan is the latest in this run of orders I'm working through for people who have helped me out over the years. He has been smitten with mats for some time and is a really good mat surfer, most recently helping out with promo shots for the RFT (Raft) mats.

Ryan is a fan of going fast and knows how to hold a line right on the edge of slipping so what better ride for those kelpy reefs and points than a 70/70 neg rocker super-free-breather RB-JMC? Like me, Ryan is into making use of the full moon and so has had a bungee fitted for a leash attachment when needed.

Vroom vroom!

Transmogrifier is en route to Ryan right now and should be with him within 24 hours of this post, all going well.

I'm looking forward to photos! Fun mat Ryan... Enjoy!

Cheers

G

PS I also did a valve repair on a very interesting Dale Solomonson mat for him. More on that later as I find it out.

Little Wing

It's been a little while since I've built an Ubercat but when Claude Ricord got in touch that was exactly what he was after. What's more, Claude was after a 70/70 free-breather. Vroom vroom!

This is "Little Wing". Claude was unfortunately bereaved recently losing his wife to stomach cancer. Of course, Claude is grieving but he is bringing a real positivity to his life, mat surfing with his son in the breaks around their home in Southern California. 

Claude says that his and his wife shared a favourite colour scheme of green and white so this was Claude's choice for Little Wing. The deck has been acid dyed in 2 tone green with clear grip which is set off with a clear logo with a mix of holo and green glitter. Claude has gone for the option to have a leash just for those big rippy days.

It's been a real honour to build this mat for Claude. Ride on mate. 

Cheers

G

A Bit of Self Care... Lisha

It’s not long since I last built myself a mat but needs must. A little while ago I had my mat pulled from my hand on a solid day. I tried to keep hold with my right hand but it got yanked out, possibly breking my finger.

As always, I built Lisha over a weekend so nobody was missing out because of me doing this!

This also led to a strain of the muscles in my right fore arm which gets easily flared up even in small surf.

In short, I need to be alble to let go of my mat! My only options then were don’t surf, have a long swim after every wave or a leash. Given those thre then a leash seemed the best bet. I figured this was also a chance to try the RB-JMC design with a 200 denier deck.

Leashes are always a conundrum with mats. At low inflation they can interfere with things if not well managed and, more to the point, after years of riding without one they just feel like they get in the way. However, there is a need at times which then brings us to the other issue. The materieals, even a 200/70 construction, are lightweight. That’s great for performance but a challenge for attaching leashes. An eyelet will last a while but used over time or in heavy surf (just ask Henry Marfleet about G-Land) they will get pulled through.

So you need to do 2 things: Reinforce and spread the load.

When doing bungee fittings like this I weld a layer of 650 gram double coated nylon into the flange between the top and bottom skins. This gives a very robust strip of fabric across the nose. The nose of a mat is always fully inflated to it doesn’t make a huge difference to the pliability, altough anything on a mat is transferred aound the whole mat so it is noticable as reported by people who have two mats, one with and one without. The eyelets are fitted snuggly to grip the fabric well. That sounds obvious but loose eyelets will wear the fabric.

The next job is to spread the load. This is acheived by using bungee cord rather than rope. The elasticity of the cord soaks up a fair bit of the strain. Also, weaving the bungee through the eyelets and then attaching the leash to the middle loop causes the mat to conertina, spreading the load across the mat, rather than on a single point.

So on to the mat, as I said Lisha is a RB-JMC, super free-breather with negative rocker. The previous build have all been 70/70 which have been impressive in all conditions, including solid waves. It will be interesting to see what happens her then. Heavier decks reduce the overall pliability of mats (more hold, less speed) so in thoery this should have more top end.

Let’s see. I won’t be trying this in chunky surf for the time being as I need to let my arm recover but I’ll give it a crack in due course.

On the name, why Lisha? Well obviously, she has a leash but it insired me to name this mat after a sporting great of yesteryear (wierd phrase) Elisha Scott.

So there you go. Lets see how it works out and get well soon me!

Cheers

G

Akamata!!!

My good friend Ian Wraith AKA “Piskian” is an ex-pat Cornishman living in Japan. Ian lives on a beautiful, quiet (by Japanese standards) tropical island with his wife and two children. Ian is also a pretty great mat rider.

Anyway, Ian was lined up for a mat and we managed to line his mat up with his visit, and so it was that Akamata was born…

Akamata is a Nouveau Racer so designed with more solid waves in mind. There is a particular point break on the Island that is very reminiscent of a certain North Cornish point with long lefts of a shallow boulder bottom. The difference is, you have a huge paddle just to get to the inside! With this in mind, Ian took the pragmatic decision to break form and go for a bungee leash fitting.

This isn’t to always have a leash, just to have the option when those huge typhoon swells come in. These leash fittings have developed over time and the nose flange is now HEAVILY reinforced. The leash fits to the middle loop so the mat concertinas to absorb the energy and the bungee is elastic. All of this combines to give a fitting that can take on the job, although it is still best to hang on to your mat!

The deck it 200d nylon dyed Fire Red with an added experimental tattoo (that didn’t show well so that is why we experiment).

The bottom material is an open weave 70d that goes juuuuust lovely! Restricted breather to help Akamata to hold her shape in big surf and to handle surface chop at speed.

Ian has given her a go and reports:

Just rode Akamata in head-high double-up dry tubes. Flies! Like a magic carpet. Turns fast, glides like a beuton. Grip is perfect!

Stoked!

On that grip, it’s clear Sikaflex EBT but I have modified how I texture it and the feedback (including my own experience) is that it’s spot on!

I’m glad I’ve been able to build Ian a mat. It’s been a while and this is just right for what he will get over the winter.

It was great to get Ian over although it was a flying visit. We were lucky enough to get a couple of sessions in too. A shame it was so small as we have an intuition on party waves but still great fun surfing with Mark “Tom” Underwood one day and my son, Webbo, the next.

Here’s a few party waves from 2016 anyho…

Great morning that!

Cheers

G

PS Follow Ian on Instagram @piskian.

G-Mat 105 (AKA "The Eggbeater")

This is G-Mat 105 (AKA "The Eggbeater"), so called because she has the task of helping Jesse Witthoft to negotiate Egg Rock. Jesse says:

"This point I will surf her atthe most is called Eagles. There is a rock that if you get a real good one you make it past called the Egg Rock."

Eggbeater pretty much named herself then!

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So, about the mat.  Jesse is 6' 6" tall and long. He wanted a mat that would go fast, hold well and managed the smallest of conditions but still go in juice. The holy grail!  The other thing is that with his size 16 US feet he can't find fins to fit properly (although perhaps doesn't need to).

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Given all that, we went for an Ubercat basic design to make the most of the concave and rail hooks. I also extended the length to width ratio slightly to help Jesse to get in to waves more easily.  Eggbeater is a 200/70 construction with Sikaflex EBT grip to add stability to the deck, given the larger size of the mat.

Jesse has also opted for a bungee. Whether this gets much use remains to be seen but it's there if needed.

So there we have it. Long mat for a long chap. She will certainly be a different ride to his current mat and hopefully will beat the Egg Rock.

Cheers

G