Mat LeBlanc

The latest build and this is a G-Mat RB-JMC built for Steve Halpin.

Stevo is a busy fella. He runs Karma Surf Shop in Newquay, Cornwall, UK. He is also the driving force behind the amazing Real Surfing Magazine along with his wife, Helen. More recently, Steve had been bitten by the bug of ditching the fibreglass and getting a little more horizontal. That has included riding mats.

Anyone who follows the @fringesurfing Instagram page will know that Stevo has got pretty obsessed with exploring new ways to ride waves, taking the time to learn the nuanced elements of mat riding. What's more, Steve is keen to share his exploits. He's been very supportive of my own endeavours too so I was stoked to be able to build him a custom mat.

So on to the mat then and it was clearly time for Steve to step things up. With this in mind we went for a 70/70 RB-JMC. This mat is built entirely from white material and with Helen's maiden name being LeBlanc, it was obvious what this mat was going to be named!

"Mat LeBlanc" is a free-breather with free rocker. You'll notice the interesting grip pattern. Stevo was keen for an easy slide up onto the mat so the inside section of the outer pontoons and the central pontonn are clear quite a way up. However there is grip under the chest and the strips out towards the tail keep Stevo in place.

Early days but initial rumblings from Steve are positive. I have high hopes for where he goes with Mat LeBlanc.

Have fun meht!

Cheers

G

Wedding Bells!

So here we have a mat named "Shirley" built for Rob Bailey @bailey_9_

Rob had been asking about a mat for a while and managed to get in on my mailer just in the nick of time. For what? For his wedding! I was stoked to hear from Rob that he was getting hitched and that this mat was a wedding present to himself.

Perfect!

We were finalising finishing touches late in the day before but I'm sure Rob's mind was on the task at hand. 😂

Shirley is named after Rob's gran and, like her, is pretty slick. As a first mat, Rob and I agreed that a 200/70 Ute was the sensible option. She is set up as a wheezer to help keep her shape and allow for experiments with inflation.

Rob is hoping to get Shirley in the water soon. Looking forward to hearing how they go.

Congratulations again Rob!

Cheers

G

R and D - 70/40 Construction

For some time I've been interested in finding lighter fabrics than 70 denier material. Back in the day, Dale Solomonson (Neumatic) built a few mats out of 30d Taffeta. There are a few mats still kicking around made from this mythical fabric, but not many. Rare as hen's teeth, this weight of fabric is hard to find in anything other than Ripstop. And ripstop sucks for mats.

Fast forward and I've got to know talented newby mat builder Zac Garfield over at Valley Pool Toys pretty well. Zac managed to source some 40d Taffeta and was good enough to share where from.

Fast forward a little more and I've built the first of a few mats to see how this fabric is. Like Zac, I found that this material is really not easy to work with. No surprise there though.

As I've said in previous posts, it is tempting to get excited about something new and immediately put it out into the market but you need to know how it works in terms of performance, quality and durability before putting it out there. I am excited about this though.

Having ridden this 70/40 (70 denier deck and 40d I-beams and bottom) prototype named "Little Boy Blue" 3 times in varying conditions, it seems to be holding up well and it is super-duper light! Initially I wondered if this mat was more sensitive but no faster but I have tested in comparison with Night Rider (my 70/70 RB-JMC) built to the same dims. I have swapped with other surfers between the two mats and have to say it is quicker too. That means that Little Boy Blue is quicker than the mat that is quicker than any mat I'd ridden before it.

Before people get excited though, there are a few things to keep in mind. Testing isn't done yet. This mat needs at least 10 surfs to test durability as a bare minimum. I also need to get this under the bellies of better mat surfers than me. Also, if this works out then this configuration would only suit experienced mat surfers who comfortably ride 70/70 as a go to mat. It would be easy for someone to buy the 'idea' of this only to find that its not at all suitable for them. It's not about competition or anything just important to make sure people have the right mat.

Cheers

G

Guess What... Black on Black!

The RB-JMC is the mat a lot of people are after and this is the latest, built for Santa Barbarian, Colin McCrindle.

Colin was one of my early customers and has always been a good source of feedback being both a skilled mat surfer and a fella with access to some very fine and very quiet waves as he goes on the hunt on his boat.

This mat, named Vaccine, is a RB-JMC, as mentioned. Colin has opted for a 200/70 configuration, preferring the feel of a more stable deck. As always with this model, it is a highly vented super-free-breather to maximise air movement at low inflation. What this means is that the highly malleable fabric of the hull can morph to the wave and the deck to the rider almost instantly. More twitchy for the newer mat surfer but more intuitive and responsive for for more experienced riders.

Vaccine also has a negative elastic rocker to enhance down the line speed. There has been some confusion around this issue at times so just to clarify, the key word here is elastic. Elastic rockers refer to the favoured stretch of the fabric in the deck and bottom skins. At full inflation the mat will stretch into a rocker but at lower inflation will be flat. The important issue is that a neg rocker mat has a slightly elastic deck and restricted bottom skin so will favour forming a negative rocker when air is forced into the inside rail giving more lift.

Back to Vaccine, you can see that Colin has gone for a black on black colour scheme. These are becoming a thing!

I'm looking forward to seeing how Colin and Vaccine go.

Have fun mate!

Cheers

G

Low Key for Dado

There seems to be something about black on black. It just looks so clean, don't you think? This is "Billie". A custom Rubber Bucky built for an Italian with a penchant for going fast on mats. Just the ticket then.

Billie is a 200/70 mat built for Eduardo "Dado" Girardini. She has free rocker and as you can see, Dado has gone for a bungee fitting as well to allow for a leash.

The Rubber Bucky is my larger model (which is then specifically scaled and tailored to the rider). This means that the mat has a larger planing area so offers more glide in smaller surf. Dado is aiming to open up spots around him offering waves around waist to chest high so this is the perfect mat. The wheezer option makes sense then because Dado will cover less of the deck so a slower air transfer offers a more stable mat allowing for lower inflation, despite the reduced deck coverage.

So a bit about Dado. He says:

"I grew up in northern Italy and moved to California right after high school. I became a regular at Rincon and met some of the greatest surfers in the world, including Andrew Buck. My friends and I rode anything from food trays to 12’ gliders but nothing blew my mind harder than seeing Buck going a thousand miles an hour on those little cove dredgers.

Now I live in Portugal and those waves just don’t exist around here. I started surfing bigger waves to get away from crowds but somehow riding the mat is still the most thrilling thing there is."

Hopefully Billie will open up the options for Dado to surf in his new locale.

Have fun Dado!

Cheers

G

One for Kenny

This is a mat I've had on the list for a while and am glad to finally get to. This mat is built for a notable member of Santa Barbaran surfmat heritage. Kenny Hughes is one of the originals. A hugely experienced mat surfer who was there for the early days of Californian mat surfing, particularly the evolution from heavy materials to modern lightweight TPU coated nylon and low inflation surfing.

A former Rincon regular, Kenny spends his days now off the beaten track surfing lesser frequented points along the Central Californian Coast.

After discussing Kenny's needs it is perhaps not surprising that we settled on a RB-JMC who Kenny has named "Penelope". She is a 200/70 mat with an elastic neg rocker set up. I have maximised the internal venting to allow the air to move inside the mat with as little restriction as is sensible to make for a very responsive ride at low inflation.

Penelope is on the way as I write (along with a Matsquatch tee by Bryn Dampney) so I'm excited to see how Kenny and Penelope get on together.

Fun mat... Enjoy Kenny!

Cheers

G

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Here we have a G-Mat Ute built for Olaus McLeod. For those who don’t know him, Olaus is a board builder from Cornwall UK specialising in building paulownia paipos and alaias. More on that in a mo.

First, let’s talk about this mat. Olaus comes from an aviation background and has named his mat X-1 after the first aircraft to break the sound barrier. Olaus is planning to have a crack at doing the same I think!!!

X-1 is a G-Mat Ute. As you can see, Olaus has gone for a sexy low-key black on black colour scheme. Mats always look good like that don’t you think? X-1 is a 200/70 wheezer. She has free rocker too and is a perfect mat to take out in any conditions, confident that she is going to perform.

Olaus is not a hugely experienced mat rider, but has ridden them enough to get into the groove quickly and is used to surfing on his belly so X-1 should be just the ticket.

As mentioned earlier, Olaus builds wooden boards under the Kiri label and they are lovely! His boards are very mice indeed hand shaped from Paulownia and sealed with linseed oil. Olaus and I did the old swap-a-roo. Check out the board he shaped in return for X-1. This stunner is coming my way and is going to be a gift for my son who’s prone style will be perfectly suited to this beauty.

Im going to be getting more than the odd go on this beuty myself too!!!

If you fancy getting some wood in your quiver then take a look at Olaus’s work on his Instagram page:

@kiri.surf

Have fun with X-1 Olaus. Hopefully I’ll get to join you in breaking the sound barrier in the not-to-distant future. If we ever get any waves again over her in the UK!

Cheers

G

PS. It was only after I had packed up the mat that I realised I really do need to hoover up the cat hairs!