High-Performance Custom Surfmats Hand Built in the UK
This is John Mann's (AKA Bagjuan) latest steed named "Salsa Brava." She's a 200/70 Chino racer with a subtle elastic rocker and is en route to the Pacific North West to hook up with John.
Salsa Brava has a bungee for attaching a leash which I have reinforced to deal better with the winter swells.
She should be with Baggie by the beginning of next week. Let's hope the surf plays ball.
Cheers
G
Here's a little something heading off to Chris Goodwin in San Diego. "The Onion" is a Chino racer with the scaling and materials set up for some solid winter surf and with the winter predicted, that's not a bat idea!
The Onion was given her name to celebrate the life and love of the ocean of Chris' good friend Scott Reeder who loved the fable of the Onion Beggar.
As I've said, The Onion has been built with winter in minds and with heavy woven black 200d deck and Sikaflex EBT grip and lower volume, this mat is perfectly set up for the juice. I'm looking forward to hearing how she goes.
Have fun Chris.
Cheers
G
As I lie here with infected sinuses, popping pain killers, antibiotics and nasal douches seriously in need of cheering up, a real treat landed in my inbox. Word from Mattitude on a heavy day at Huntington Beach on his Ute, Winston, back in early December:
G-Mat 84 (AKA "Winston")
"Got an incredible in and out barrel today on winston.
steely blue peaks offshore winds 75 degrees in water combo swell about 8+ faces on the sets very heavy wedging peaks looked like northshore or puerto escondido
first wave of session took off sideways and never made it to the bottomhad a brief instant where i knew it was going to come over hard then it happened threw out all around me and i was thinking oh what a view (reminded me of that almond lenox barrel but not quite as deep) but had expected tobe a tiny bit deeper
then the thing just unloadedand spit so hard i sawthe shape of my head in the spray as it blew out.
probably the best barrel i have ever gotten ona surf mat and one of the best i have gotten ever at hb.
the very next wave i got another deep barrel andgot out raced after a few seconds in the tunnel lookingat a surfer who was paddling out. ridingwinston inflations very similar tophilaes 180 + a big handfull on a top corner to make it (very slight) spring at 180so like190 or 200 butcant measure those since mat touches at 180."
Sounds amazing! No footage of that unfortunately but Chad Stickney has just put together a fun edit with Jamo and Winston in action, as well as Chad getting some sweet Wedge action on his Ubercat, Tsu.
Pretty stoked on that.
Cheers
G
Meet Jeremy Grosvenor's new mat, Celeste. Those who know of Jeremy will be aware that he is a fan of a brightly coloured surfmat and Celeste certainly fits that category.
Celeste is a Flying Carpet. I don't build too many of these but Jeremy was clear that he wanted one - 70/70, well vented and very loose and slippery. Perhaps a bit larger than other mats in his quiver but could be just the ticket for those East Coast, US waves.
For those who don't know of Jeremy, I would highly recommend reading his interview over on UK Mat Surfers. That's a good place to get a look at his eye catching Neumatics.I'm hopeful that Celeste will find a place in that esteemed quiver.
As you can see above ,Jeremy's local looks like it's rolling out the red carpet for Celeste's imminent arrival so I'm looking forward to a ride report.
Cheers
G
The latest mat to come out of the workshop is G-Mat 91 (AKA "Candy"). Candy is a Ute built for Matt Ayre, the man behind Polymath Surfcraft. Matt is a huge inspiration to me so I was stoked when he got in touch to talk about getting a mat.
Candy is a 200/70 Ute with elastic rocker. Matt surfs some good quality waves in his local area in the North East of England, but obviously has to also grovel in some ropy short period stuff at times so the versatility of the Ute seemed the obvious way to go. The rocker will help with turns and of course, Candy is red so that will add to the speed so all-in-all, I'm hopeful that Matt is going to be pleased with his mat.
I'm can't wait to see how Matt and Candy get along. Matt is a talented waterman who rides a wide array of craft so I'm confident that he will embrace the learning (and unlearning) needed to master mat riding. He plans to take Candy out in some decent waves so I am very excited to hear how they get on.
Stay tuned!
G
I'm sure people on the UK Atlantic coast have, like me, been enjoying the arrival of Autumn and the arrival of the first great swell.
The air has taken on something of an Autumnal feel though so I thought it was time to roll out my new Slynk custom wetsuit, lovingly crafted to fit my Balinese physique. (When I say Balinese I mean that I have the figure of Balin the dwarf off of Lord of the Rings).
My Slynk Wetty made me so happy my face inflated!
So a bit more about it. This suit is amazing. Back zip (because I see through the chest zip sham) 2mm and lined with aero zirconium (AZ). AZ is a fuzzy lining which makes the suit super warm. Combine that with a custom fit and you wind up with a wetsuit that's super-duper warm! You will have seen AZ on parts of many a wetsuit but this one is for mat surfing and bodysurfing so I've had the fuzz put everywhere apart from the knees.
My 3mm Slynk suit is so warm that this winter I'm planning to buy a hood and see how far through I can go. I suspect that I will ultimately need a 4mm with a hood (and yes, a chest zip) and that will be next on my list but you never know.
Oh, and not only does AZ make for a toasty suit, it also dries in about an hour, even when it's cold and damp. That is priceless in itself! Last night, I got out of the water at 7.30 pm. I hung my wettie in the back of the van overnight and when I put it on at 6.15 am today it was like climbing into a onesie. It took all my effort not to pump up a couple of mats and snuggle down for a kip!
Mmmmm...
Anyhoo, Slynk come to us from Joanne Bennett and she can be found via the Internet at:
I don't usually plug stuff on this blog from other companies but Jo is a kindred soul, creating quality custom surfing hardware so get on to her and get one!
Cheers
G
After some serious faffing about with various samples, I've finally managed to add caps to the G-Mat clothing range. I'm really happy with these caps and the quality of the print.
People buying mats can now also get flat and regular peaked Trucker Caps (pictured), cotton baseball caps and flat peaked rapper caps. As with the tees and hoodies, the caps come in any colour with any colour print.
Cheers
G
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