4GF Memorial Day Sale !!!

 

 

 

 

 

From now through Monday, all 4GFs are on sale!

The numbers break down like this...

Classics are $109 plus shipping.  $26 off !!!

High end 4GF's are $159.95 plus shipping.  $40 off !!!

Delivery times will be somewhat slower than usual, due to the higher volume of orders during sale periods. Early orders will go out quickly, while later orders will get bogged down a bit...but probably no more than a week build time.

Go to our home page to order!

Thanks,

Paul

Back In The Day...

...surf photographers shot from the water sitting on air mats, while the surfers being photographed rode boards.

Welcome the brave new world. Tony Lewis shooting from his board, and Chris Nelson surfing his mat!!!

From EDB ...

Tea Tree Bay Noosa

 

 

 

 

Denise getting ready...

 

...and after her waves

 

 

 

 

 Second point Noosa

 

 

 

Vespa sliding…piccies by oily

Hi Paul

 

Just back from Noosa in Queensland where I introduced my mates wife Denise (scumm name = matapuss) to the joys of mat sliding, she had a ball on my Vespa.

 

We were lucky to score some fun waves and as the only matman in the lineup I enjoyed a few laughs with the longboarding community.

 

They gave me have quite a few waves so they could watch…one guy kept yelling RETRO, RETRO to me as I slid past.

 

Good times again.

 

Regards eric da bolt

 

 

 

 

More Wit and Wisdom From Mat Max !!!

I ran across a collection of old Go Karting images -- including an advert for the first kart I had back in the early 60's -- and sent it on to my old karting/matting/surfing buddy, Mat Max...

 

 

Hey PG,

 

The simplicity of 60s karts is really attractive. Just google karting images for a comparison to now.

 

I recently had an old rigid bicycle with well-worn fat mtb tires in Byron (until it got stolen) and so much enjoyed the essential "bikeness" compared to my 6" travel full-suspension all-mountain rig here in NZ.

 

Of course, this is also an homage to the purity of surfing with mat and flippers. Now that a 4GF has replaced boards for a couple of years straight (plus Mini Mat when the surf is 6'+), and with nearly thirty years of modern mat experience, mat riding has actually started to feel normal rather than off center. What this points out is the strength of the binding forces of modernity.

 

Which is actually more fun? A $15,000 racing kart at a 100mph racetrack, or some 5hp retro carts and a box of beer in a big backyard? Has the mainstream pursuit of fun lost it's way? Thankfully, surfmatters are conscious counterpoints to modern seriousness and expense...

 

Yee Ha!

 

Maxi

 

Tips From The Pros ... Hyper Inflation !!!

 

(Mat Max, Hard At Work)

 

The Virtues Of Hyperinflation

 

After months of weak waves that called for low inflation matting, the surf picked up today with powerful five foot tubes. A few sideslip wipeouts prompted me to puff up my 5GF so that it was full but not quite rigid. The squishy, slippy mat was transformed to a form more akin to a rigid bodyboard. Tracking across steep walls and through pitching sections became much easier.

 

There's a comfortable inflation that allows my abdomen to settle slightly between the fully inflated outer pontoons for a locked-in feeling. This is my starting point for high volume settings. I reckon that the amount of bend is about fifteen degrees. Then I fine tune from there depending on how much traction on the waves is needed. After a few adjustments I find an air volume that suits the conditions and then enjoy greater control.

 

I often forget to pump up the volume because of being fixated on glide. One factor is that the inflation zone between ninety degrees bend and twenty degrees bend is pretty much useless for my purposes. So, I often put off pumping up, and suffer needless lack of handling. Then I'll inflate to nearly full volume and rediscover that in powerful waves the drag is not all that severe, good speed is still attainable, and negotiating gnarly surf becomes much more fun.

 

The moral of this story is that utilizing high inflation is a great opportunity to transform your personal hovercraft into a more board-like perch for negotiating steeps and deeps.

 

Cheers M8s!

 

Max

From The T-Dog...

 

 

 

Hey PG,

Matt Pierce, JJ and I scored an epic Midnight Malibu session last night! 3-5ft, with occasional 6ft  sets. Big, bright moon and clear skies. The waves started out kinda chunky, but grew faster as the tide pulled out, and all three of us were streaking on our 4GFs! Matt on his Omni, JJ on his Tracker RT, and me on the Greeno-Spec UDT. Matt and I played bumper cars on one set wave, blasting down the line and bouncing off each other, hooting the whole way (like GG and Michael Cundith in Crystal Voyager)!

Sadly, not enough light to document anything last night...but I've attached a few pics from my recent GoPro outings. I'm putting together a top-secret movie starring Mary. Shhhh... Don't tell her.

Also, I saw this, but sadly, I can't afford it at the moment:

http://ventura.craigslist.org/spo/3735167734.html

Hope all is well with you!

 

Cheers,

Tremor

RIP Ray Manzarek ...

From Tom...

Tom, Kendog, Dirk, Cher

Cher 

Kendog 

 Dirk

Tom

Hi Paul,

Here are the 4 best surfing shots of the mat meet last Sunday at Seaside Reef.

Cher, Ken, Dirk, Tom. Small waves, but we all had fun on our 4GF mats, as usual. Photos by Terry Williams.

Tom T.

From UKMS ...

 

(Action From Mat Meet #11)

 

Mat Meet #12 is slated for the middle of July. That's enough lead time to paddle your mat from any point on the globe to the meet...so no excuses!

Details here...

Some new, mat-specific technology from Graeme to be revealed at MM 12, previewed here ...

From Mister Dirk ...

 

 

Kendog 

 

 Mister Dirk

Kendog, Dirk, and Cher

 

 

Tom, Kendog, Dirk, Cher

Decker Brandts, "Coolest T-Shirt" award recipient.

The Shed 

The Screening 

Dirk and Pierce Michael Kavanagh, SDSFF Director...post screening Q&A

Tom, CDub, Dirk 

Cher and Steve Pendarvis

 

  

Dirk and Kendog 

Decker, Steve, Cher, Tom, Terry, Dirk, Kendog, and RR production assistant Steve Senese 

  Dirk and Captain Mike, star of the feature film "Alaska Sessions"

 

River Run was shown to a small but enthusiastic Saturday matinee audience at the 2013 San Diego Surf Film Festival. It played before a feature film called "Alaska Sessions," which chronicles an amazing winter surf trip by a small boat crew of intrepid explorer surfers.

The entire SDSFF took place inside of Bird's Surf Shed (1091 Morena Blvd., San Diego, CA) which simply has to be seen to be believed. Bird has gathered together, in one quonset hut, one of the most astounding collections of surfboard shapes imaginable, and it includes representative samples of almost every major design direction that the craft has produced. And as Bird pointed out to pranaglider and me, it's not a museum--those boards are there to be ridden!

Pierce Michael Kavanagh, the festival director, gave me a nice introduction and let me say a few words before launching into the film. It's only an 8-minute short and I was getting worried that all the excitement was out of proportion to the film itself, but honestly it felt great to screen it before a live audience and share that with a group. It was very instructive for me, having assembled the piece out of nothing, to listen to the responses and to gauge the vibe of an actual audience as it played. There was a certain amount of real-life distraction at first, late arrivals and some chit chat, and then people began to quiet down and pay more attention, and by gosh, by the end of the film they were absolutely enrapt. They topped it off with a nice hearty round of applause before the feature started. After both films were finished we did a short little Q & A where I got to acknowledge the tremendous help I've gotten from everyone, and then we milled around out front for a while, greeting friends and generally soaking in the love. I was even asked to sign a couple of posters!

Earlier that same day, and then again the next morning we caught some fun little beach break waves at Cardiff State Beach. We met up with Steve S., Tom T. and his wife Terry, with Cher P. (Steve was preparing for a shaping demo), and on Day 1 we also met chiledub/Pete from Seattle. Our host and local guide down in San Diego was the indefatigable kendog, who supplied the same good cheer, know-how, and energetic stoke that he brought to the filming of "River Run." I really can't thank Ken enough, and I look forward to working on future projects with him.

I expect that the film will get shown in a couple more festivals, but I'm also opening it up on Vimeo now and setting it free. I hope you enjoy it. I'm inspired to do more, so on we go!

Dirk


River Run is now showing here...

More From Bretto !!!

Hi Paul,

Michelle got some shots the other day when George was riding one of the new 4GF Prototype when it was big and clean! Ive asked George if I could send them to you straight away but he wants to have a look at them first to make sure the mats working properly ..... he'll get them today or tomorrow.

I have include some footage Wardy shot last summer, its in slow motion on the 5gf at an unknown location, I hope you like it.

Cheers
Bretto

Movie of Michelle Last Summer....

Hi Paul,

Here is a short clip of Michelle last summer.

Cheers
Bretto

Hacked From the Wires Of The Associated Press...

 

 

 

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — Workers are set to begin demolishing perhaps the most famous symbol of Superstorm Sandy's devastation along New Jersey's shoreline.

 

They'll be taking apart the remnants of a roller coaster that plunged off an amusement pier into the ocean during the Oct. 29 storm.

 

The work will begin Tuesday afternoon in the summer tourist destination of Seaside Heights after Britain's Prince Harry finishes a visit.

 

A spokeswoman for Casino Pier says it should take about four days to remove the ride with crews working around the clock.

 

Images of the Jet Star coaster have appeared hundreds of times and been used to help sell memorabilia to raise money for storm victims.

From Tim...

Hi Paul,

I'm very happy with the OMNI. I was using it on the first wave I caught on the Maldives and thought "wow". I also had the STANDARD and VESPA with me and I surfed all of them. They are truly different. I must admit though that when the conditions are right I enjoy the Standard the most. It seems like it provides the best hold in a waves face of all my surfmats.

Now it is almost two months ago since I returned from the tropics and I had time to reflect about my visit to the Maldives. It was great, the water so clear and overall an amazing experience. I took my longboard with me but ended up using my surfmats 95% of the time. Personally I have had some issues with the warm water there. To avoid rash I had to always wear a long sleeve rash shirt over my thin neoprene short john. It wasn't as comfortable as wearing a wetsuit and I felt too hot most of the time. That probably makes me a cold water surfer ;-)

Apropos cold water: Last week I was in the north of Denmark and had the opportunity to put on my thickest rubber and to test the OMNI in entirely different conditions. I also ended up making a little video about it https://vimeo.com/65956510

You where right about the hot wax finish. It really works regardless of the water temperature. Great job!

Thanks again for your fantastic surfmats and all your support.

Kind regards

Tim

Bretto On Mat Island...Part V

 

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

Hi Paul,

All in all a great trip to mat island. Surfed 22 different waves all good for matting, some big, some small, some heavy, some perfect, and all super fun. No mat carnage or losses except I dinged up my good standard a little on the reef but it still goes great no need for a repair.

I hope these photos show a little bit of how good mat island was, I can't wait to return

Cheers,

Bretto