Bruce - Every Mat has it's Backstory

This is a mat built for Mike Janich of SoCal named Bruce. Bruce is a 200/70 free rockered Rubber Bucky. Mike is something of a Connoisseur of surfmats having a range of differnet models and brands.

When we wore talking about this mat he explained that his main rides are a G-Mat 5 Star General and a Neumatic Contrail. Civen this mix we figured that something to atend more to the bottom-end might be in order. Mike is a lover of that surfmat glide and he felt that a Rubber Bucky would hit the spot.

The extra venting and lighter weave than the black deck of Mike’s 5SG will make this a notably different, and faster ride.

So why Bruce? Well I’ll hand over to Kike for that one.

“As the story goes.... the year was 1963. November I think. Sitting in my 4th grade classroom one late morning, our teacher told us her son was coming in after lunch to show part of a movie he was making.

So after lunch her son walks in carrying a HUGE film projector, taking his time setting things up. Then it’s showtime. What I saw on the movie screen that afternoon changed my life forever for the best. My teacher’s name was Mrs. Brown, her son’s name was Bruce, and the movie was The Endless Summer, months before anyone else saw it as it was shown limitedly in 1964 before its official release in June, 1966.

In honor of Bruce Brown.... I hererby christen thee... “BRUCE”!”

— Mike Janich

Great story! I’m looking forward to hearing back from Mike on this.

Cheers

G

God on Gas

This is a Andrew Smith's new mat. A super-free-breather negative rocker RB-JMC. That's right... Another one.

Andrew has been a mat rider for a long time having scored a couple of Neumatics from Dale around 12 years ago. Andrew cares for his mats and they will last a really long time with love but everything is finite and Andrew has been trying to score a G-Mat for a while.

Andrew is primarily a mat rider and was keen to get a sensitive ride. So a 70/70 highly vented mat is perfect for him. The conversation over which model was a brief one... "I want the model that Buck and Jamie are raving about".

Roger that.

(Just a quick note on models. This is the base design. I take careful measurements from riders to tailor their mat).

We talked about what Andrew wanted to call his mat. Andrew is a football fan (soccer for the philistines) and supports Tottenham Hotspur. His favourite all time player, Glenn Hoddle, was known to the fans as God on Grass so the name presented itself... GOD ON GAS.

G.O.G. is heading to San Diego and should be there soon. It'll be good to hear how Andrew gets on.

Cheers

G

PS as a Liverpool fan I should have charged Andrew more for this! 

Andrew riding his Newmatic at the first Cottons Matmeet in SoCal. Photo by Dirk Brandts

Cool Runnin's

This is a G-Mat Ute named Cool Runnin’s built for Simon Caddick. Simon lives in West Cornwall and is an experienced surfer who has riden a wide range of craft from standing to knees to prone.

Simon was looking for an all round mat to deal with a range of conditions. He also wanted a more predictable feel so we went for a 200/70 Ute. The venting is restricted meaning that the air moves through the mat more slowly than a free-breather or super-free-breather.

Simon was after low key colours so went for black top and bottom with black grip, but also with a large logo in green, yellow and red.

In addition, Simon wanted a bungee fitting to allow a leash. He surfs heavy reefs with little room for error so was conserned about losing his mat to the reef. Therefore it makes sense to have the option there. Simon and Cool Runnin's have been getting to know each other of late.

Simon went for a mat bag too.

Let's hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Have fun Simon. Be good to hook up for some waves when life is a bit more normal.

Cheers

G

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

WHAT THE BUCK?!

Terrible pun I know but please enjoy…. Sr Buck riding his RB-JMC name Caligula at his local.

G

HI there Gigi!

You know that old adage “right place right time”? Well Mariah Ernst seems to be the sensei of that!

Mariah had a mat off me last year named Jamu Jamu when she was living in Indo. Jamu Jamu is the mat that I had to perform plastic surgery on to get back on the water:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2019/12/21/ding-monkey

Anyway, I rotate the time that I send out emails for orders and what do you know, Mariah has moved to Hawaii and managed to get in quickest again! This time around, Mariah wanted something to cover all conditions having already having a Nouveau Racer. Mariah decided to go for a RB-JMC.

We discussed the 70/70, neg rocker, super free-breather option but Mariah opted to play it safe and go for a 200/70 free-breather. Don’t get me wrong though… This is still a very fast mat!

Mariah has named her mat Gigi after the man himself (GG). Gigi is built with yellow 200d deck, 70d bottom skin, has clear grip and a sexy black and purple large rail wrap logo. As planned, she will really open up the bottom end for Mariah. I’m also pretty confident that the top end will be pretty high too!

It’s good to be building mats right now. My surfing has stopped due to our lock down in the UK so focusing on building rides for others is a pretty rewarding second.

Have fun Mariah!

Cheers

G

G-Mat 184 - Jathy

It’s always a pleasure to build a mat for someone I regularly surf with so I was quietly stoked to see this customer’s name pop up in my email to say “you have received a deposit from Mark Underwood”. “Mark Underwood?” I thought… “I know a Tom Underwood”… As nickname’s go, Tom is an interesting one. It’s because of this photo by Alex Williams of Tom (Mark) skating - He looked like Tom (Tom) Inouye it was said by local legend Steve Daniel.

Photo by Alex Williams

Tom is a really experienced surfer and something of an icon around these parts. He has travelled the World surfing in places such as Oz, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Indo, the Maldives and others as well as all over the British Isles. He worked for many years in the surf industry, building boards under the Natural Rhythm label as well as working with Nigel Semens at Ocean Magic Surfboards in Newquay. He started life surfing thrusters, then logs, then moved on to fish before SUP’s.

Photo by Alex Williams

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Photo by Tom German

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Photo by Liquid Destination

And finally… after all that… HALLELUJAH!!!!!

Tom riding his 5 Star General in South East Cornwall. Photo by Tim Ciasto.

I didn’t know Tom before he found mats but know alot of people who knew him and they all said the same thing… “I hear Tom Underwood has started riding mats. I’m guessing he’ll be amazing on them like he is on everything else”. I met up with Tom (who funnily enough lives within 10 miles of me) when he bought a 5 Star General from MatSurfers.com, after surfing a 70/70 Ute named Richard owned by our mutual friend Graham Bracegirdle, and we have become good friends.

And yes, I can confirm he has really quickly become a very good mat surfer!

Tom sharing a wave with me in South East Cornwall. Photo by Tim Ciasto.

So that’s Tom covered, let’s move on to his mat. Tom has ridden my RB-JMC and was keen to give this a go, having also ridden a 70/70 Rubber Bucky. Having already mastered 200/70 wheezers it was time to drop the restriction and up the pliability so a 70/70 RB-JMC was the go with super-free-breather venting.

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I currently have some 70 denier blue material in. It’s 70d tafetta the same as the white and black I have but has a pretty open weave giveing a really pliable feel when welded. Tom was keen to go with a really light mat to compliment the rest of his quiver so we went with the blue throughout. I suplimented that with a light weight grip job. Add all that to the venting and this mat is gagging to go fast!

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Tom has named this mat “Jathy” and Jathy is one of those mats you build and think “man… I’d like to keep this one.

Luckily I will be able to get a few waves on Jathy when the current craziness is over!

Cheers

G