Pitstop

Well look who it is!

Phileas has taken a quick detour for a pitstop back at the G-Mat workshop. She's been on the road for three years this month and, by the looks of her, has been through the mill! 

Firstly, the valve has been replaced. I have managed to sort out welding valves in to mats these days but Phileas was built when I was using self-adhesive numbers sealed with glue. due to a combo of hot weather and gorilla-grips, the valve was leaking so I've completely started a fresh. Sealed with Clear Fix so more flexible.

Secondly, the grip was in a right state! It has worn down as grip does over time and people had used wax on the deck. (tut tut)... Then it looks like someone else had tried to top up the grip. Good effort but the sealant had mixed with the wax to make a gooey mess! Yuk! 

To solve it, I've got off what I can and then gone HEAVY with Sikaflex EBT over the top. I'm hoping that should see her through pt 2 of her journey.

So, she's gonna be heading back of to the Antipodes soon. I'm just waiting to see if there is a wee wave for me to have a quick session on her before hand but it looks unlikely. Either way she will set sail next weekend for Oz.

It's been a while since we've had a video. I'm going to bunch all the Japanese and Australian stuff together (depending how much comes from SCUMM!)

Cheers

G

First Tazzie Outing

Word from Ian Jermyn about his first outing on Phileas in Antipodean waters. Many thanks to Ian's wife, Muireann De Buiteleir for the photo's. Follow her on Instagram @muirmaid_

Here's what Ian had to say:

"This is not a surf spot. I highly doubt folks make a bee-line for this place when conditions are good. Yeah, the northern coastline of Tasmania does have its spots this is definitely not one of them. I do however, have a fetish for stopping and attempting to ride waves that would, arguably should, be ignored. 

Maybe it's in the Australian spirit of giving someone or something "a fair go". I figured no-one else was going to give this "break" a fair go and put it on the map as ridable so I decided it was the perfect place to introduce Phileas to Australian waters."

"It was only after an hour-long session (yep, I was having that much fun) that I discovered the name of this place - Cooee. In Australia the "coo-ee"  is a loud, shrill call used to communicate over long distances. And, to me at least, it seems that's what Phileas is about. This rare craft is a vehicle for the creation and transportation of stories. It's a coo-ee that's echoing around the world."

"I feel privileged to be part of this. However, I would be doing Phileas a terrible injustice if this was the only taste of Tassie waves it had. If folks don't mind I'll hang on to it for wee bit longer so we can find a decent meal."

More to come then. A real place of intrigue, Van Diemen's Land and Ian is exploring... Exciting!

Cheers

G

Eh Up?!

With Easter coming a resurrection has to be considered fitting! 🙌 

It seems that Phileas has landed in Tasmania with Ian Jermyn of Organic Devolution and Mc Surfmats.  Thanks Ryo for getting her moving! Oz tour coming right up! 

PHEW!  

G  

Phileas - Over and Out...

Well, sad times but with occasional promises of moving on followed by long periods of silence it seems that this adventure has ground to a halt. Phileas seems to have permanently emigrated to Japan having been in the keep of Ryo Hiwasa for 7 months today.  

Ryo hasn't really been able to send us anything, other than a few photos in August and October 2016 but it looks like they were having fun.  Let's hope Phileas is still getting some waves.

It's been a great adventure and the early momentum was so inspiring. Having now built over 200 mats in total, number 50 seem like a long time ago. My builds have evolved a lot since then! Still, Phileas remains the mat closest to my heart with so many memories. Here's a quick look back over the story:

The journey started in July 2014 when a white mat was born:

After a quick splash in terrible waves (the one session I had with her), Phileas swung north to hook up with GP Sean Stansfield on the Shetland Islands.  

Sean struggled to find much, although did manage to mountain goat his way in to a good spot but doing that with a mat, fins an camera were a bit of a stretch.

After her stint with Sean, Phileas crossed the Atlantic. Her first stop was with John Hughes in Florida before going over to Puerto Rico with the mat master that is Jamie McClellen. After the sunshine, it was time for Phileas to hit the Big Apple with Tim Darwish before a final stint with the human seal, Jeremy Grosvenor.

I love the amount of work that everyone on the East Coast put in to looking after Phileas.

So, on to the US West coast then. First stop, San Diego and lodging with the late, great Scott Reeder. The perfect host! I know a lot of people will really love looking back at this episode. 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.

For the next stop, Phileas headed up the coast to the OC. After a quick stop off with Newport Wedge legend Sean Starky, a true great of mat surfing, James "Mattitude" Sowell takes up the reins for sessions with Matt Pierce and Chad Stickney. Chad, Jamo and Matt pulle dout all the stops for this leg hitting a huge range of spots from reefs to beaches to river waves to heavy slabs. Such a great example of mat surfing.

Phileas hits Rincon... Well tries too, but timing has conspired against her a touch. Nonetheless, Matt Herman managed to snag a few Carpinteria area waves before Andrew Stephen Buck whisked her off to Mexico's Scorpion Bay. Never let it be said that ASB won't pull out all the stops to find good, right hand point waves!

Vancouver Island was the next stop with Graham Gidden and Willie McB. Graham sought out some phenomenal looking set ups and really put Philleas through her paces in some beautiful looking cold water waves. He sent over some stunning shots which have been put together here. 

An amazing part of the world! What a place!

Phileas took a trip to the Sandwich Islands. The timing wasn't perfect for waves and her hosts were curse with bad luck (such as losing the GoPro with the surfing footage on it) but she still had a great time.

Beautiful Islands and mat surfers living the dream... If only she'd had waves...

So it has been a good run and I really appreciate all the effort people put into the project.

Here's to you Phileas!

G

Pray for Phileas

Please join me in praying to whatever deity you fancy for the safe and speedy return of Phileas to her travels. 

6 months after her arrival in Japan and nearly 4 months after the last pictures of her being ridden, our girl is still there. Ryo Hywasa is pretty hard to pin down having what seems to be an extremely hectic job with very limited access to email and social media. The plan has been for her to move on from Japan so I've emailed Ryo with a shipping address. 

Now we play the waiting game... 

G