December 02, 2018

The Phileas Project Pt 8.3 Video

December 02, 2018/ Graeme Webster

The next installment of the Phileas Project is here!

Thanks to James Tanner, Mark Jeffrey and Robyn Thomson for your hospitality!

Back to Japan for a wee stint with Piskian!

Cheers

November 21, 2018

Phileas in Denmark (Oz)... And then a U-Turn!

November 21, 2018/ Graeme Webster

So, Phileas has had a long ol’ stint in Australia, finishing up with Robin Thomson over in Denmark. Robin sent the following words:

It’s been awhile since I wrote anything at all about surfmats and riding them because, to be

honest, it has been a long time since I was last on one. I have been revisiting the boogie

board and riding stand up experience mostly in the last couple of years.

But…as most of you would already know…….Phileas finally made it to where I live in

Denmark way, way down on the south coast of Western Australia a couple of weeks ago.

Phileas is certainly a quality piece of kit. Reminds me very much of the 200/70 Dale

Solomonson I used to own but maybe even a little more sturdy which is probably down to

the large areas of grip as well from the quality of material used.

Phileas is far bigger and heavier mat than my usual go to mats, a Krypt MT5 and 4GF

Standard. I am a bit of a less is more man. I remember giving up on the 4GF UDT, a monster of a mat, and giving it a way as a prize in a competition I ran a few years ago.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how I go wrestling with Phileas.

First session

Phileas and I finally managed to become acquainted this week when in desperation, the

opportunity to surf having been very limited of late, I got a session round the bay in a lumpy

little onshore.

So I trudged nearly kilometre around the bay sat down and blew Phileas up to a 90 degree

level of inflation for starters. I was surprised how quickly that occurred as Phileas is a big

mat.

I did actually feel pretty comfortable on Phileas as soon as I hit the water paddling

effortlessly out to the the sparsely populated line up. She certainly helps here. There is

possibly a little more grip on Phileas than I normally like as I was not able to adjust position

on it as easily as usual, but it was certainly manageable. The waves were not that flash I

have to say but they were, at least, sitting up enough for a mat and although I never got out

first or second gear I was impressed with the performance on reforms.

I like the valve on G-mats. Especially being able to loosen the bottom section to accurately

release air. I did find screwing on the top of the valve fiddly as you have to get it on squarely

which can be problematic whilst bobbing around out there. But once you get it screwed

down properly, it appears to be very secure. No likelihood of an unexpected 4GF deflation

episode then! So I came away from that first session having quite enjoyed being on a mat again after so long and looking forward to how Phileas performs on a better wave.

Second session

Got another session on Philleas round the bay in the same spot but a cleaner side shore

and more crowded. Really only got on to one reasonable wave and had to get out of that as

I dropped in on an acquaintance visiting from a neighbouring town. That’s alright then eh!

Got a couple of others but was getting caught up behind the face of the wave as they were

breaking pretty quick and Phileas is a bit more of a handful that I am used to.

So still didn’t really find out what Phileas can do as the waves weren’t that flash for a mat

and I would have to spend a lot more time back on a mat to regain the skills I use to have.

But, very strangely, considering how much fun I use to have riding one for quite a number

of years, I don’t really have any great desire to do so but will always maintain a surf mat or

two in my quiver just in case I do feel like a session on one.

Thanks to G for sending one of his beautifully made mats over here but now Phileas moves

on to Ian Wraith in Japan. Unfortunately Phileas arrived in a particularly bad off season for

surfing here, Autumn and Winter being a better time, so I hope Ian gets a more of an

opportunity to find some good waves than what I did.”

Thanks to Robin for taking care of our girl. The final Oz video will be along Dreckly (that’s Cornish for whenever I get on it… We have good waves right now!).

She heads back to Japan to catch the tail end of the Cyclones with Ian Wraith.

Onward!

October 21, 2018

Phileas Lands in Denmark

October 21, 2018/ Graeme Webster

No... Not that one. Western Oz. Let the adventures with Robin "Ramsnake" Thomson commence.

Cheers

July 28, 2018

What?! Another Detour!!!

July 28, 2018/ Graeme Webster

So, Phileas has been a bit quiet with Mar Jeffrey struggling to find waves that were either worthy of sharing or not mountainous! He and a few friends finally managed to score... In Indo!

"The continuing journey of Phileas around the globe found it heading to an out of the way Island in Indonesia with a big collection of surfers and a couple of support crew.

The group, called Inner Groms, is predominantly from the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne Australia and is one of the larger group of Kneelos in Australia at around twenty five. This was the fifth surf trip the group has undertaken in consecutive years. On this trip we did have an American affiliate from San Diego.

The visit coincided with some of the biggest swells to hit the archipelago in years. With 20+ foot faces common the mats stayed in the board bags for a number of days until it subsided a bit.

When the swell did finally drop the Groms had an opportunity for an inflatable day!!

Five of us including Merv, Ben, Chugga, Brad and myself hit the surf with a wide variety of air bags. Possibly the highlight was watching Chugga paddle his donut backwards over the falls.

I took out Phileas and had a great session with heaps of great rides including stalling into a barrel and making it out clean. A few had there first exposure to mat riding.

But the common denominator was everyone had a ball!!"