High-Performance Custom Surfmats Hand Built in the UK
Hello there.
Moving forward the Raft G1 mats will come under the G-Mat label as the G-Mat RFT Series. This is to save on any confusion.
That makes the first run of Rafts pretty collectable then! If you have one, look after it! 😎
The next batch are being run through right now and will be in stores really soon!
PS
The Instagram account will keep going under the same tag.
Cheers
G
This is G-Mat 193, a RB-JMC built for Jamie McClellan by way of wages for his work on the MatSurfers.com website. This mat named “The Chief” is a super free breathing, neg rockered affair. Well, Jamie is an exceptional mat rider so that makes sense.
Jamie has gone for a hard-hitting image on the bottom of this mat as you can see below. A technically very difficult image way beyond my skills, which required Jamie to collaborate with the immense talent of Ian Jermyn from Organic Devolution.
You can see Ian’s workings and Jamie’s inspiration Ian’s Instagram post below:
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ian Jermyn (@organicdevolution) on
As someone who really cannot draw, I am always in awe of those who can and Ian is an exceptional talent even among his peers. His work carries Jamie’s message off perfectly I think. My job was the easy bit, thinking with Jamie about colour matching to fit the artwork. I really do like the effect of the brown grip and with the white logo, I think this three-way collab has landed.
The Chief is en route to North Carolina right now to get into some of that east coast goodness.
Cheers
G
G-Mat 192 (AKA “Crazy Horse”) is a new mat for San Francisan, Josh Edwards.
Josh told me that he was looking for a mat to get in to fast barrels. Chunky Central Californian waves where getting a good line and holding it are paramount. To this end, there was only really one candidate that came to mind after our discussion.
Crazy horse is a 200/70 Nouveau Racer built with 200denier white taffeta weave deck and light weight 70d I-beams and bottom skin. The grip is Sikaflex EBT with a strip pattern. As well as looking sexy, the aim of the strips is to reduce resistance (a bit) end to end and to maximise grip laterally. In short, easy to get on, harder to slide off!
The corners are gripped and I’ve run it back a little further than usual along the rail to account for Josh possibly being back a touch on the mat in hollow waves.
Back to Josh, I wasn’t aware of his work prior to collaborating with him over Crazy Horse but through this process I came across his artwork. Here what Josh has to say about it:
“My work has been all over the place for so long, mostly because I have always tried to be more than a one trick pony. It gets a little tricky to tie it all together, but the pieces always tell a story of normality through industrial symbols.
These usually come in the form of things we encounter on a daily basis; workers, vehicles, household objects, buildings. The process in which these get created, and the people who create them, tend to fall by the wayside while the name of a brand sits in the spotlight. ”
Amazing work.
Cheers
G
PS. I’ve added a gallery of some of Joh’s work bellow and please take a look at his Instagram feed @one.time.twice
I always love buildin mats for those who really appreciate the art and Tim Ciasto is one of those people. A German living in Sweden, Tim travels a lot for his waves and he’s riggen his mat on many-a-continent. His skill as a film maker is phenomenal as you can see from the video he put together for the last UK Mat Surfers Matmeet
This is his new mat, Fringesurfer, a G-Mat RB-JMC. I have known Tim for many yeas and he is an avid surfmat rider. He has spent the last few years traveling the globe in persuit of his art, documenting the off piste surf world for his fantastic web series, Fringe Surfer which you can see at:
What better name for this mat then?!
Fringesurfer is a 70/70 RB-JMC. Super-Free-Breather with neg rocker. A very fast mat! As you caqn see, Tim also whanted a splash of retro colour. This is a costly business but Tim is 50 this year so this mat was his birthday present from his wife so no holds barred!
I’m really looking forward to hearing the feedback from Tim on his experiengces with Fringesurfer and I’m particulalry looking forward to seeing her in the flesh again when we caqn finally get together again, somewhere.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!
Cheers
G
It’s always good to see developments in the custom mat world and for me this mat symbolizes one of those moments.
Ian Jermyn is the man behind Organic Devolution. A talented artist and mat surfer, Ian has devoted himself to the art of dying Surfmat skins, having contributed to some colourful creations over at Warpmats.
I dye plenty of mat skins but there is a significant difference on that front between me and Ian. I can use dye to create some pleasing, simple, designs. But Ian is a hugely talented artist who can create complex and awe inspiring pieces that you could happily hang on a wall in their own right.
So I was over the moon when Ian made the decision to broaden his business and went free-lance, meaning that anyone (including my customers) can get his artwork on their mats! To kick off it was obvious that we needed to build a mat for Ian. And given Ian’s talent as a mat surfer, it was a pretty short discussion around which mat to build him.
On to Ian’s mat then… G-Mat 190 had to be named. It has been a tradition since number 1 that my custom mats are named. I won’t even ship them until they have one! After some consideration, Ian has named this mat Dengue.
Dengue is a G-Mat RB-JMC 70/70 with negative rocker. A super-free-breather and with a light ¾ grip in clear Sikaflex EBT with front corners gripped. After some discussion, Ian opted for a Hestered valve.
The navy fabric has a very open weave so feels super light and pliable, and the acid dying process makes the material more supple so along with the light grip, very free venting and neg rocker, Dengue should go like the clappers!
Dengue is en route to Ian on the West Coast of Ireland to get in to some of those long, quiet points and reefs. Very much looking forward to the feedback on this one.
Back to Ian, as I said he is a real talent and produces all sorts of wonders, many of which are for sale, so take a look at his website:
https://organicdevolution.com/
Cheers
G
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”!”
Great story! I’m looking forward to hearing back from Mike on this.
Cheers
G
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
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