Singapore and Beyond...

So then, Phileas has landed with Tom Way over in SE Asia. Tom lives in Indo but is on a trip and has just hooked up with our freshened up girl.

Here’s what he has to say:

"Hello all. Except for a couple of misadventures with a Redback mat around 15 years ago (it melted in the indo sun after my first couple days and all seams came unstuck) I'm not an experienced mat rider. But I'm honoured to be the custodian of Phileas for the next few months and hopefully will get her into some worthy lineups. For the next couple of weeks however, we are landlocked in Singapore so I've taken the opportunity to put in some Kms in the pool and get some paddle fitness (a good enough reason to have a mat in the quiver, I reckon: pool friendly

Some rookie observations on paddling: wide nose = rash inside arms (must wear rash vest). Arm paddle speed is surprisingly fast. I imagined long paddles might be hard, but not so. Wind: how does this affect paddling? A lot I suspect. Decreasing air = less buoyancy, in tail primarily, and especially in the rear corners. Eventually it became quite unstable but wondering if this aids turning? Grip is super sticky, but with decreased air I still found myself slipping backward every few hundred yards as tail sank. Flippers: my legs are buggered so I can only wear short swim fins. I'm wondering how much this will affect the ride and paddle.

Need to get on the forums now and get reading! Thanks G for the trust on this. Next update from the beach."

Here are a few tips fella: https://www.matsurfers.com/how-to-ride-a-surfmat

Looking forward to hearing about Phileas’ journey into Tom’s world and Tom’s journey into mat surfing.

Welcome off-board Tom!

Cheers

G