Dusty

So, what do you do when you wake up on a Sunday and the winds are a bit shifty, the rivers up and wind-blown and you have already knocked out a bunch of miles on the chase over the last few days?

That's right... Make something... In this instance it was welding up the new addition to my quiver: A Nouveau Racer named "Dusty".

As I've mentioned, I've had a real hankering to get back to my roots of monochrome surfing with black wetsuit and white craft. I sold my old quiver and have been embarking on replacements when I have the time. The first was the one that kicked this off, A BodyBag mini mat. When I committed to the monochrome project, my next was a white 5 Star General to give me a mat for all bases.

We've had some really solid swells so the next was something for that, hence dusty. I cut the bottom skin last week to get the Dusty Bin artwork done (google "Dusty Bin 321" if you're wondering about the reference). On Sunday, I cut the other panels and did the whole build.

I'm really stoked to have a Nouveau Racer back in my life. The confidence this mat will give me in juicy, heavy and/or hollow waves is a really important bit of the quiver.

Just to cover the techno-waffle. Dusty is a 200/70 free elastic rockered wheezer. You'll notice I have added a bungee (for those big days in spots where a swim isn't really an option and I need a kook-cord). I've also added a Cornish St Piran's Flag. I was so pleased with this that I've added flags to the 5SG and the BodyBag too and will go with it for the rest of this quiver when I get to it.

Anyway, back to the slog. A fun mat for Jason MacMurray to post next but for now, enjoy Dusty.

Cheers

G

Blue Lotus

Mat 2 of 2 for Matty Snelling.

When Matty got in on the current run, he hit go on two mats. The first was a 200/70 5 Star General (basically a RFT) to cover all bases. This second mat is a custom RB-JMC named "Blue Lotus".

Blue Lotus is a 70/70 super-free-breather with negative elastic rocker. Very fast mat. Matt is a very talented surfer and has been riding a mat for a while and has recently been riding them exclusively. He has pretty much all conditions covered with this quiver.

I asked Matty about the name and he said:

“It was a name my very good friend gave me a while ago and she is a wonderful woman. Got a lot of time for her.”

— Matty Snelling

I'm hoping to hand deliver over the weekend and share some waves (we did hook up and shared a few fun ones!)

Matty has a trip to surf Peruvian points later in the year and Blue Lotus is going to love them!

Have fun Matty!

Cheers

G

If Can, Can

Here's a mat heading to the US. The customer values their privacy so I won't say anything about them, but they came asking for a mat to surf a very specific wave with a fat, roll-in take off before dropping over a ledge into a hollow section. So with that in mind we considered the options and settled on a Ute. The Ute is the ultimate all-rounder, and as this wave goes from one extreme to the other, that sounds a perfect fit.

G-Mat Apparel Tee

We went for a 200d deck and wheezy venting to allow for much lower air for the first section, but more structure when dropping into the inside. As you can see, the colour scheme fits the customer's low key approach perfectly with a dark grey deck, lighter grey grip and lighter again grey logo.

The customer is pretty tall and the scaling, in particular the length, took a bit of work but I'm pretty confident that we have hit the spot.

The mat is named "If Can, Can". I haven't asked why. I'm enjoying the intrigue.

So If Can, Can is off on her travels and I'm excited to get feedback. It's been an interesting journey nailing this one.

Cheers

G

G-Mats at The Pass

Seeing in the New Year with Ari Browne, Johanna Brebner, Derek Hynd and Peter Abbott - G-Mat Surfmat Session at The Pass.

Camera: Milo Inglis

Water footage: Tania Buijten

Mats:

Johanna - G-Mat RB-JMC

Derek - G-Mat RB-JMC

Pete - G-Mat RFT

Ari - G-Mat RFT2 (that's right... Stay tuned...)

Marita

So here's a mat that was supposed to be a quick build for Johanna Brebner, before the first order form came back for the new run. Unfortunately, things didn't quite pan out as hoped because I'm really ill with flu (yes I've done a Covid test) and jobs like doing the simple grip job were enough to wipe me out for the day. Don't even start me on cutting out the flange!

Anyway, she's all done and ready to head to Oz. For those unaware, @brebsy is a fantastic mat surfer and is the Australian stockist for the G-Mat RFT Stock Series @rftsurfmats Jo is due to head on a trip that she needed a new mat for hence the squeeze in.

So, the mat is a 70/70 RB-JMC super-free-breather with negative elastic rocker named “Marita”. Very similar to her last mat, Florence, although will feel different just by virtue of being different materials (it's amazing the nuance we notice as mat surfers that the industry swears is perceptual).

The main motivation is that Brebsy wears brown zinc and it gets on the mat. Dark colours hide stains innit! Anyway, this build has ultimately been a slog given my condition but hopefully a worthy one for the trip.

Have fun Jo and thanks for all you do.

Cheers

G

Ponyo

So then, the second mat for a Bennink in this run. You'll recall from the last mat I posted that I built a pair for Yoko and Ben of slideaholics.com and this is Yoko's. Yoko has named her mat Ponyo after the 2009 anime classic:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ponyo

That's a pretty solid Tomatometer score so maybe worth a watch!

So back to the mat. In essence, Ponyo and Ben's mat, The Tardis, are of the same ilk as they are both 200/70 RB-JMC's. Both are free-breathers and both have free elastic rocker. The key difference is the scaling. Yoko is a lot smaller than Ben and this mat, like all customs, is carefully tailored to fit. I wish I had taken a photo of these two together but you can see the size difference in the mats I built them back in 2019:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/2019/2/18/his-and-hers

Yoko has gone for a dark grey deck and navy bottom. This grey material is interesting. It looks great and almost nobody asks for it but I'm really pleased with how Ponyo has come out. The pink grip and branding sit well with the grey.

Yoko and Ben love to share waves and mix crossing-over with running over so I'm really hopeful to see a bit of footage. There are a lot of mat snaps coming out of that part of the World these days so fingers crossed.

Have fun Yoko!

Cheers

G

The Tardis

Here's a the first of two mats heading down under for Ben and Yoko Bennink. For those who unaware, Ben and Yoko run the slideaholics.com site and live around Lennox. I built a pair of mats for them many years ago and since then they have been looking to extend the quiver so I was stoked to see them get in on the current run.

This mat has been built for Ben and is a 200/70 RB-JMC Free-Breather with free elastic rocker. Ben is a really big fella, nicknamed 'Bear'. He referred to himself as a hunk when I asked for his body type [NB this may be a slight distortion of what he actually said].

I still had the scaling down from the last mat which Ben said was a good fit so we went with that.

Ben's last ride was a Rubber Bucky and we both felt that the slight down-scaling and different corner templates between this and the RB-JMC would be the right step.

Ben has gone for a deck valve as he and Yoko enjoy running each other over. You will also notice the sparce front corner grip which is designed to offer something to grab but leaving clear nylon for sleeveless arm paddling.

On to the name, Ben has named his mat "The Tardis" because "it's blue and can take me where I want to go, fast!"

Lovely stuff!

The Tardis and Yoko's mat are both heading off with the courier so we'll see how long that takes with the Christmas hecticness. I'll do a post about Yoko's mat dreckly, but for now, have fun Ben!

Cheers

G