So.... You like long names do ya?!

Here we have G-Mat 195 (AKA “The MK1 May-y D Semi-Inflation Revelation”). It might not be concise but sums up this girl perfectly.

The MK1 May-y D Semi-Inflation Revelation is a G-Mat Ubercat built for Matt Dight, a new matter who lives in Newquay in Cornwall. Matt describes hiself as:

“Fom Somerset exmoor coast - best described cringeingly as an all round water man. Lived and surfed on the south Devon and Cornwall coasts and now living in Newquay. After new wave riding experiences and he been frothing to get a mat for ages”.

Well froth no more my rabid friend because your dream has come true! (At some expense). The MK1 May-y D Semi-Inflation Revelation is a 200/70 Ubercat,. She is a wheezer to give a more controlled flow of air internally as mat was looking for a mat to take on wedges. There is a particular one on his doorstep that will love this mat.

Matt has gon for an acid dyed deck with something of a bleached jeans effect. He’s also gone for a bungee leash fitting for those certain rare days when it might be helpful.

The MK1 May-y D Semi-Inflation Revelation has free rocker so best of both worlds. A versatile but narrower that most mat that should nuzzle into those bowling pockets just lovely.

I’m keen to hear how Matt finds The MK1 May-y D Semi-Inflation Revelation. I surf around his way on ocvcaision so will doubtless get a go on her if I play my cards right!

Have fun Matt!

Cheers

G

G-Mat RFT in Stores Now (and soon)

Hello there.

Just a quick email to let you all know that there are RFT Series mats on the way to stockists, if not with them already.

Visite the Stock Mats to find stockists.

We have another run on the way through too once these are gone.

Cheers

G

Bringing it in...

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

The Chief

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 Instagram

Acid dye on 70 denier TPU banked nylon - Custom artwork completed for a client in the US. The artwork was supplied and then scaled up for the fabric - 80cm x 130cm. From the client: "The bandana is my favorite (of many, I’ve got heaps ) and it’s made by Kapital Japan. The image itself on the bottom of the mat is a not so subtle reminder that in the US we stand on stolen ground and this country was built on a foundation of native genocide and slavery."

A post shared by Ian Jermyn (@organicdevolution) on Aug 24, 2020 at 3:42pm PDT

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

Crazy Horse!

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. ”

— Josh Edwards

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

One for the Birthday Boy!

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:

https://www.fringesurfer.tv/

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

Jungle Fever!

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