Word from Mattitude

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James "Mattitude" Sowell has taken over the reins and has got into some waves with Phileas. As you will remember, he got in on the un-photographed session at Wiggums with Scott Reeder and Ken McKnight.

James didn't really feel the love on his first go out. Obviously he rode well, being one of the world's very best mat riders, but he described Phileas as feeling a bit full.  Second session sounds like they developed an understanding:

phileas and i had a good lets get acquainted session today .

took her out to north side hb  pier down at taco bell reef.
surf was a good combo swell with alot of windswell from the  north. breaking a good  2+ feet overhead in big  mushy tapered peaks that were connecting to the shorebreak.

it was  kind of big no channels  and my first thought were phileas i hope you like ducking !
i adjusted the air much lower then when i rode it at wiggums. ended up well  under 180 more like 200-210.  i could grab a big corner of the  mat while it was 180 and it still was not tight.my first wave was a big outside right  i pivoted a turn off the top and highlined it. the  mat took off like greased lightning.
as i came across the face i hit a  pretty big  chop while up on the rail. I braced myself for a big chop hop but to my surprise phileas sucked it up and absorbed the  chop  enough so i did not get thrown.
I had it at 180 at wiggums and  that was  way to much air all the negative feelings i had at wiggums disappeared at the lower inflation .
was able to make some connections that surprised me doing some dolphin kicks as i  was connecting to the shorebreak.

phileas was able to climb some  foam on a wave that was  sectioning on me  down the line  turned sharper then i have felt before on a mat .

it was not  as rail to rail feeling as  my last impression of it  with more  air it  just turned  fast and sharp. and best of all i  made a shorebreak tube with  so much authority. was not even expecting to make it  but had such a strong speed thrust as i entered  it  came busting out after about a 2 second tube totaly blew me away.
I am so stoked to have had a chance to ride her I Really connected to the magic today with the g-mat.

there might be a ride or  two on the 17th street cam today but i have not checked
i drifted through the cam  area between 9 and 10-45 am

stickneys gunna go crazy when he rides this  thing.

should be a beast on the  river waves

No pics then, and I have no idea how to check said cam!!! Jamo has had another sneaky go out since which looks like a great session:

James says:

phileas took a  boat ride today.   got a few nuggets   much more to come 

Judging by Matt Pierce's Facebook activity it looks like a matmeet could be on the cards.

Great stuff!

G

Presenting the San Diego video.

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Phileas the travelling Surfmat hits the US West Coast. First stop, San Diego and lodging with Scott Reeder, the perfect host. Phileas had a huge adventure which you can read about here: http://customsurfmats.com/phileas/?tag=San+Diego Surf-wise, she hooked up with a load of local riders including Scott, his wife Pam and son Maz, mat meisters Kendog and Mark Miller and local legends Peter St Pierre and Cher Pendarvis.

Enjoy!

G

Farewell from San Diego

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Well, it's been a lengthy stay in SD but what a stay it's been. Scott Reeder has sent over his last report as Phileas sets off to her next stop:

Phileas has been shipped off to Mattitude, and I already miss her. 

I hauled our girl pretty much everywhere I went, including regular rounds through the medical machine. I’m dealing with a rare cancer, thymic carcinoid, triggered by a rare gene mutation, MEN1, and it’s a full-time battle. But what timing: Phileas arrived at the beginning of a three-week break from energy-sapping, nausea-inducing meds. And we sure did make the time count.

Her first couple weeks here, I had a blast documenting friends riding Phileas, each with his or her own flair. Then, more than halfway through her stay, I realized I hadn’t actually ridden her much aside from a few waves here and there. So we spent some quality time in the water.

I roamed the coast for more than a week straight, surfing Phileas every day in various conditions at various spots. Mostly reef breaks. San Diego County has loads of reefs, with some better suited to mats than boards, in my opinion. Of course she loved the good days, but I was really impressed with how well she glided through the smaller stuff and the slop. What a great all-around mat!

Scott on one!

Though Mark [Miller] was able to make it for a couple of these surfs, I was usually alone. I tried to self-film, but the results are ridiculous. I’d aim the camera at the lineup as best I could, hit record, then rush out there. But our little Canon usually shuts off after 10 or 15 minutes. Much of that time is often used up doing the rock dance just to get to the lineup. There are entire clips where I never even make it into the viewfinder. Or if I do, it’s either as a speck off in the distance or as a quick streak in and out of the picture. Sometimes the camera quits mid-wave. My favorite is when the damn thing shits out eight seconds into my best session.

Nevertheless, it was always fun to plug in the disk at the end of the day and see what I got, if anything. And there were a couple nice surprises.

"...a quick streak in and out of the picture."

"...there were a couple nice surprises."

For me, the highlight of Phileas’ stay was the first of what ended up being four “Farewell” sessions, when I got my wife, Worm, and son, Maz, back in the water for the first time in months. It was 98 percent closeouts at SD’s most famous beach break, but we had so much fun screwing around, running into each other.

Sacred times, mate. Savoring it all. With some heavy treatments fast approaching, I’m so grateful to have got all this in the memory bank. Thanks again for including us, G. Can’t wait to see what she else Phileas gets up to along the West Coast …

Thanks again for being the perfect host Scott. It's been a joy to watch this adventure unfold. I'm stoked to see how Phileas' tats are coming along. Looking amazing!

Reeders go Geordie!

Scott has taken stacks of photo's. I've added a few below so enjoy them. The SD video is great so will be out there soon as a stand alone movie.

Cheers

G

Kendog

Mark Miller

Blacks

Blacks

Maz at Blacks

Point Loma Lighthouse

The perfect house guest helps with dinner.

Getting Back to Basics - Pt 2

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Following on from her epic boat trip, Scott Reeder took Phileas to meet a couple of other friend, Alex and Cher.  Scott picks up the story:

Later, I ran into our good mate Alex, the mellowest New York native I’ve ever known. Alex is a dedicated mat rider and a top bloke. One evening I lost my mat and ran out of breath trying to swim out of a deep channel. Alex rushed over and slipped me his mat before swimming in. He’ll give up his surf time to chat with curious elderly folks on the beach. Once I saw him use his very last piece of thread to sew the the wing back on an ailing gnat …

Another great thing about Alex is his hair. It’s perfect. When he gets out of the water, the way it dries looks more the work of a sculptor than of the wind and sun.

Alex's amazing hair

Alex making a meal out of a morsel

I’d tried to get Alex on Phileas the week before, but conditions completely fell apart. This day wasn’t much different. Yet Alex found some good ones. Cheers, friend. 

The next day I was super jazzed to meet up with Cher Pendarvis, busy artist, writer, matriarch of the local surf community and more. Hip pain had kept her mostly out of the water for two months, so this was a special day. She returned to the ocean aboard Phileas. And she did great. She grabbed an insider, then kicked way out the back. Despite some lingering pain, she took off as deep as possible on some good sets and locked into the sweet spot all the way through. Cher and her shaping guru husband, Steve’s [Pendoflex Surfboards] wave knowledge freaks my beans. 

The next day she was back at it on a 6’4”, with plans to bodysurf, mat or ride a board the following morning. Yeah, Cher! Inspiring stuff. 

Thanks to Scott, Alex and Cher for more fun. Phileas isn't quite done in SD but she's going to be homesick for the place when she finally moves on.  I just wish I'd packed myself in the box!

G

Getting Back to Basics - Pt 1

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Loads going on for Phileas and Scott Reeder. In fact, so much that I'm having to spread her most recent adventures over two posts! Here's part 1 from Scott.

It’s been quite a week for Phileas. Thankfully, the lure of the bright lights and Hollywood lifestyle didn’t really take with our girl. Since we got her back outdoors and on to our nature trip — hiking, gardening, tree climbing — there’s been no more sneaking out at night or benders. Let’s hope it was just a phase.

Phileas loves San Diego as much as we do. 

The neighborhood waterfall rages after torrential rains soaked San Diego. Mind the rocks, Phileas!

A storm kept us out of the water for the better part of a week. When it was finally time to surf again, Phileas joined Mattitude, Kendog and me for a boat trip to Three Bush, aka Wiggums. I was skeptical we’d find a wave there. The spot is incredibly swell- and tide-sensitive. Even on solid swells from the “perfect angle,” I’ve watched everybody in the lineup sit for an hour without a ripple coming through. It’s often twice as crowded as the land-accessed spots. But Mattitude and Ken each have more than 25 years’ experience at Three Bush, and they really know their stuff. Mattitude meticulously tracked the swell and came up with a well-defined plan.

Of course, the plan quickly fell apart on our end. Mark became ill the night before, and our family managed to get our Honda locked in the regional nature park for the night, leaving adults, kids, dogs and Phileas stranded without a ride home, let alone a way to meet Ken and Mattitude the next day. Just as I was getting ready to make that sheepish call to Ken, a merciful park ranger materialized out of nowhere and let us out.

We launched right on schedule, but shortly after clearing the harbor, the motor sputtered out. A fuel intake glitch. The same thing happened five or six more times until we came up with a system of constantly priming the fuel bulb and laying off the throttle a bit — which I think was difficult for Mattitude, who sniffed surf. He would have stand-up paddled the boat out there if necessary.

When we finally got out to Three Bush, it looked flat. When a little wave came through, the guys got excited: “We are gonna score!” I wondered what they saw that I didn’t.

Mattitude anchored us in really tight. With a little training, I probably could’ve spit a watermelon seed from the boat into the lineup. “We’re fine,” Mattitude assured. Just after Mattitude and Ken jumped in the water, sets started pouring in.

On the far, far inside of the break, there are three distinct bushes along the bluff. Making it to the first bush marks a good, long ride; a second-busher is one for the memory bank; and a third-bush ride inspires poetry, song and cackling.

Mattitude's RIB

After first-bushing a nice little runner, I watched a bigger set swing wide. Ken and Phileas took off deep on the best wave and did a huge bounce down the face before finding the sweetest line. Then Ken pulled off the greatest mat maneuver I’ve ever seen: a sweeping cutback around the outside of Mattitude’s boat! Then he trimmed back and second-bushed the wave. I couldn’t stop laughing. Now THIS is true mat surfing, I thought. Then Mattitude kicked by, grumbling, “All right, I guess I’ll move the boat …”

Everyday Three Bush. 

I’m pretty sure Mattitude first-bushed one on a practically airless Phileas. I went ashore to thaw out for a bit and watched him get an early start on what looked to be a meager two-footer. As he built speed, the wave doubled in size. He outran section after section, going way faster than it’s possible to go on a mat. My screams from shore prompted a couple surfers in the water to ask if I was OK.

Ken and Mattitude have the place wired. We shared a lot of waves, and riding behind them was a great education. Where a soft spot seemed to call for a cutback, they would race farther out onto the shoulder. Then, out of nowhere, the wave would jack back up and I’d watch them speed off down the line as I got buried and pushed into the rocks.

Many of the surfers in the water (and later in the parking lot) commented on how well the mats went out there. We received a lot of hoots, “Yeahs!” and laughs. When Mattitude snuck up behind Ken, ending up dry-docked on his back before shoving Ken down the line, the crowd seemed especially pleased. We nearly talked a couple guys into trying some of the many mats on the boat.

The swell of the century with only about 100 surfers out. 1 to commemorate each year?

At ultra-fickle Three Bush, It felt like the whole swell was condensed into maybe 15 good sets — and Mattitude had us out there for probably 12 of them. By the time we left, the crowd had swelled and the waves had stopped.

The motor quit only a few times on the way back, so we made pretty good time. As we said farewell in the parking lot, Mattitude handed me a coconut. As I sipped the milk, with my gear yard-saled all over the lot, Mattitude pulled away. The trailered 15-foot inflatable made his pickup look tiny. I waved, and from the passenger seat Ken jeered, “Nice coconut!”  

Kendog and Mattitude. With friends like these, who needs forecast sites?

Now THAT is a day out!

G