The
above video is of Paul N and I surfing one of my favorite pointbreaks,
Coco Pops, just us out on a Sunny Monday morning....ran Paul straight
over with my Omni..I never felt a thing either.
I
had two of my oldest grandkids down last weekend and took them down to
Gilligans for an adventure and swim, of course the surf was okay with
just a handful out. As luck should have it, their parents came down
early to pick them up, which left me a window of 3 hours to head back
with a surf, so after grabbing Paul, we met up with Neal for a late
soggy Sunday afternoon session.
Heaps of fun small waves to be had with a minimal crowd of longboarders to contend with.
Loving
the XL Super Sport! Chasing those inside closeouts is rewarding, you
get barreled, and you get a free Chiropractic session! I couldn’t get
enough!
These mats are so much fun! I don’t think I could be anymore stoked on
them! I have really only had waves over 3’ once since buying both mats,
but I’m getting a lot better at catching these small waves and milking
any juice they have in them. I can’t wait to learn some more!
Thanks
again for the mat! I’m still surfing almost every day.
Here is a
picture of me on a beautiful little clean wave! My buddy Chris Falzone
shot this, he rode the Fatty yesterday and loved it. The waves where too
small and week for any other surf craft but the mats where flying. He
should be contacting you soon to add one to his quiver. Keep spreading
the Stoke! :-)
The Standard will be my next mat to buy for sure, and I know what
you mean about the oz dollar being weak, we spent 2 weeks last May in
Hawaii, visiting friends on Molokai, then onto the Big Island and Kauai ,
so still hurting from the conversion rate, but money well spent., we
had a blast and I matted a few breaks, even left a mat with my friend on
Molokai.
These are some pictures
from our "Scarmatra" Trip back in 2015. Justin is riding a Standard and my
Omni, now this was a true boys trip, I only took my bonzer, spoon,
paipo, plane and a couple of mats.
Over the years, there's been no rhyme nor reason to the 4GF sale schedule. That said, we try to put our "Standard" model up for grabs now and again. The reasons are multi-dimensional...
One, it's our flagship model...the first to carry the 4th Gear Flyer label back in 1984.
Another is that the Standard is a much better mat than most riders realize. It's called "The Standard" because it's the standard by which we judge all other mats...
It's on the lean side, width-wise, so there's a tendency for matters to shy away from the Standard. Traditionally, mats have been wide, thick and overly buoyant...
Moving away from those dated design values takes time to get used to.
We had one early indication that narrower mats might be the future. The late 60's "Stripes Down" Hodgmans were lean, thick mats, and they performed well -- relative to the era -- after they were broken in...
By the mid-80's, when we started making our own mats, we quickly found that a narrow width combined with the thinner nylon fabric opened up a new world, performance-wise. Steaming point waves that were once reserved for spoon kneeboards suddenly became fodder for the newly-minted 4GF Standard.
The performance of the Standard was untouchable
in surf from head high to double overhead. It carved long lines off the bottom, and
left the cleanest track imaginable.
But what really set The Standard apart was it's top end speed...
The term "4th Gear" was originally coined by Greenough when describing a level of speed that transcended riding in the curl of the wave.
Let's extrapolate...
In George's world-view, first gear is riding along the wall at the speed of the curl. In essence, it's riding as slow as you can go and still make the wave.
Second gear is when you have enough speed to turn up and down, or back and forth, on that same wave, covering the same total distance as you would in first gear...but at a higher rate of speed over the water because you're moving up and down rather than in a straight line.
(Paul Masiel and I in first gear at the right. Greenough in second at the left.)
Third gear is when you have enough speed to break loose from the wave and travel out and over distant sections.
The size and quality of the wave isn't an issue, either. You can hit third gear in foot high slop!
Fourth gear is when you're going so fast that you're surfing completely beyond the speed of the curl...often riding up in the lip of the wave as it fringes in front of you.
When the Standard became tuned in (back in '84/85) George commented that it was the only mat that he'd ever surfed that he could to hit 4th gear on. Not long after, it became the name of our mats!
Over the past 30 plus years, the Standard has evolved, but not that much. I have one of the originals here, and while I like today's incarnation better, I'd be perfectly happy surfing the old one if I had to.
So, with all that in mind -- and with Fall/Winter upon us here in the civilized world otherwise known as the Northern Hemisphere -- we've decided to put our Standard on sale for the month of September.
Here's the deal... $40 off our retail online price for a 4GF Standard surf mat.
We won't go to the trouble of changing the pricing on our home page at surfmats.com. You can just order a Standard, and we'll refund $40 back into your account ASAP. Or, you can email us, and we'll send you an invoice for the sale price. Either way will work, and you'll get a 4GF Standard with money left over!
The burning question...who should ride a Standard?
I'm around 205 these days (pounds, not kilos!) and wear a 5/4 suit most of the year. I ride a Standard in waves shoulder high or better. I think I'm around the upper limit weight-wise, but there are Standard aficionados who are bigger than me...so it's really up to you and the waves you ride. If you're in the tropics, with bigger waves and warm water, I think even a 240 pounder would love a Standard.
There's no bottom end, size-wise. Even 100 fly weights ride Standards. And, a Standard will work well in even in smaller waves for riders 150 lbs and under. Here's George, at 135 pounds, ripping micro-junk on a Standard...
As with all sale periods, delivery times can be slow. I'll let you know the projected delivery dates when you order. If you have a trip planned, let me know and I'll try to accommodate you.
Orders for all our other models will go out in a timely manner...only sale mats might get a little sluggish.
