A Tale of 4 Pontoons Pt 2

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Ladies and Gents, please say hello to "Pocket Goblin". She's a 200/70 free-breathing Chino Racer, built for highly talented San Diegan, Mark Miller.  

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Mark Miller 645

Mark wanted a mat with good hold, but a bit more bottom end. Pocket Goblin should rock these boxes nicely with the easy breathing and also free rocker to allow that balance between down the line speed and responsive turning. 

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Mark Miller 2158

Pocket Goblin has landed but the SoCal run off means there is a little delay in her maiden voyage.  

Soon though!  

G  

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Mark Miller 53

FEEDBACK: 23/04/2017

Mat goes great! rode some bombs yesterday.  Nearly ripped off two fingernails holding onto fabric while getting a set in the head paddling back out.  Definitely has a low end but not a top end yet in terms of wave size.  Draws surprisingly stable lines in larger waves.
Mark Miller

FEEDBACK: 02/12/2017

This mat works great!  I lent it to [name withheld] a great bubble rider and he loved it.  Watched him fly around on it like the happy silverback he is, by the time I got it back a few months later the grip was smoothed down perfectly for my mobile style.  Riding inflation levels between 90 and 180 degrees and it’s really hauling ass, holding in steeper waves & in bigger waves it really shines.  Stoked! 
Mark Miller

A Tale of 4 Pontoons - Pt 1

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Say hello to "Gino the Chino"! She is the first in a bit of a run of 4 pontoon mats and has just set sail from G-Mat Towers to hook up with Graham Gidden on Vancouver Island.

You might remember Graham from HIS TIME WITH PHILEAS.  Graham was the perfect host.

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Graham Gidden 68464

So, moving on to the mat, Gino the Chino is, as you may have guessed, a Chino Racer. He is built with a 200/70 construction, is a complete free-breather and has a free elastic rocker so has a mind to find a line and to commit, giving Graham a secure and dependable ride in those solid, Northern Pacific conditions.

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Graham Gidden 64

Graham fancied a bit of colour with a brilliant blue bottom and blue logo. The colour of the logo is misleading in these photo's. It is much more blue than it looks.  The deck grip is Puraflex 40 in a pattern of Graham's own design.

Graham has also gone for a bungee fitting to add a little piece of mind should his bear hug fail.

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Graham Gidden 12569

I'm a huge fan of cold water surfing so can't wait to hear about Gino The Chino's adventures.

Bon voyage!

G

Surfmat Surf Mat Chino Racer Graham Gidden 434

Fun Sessions with Bryn and Tim

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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

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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

Bodybags Are GO!

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You may remember a little while ago I built a mini-surfmat called The Body Bag. Here's my post at the time:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2016/7/12/a-haaaaaaaand-bag

Following my initial apprehension, I sent that first mat off to be tested by Sean Starkey over at Newport Wedge. His feedback was positive but we both thought that a little more length would be a good idea so that's what came next.

Bodybag.jpg

I've built a few proto's using an open weave 500d fabric for the deck and 70d for the I-beams and bottom skin. Unfortunately, the 500d isn't reliable enough but the mats go great! I'm going to be sending these prototypes out to some mat and body surfers to get their heads around but will also be doing a batch of four 200/70 Bodybags for the UK Mat Surfers store.

Here's an edit of a session I had recently with mine.

I'm really excited about these. First couple of go outs, I had it fully pumped. Now I'm finding that 90 degrees is about right. Less than that and it's hard to manage the inflation as you are not covering the mat with your whole body, but who knows where we'll wind up with this. I'm sure better watermen than me will really push the boundaries of what these can do.

Exciting!

Anyway, keep an eye out. These will be for sale via the UK Mat Surfers Store very soon!

Cheers

G

UPDATE - 06/01/2017

Bodybags are in stock now and going FAST! Get one from UK Mat Surfers:

https://www.ukmatsurfers.com/warehouse/g-mat-bodybag-minisurfmat