From Adam And The Fourth Gear Frothers

Howdy Paul, hope all is well mate!

Well the froth continues ...have been riding the Lotus and Standard in various reef / point breaks , just loving the feel and slide ! I would definitely lean towards the Lotus as my favorite, such a quick and responsive mat to ride...and power to the canvas deck, the extra surface tension makes a treat to lay on and the beast grip that never wears or needing a top up, 10 quackers in our book!

Below is some vision from a couple of Sundays back, Justin came down for the early ( it was 5.30 and pitch black when we met up) and he had Ron Anderson , father of Chris and founder of Ecto Handplanes with him, it was Ron's first surf on a mat , so after the 100 m paddle out , I did mention to him to never let go and gave him a fe tips on how to duck dive a mat, and to Ron's credit, he caught a few and never let go, was so stoked for him!

The next weekend we all headed down a touch further south and scored some fun little right handers , Neal sat and watched as he had better waves during the week ;) so just Paul, Phil and myself, with a bonus visit from Eric the Seal .




Last Sunday Justin came down again for the early, such a beautiful red pre dawn, the ocean was awashed with a red glow, just makes it so worth while to get your backside out of bed and see it...the waves were just a bonus thrown in for free.



Yesterday was my RDO , so made the most of it and had 2 surfs, Gilligans & Mat Reef , Eric's favorite wave.




One from last year, just Neal and myself, full speed figure eight crossovers....zoom!



And some stills to go with it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#ericwouldgo

Custom Rash Guards From Rob

Rob from Jacksonville put together a few custom rashguards...nice!

More from Adam

 

 

 

 

Hi Paul

Had some fun little waves this morning with Paul and Phil, so we all got to swap the mats around, really enjoying the Lotus, such a fast mat on the plane, hopefully the Island will be on tomorrow morning, back to work Tuesday for me.

A few moments captured from this morning, that's Phil with a Standard, post surf pig out and coffee, and we walked around after to check out the holiday crowds out at the Island.

More Video Vision below! 

Regards

Adam
 

Notes From The Road

Hey there, 

Still slowly making our way home in our new rig, "Bullwrinkle".  The name an homage to its British Columbia manufacture, and the extra letter due to its owners both being on Medicare. 

I'm not imagining a heap of swell down there, as here in the wild PacNW it's still fairly tame.  There was a nice storm and sizable swell when we were in Tofino, west coast Vancouver Island. MEGA surf scene there.  I dubbed it Encinitas al Norte.  It was rainy, not windy, but plenty disorganized enough to discourage me from a paddle out.  Walking on the super scenic beaches was good enough. 

One spot I'd love to visit when it's on is Jordan River.  Gorgeous glassy clear day when we went through, but sadly only about one foot.  Looks like 3 distinct breaks -- a left reef, a right rocky point, with a sandbar right and left in the middle.  All within paddling distance of one another!  Beautiful setup.  

Just crossed back into CA late this PM, Crescent City, after a lovely drive down Oregon Coast.  Big windsurfing spot, Pistol River, was nukin!!!   One lonely guy was out there blazin.  Not up to that kind of sailing these days, but what an incredible beach that is.  

Love those drive-through camp slots.  This one was perfectly level, both directions.  Park n' Chock!   Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Peninsula.

The title to my next movie.  No, not Evacuation Route!   "Recreation, next left!"

A parting shot...Clearing storm, Lake Quinault.

ETA in SB, Oct 6th...

Kenny

From Jeremy

Hi Paul,

4th gear flyer dropping in on my son.

Photo by Paul Brook Jr.

Jeremy

From Adam

 

 

Hi Paul,

Hope all is well mate! Your packaged arrived the other day, many thanks again for your generosity & speedy delivery ......so STOKED!

Finally had a chance this morning to share a few small waves with just Paul and myself, not bad considering its a long weekend, so pretty chuffed to share a few and swap mats , even the wind played ball and didn't blow us out to sea. Love the feel and size of the Lotus, and with these mats being Super Sport models, their broken in and ready to roll straight off the bat.The forecast looks good for tomorrow at our favorite, so hopefully have 4 of us out testing the mats out in larger & longer running waves.....stay tuned to the Bat channel .
 

A nice comment on-line from Mr Dirk explaining what the Super Sport models..

We noticed that it takes a while to break in a new mat, but when it gets more supple it's more responsive and swift. So PG worked out a way to break-in the material before he builds. His explanation -- "Super Sport versions of the 4GF models are built of pre-broken in fabric...which means they "go" from the first wave. I've done this for several years on my own mats, so I can quickly test prototypes more effectively. We now make them available for customers. Being labor-intensive, they cost $300."

Vale my Omni....from a couple of months ago. We were surfing another one of our favorite reef/cove breaks, whilst doing the walk back round, jump off the point , I decided to film Paul leaping from the rocks, and didn't quite take enough flipper steps back , when a couple of rogue sets washed thru, knocked my flippers from under me, and I came down , bottom of mat first , and rip 2 big holes to the underside of the mat...so these new mats are a welcome addition to my surfing equipment!

Many Thanks again Paul!

Regards from Oz

Adam

From Mike

Hi Paul,

I finally was able to get my Fatty out in some waves over the weekend.... North Carlsbad State Beach.... small and windy and closing out. I had a blast !  Surfline did an article a ways back... "10 Reasons You Should Own A Surf Mat" and reason #1 was FUN CITY! True dat. 

 

Been surfing since 1964 (Bruce Brown's Mom was my 4th grade teacher growing up in Long Beach) and I can say with the utmost assurance that THE STOKE IS BACK! Thank you so much for making my Fatty Mat.

All The Best, 

Mike J

From Rob Spielberg

Check out this video I made with Splice:  get.spliceapp.com

Just playing with the GoPro footage I got the other day! Please excuse the look on my face in the intro 😂, there was a brutal glare. I will get better at this with more experience.

Super Stoked,

Rob Pollard

From Ryan

Hey Paul,

It just hooks up on a sweet line here!

I’ve tried some other mats this summer and had a lot of fun on them too, and then went back to the Fatty and the borrowed Lotus I have from Steiny. I have to say your mats seem to do exactly what I want them to do and allow me to be creative and extemporaneous on the wave contorting trying different things etc. without causing me to wipe out or make “mistakes.“

Thanks for changing my life. I’m not exaggerating since getting my first surf mat on June 10 or so I’ve probably been in the water 90 days and caught over 1000 waves in one of the flattest Summers any of us have ever seen. I’ve gone from being a guy who checks it and has fun maybe three times a week and stresses on whether or not I’ll get my wave, the crowd will be too thick, or I’ll be on the right board to, “I’ll check it from the water“. I’ve lost 17 pounds out of sheer exuberance at age 45, we all know how hard that is to do. I love surfing in the way I never have.

Ryan

From Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul,

Chris got a couple of pics this weekend before he joined me as the Maria swell started to show herself on our breaks! On shore winds, but that didn't stop us from flying!

I also pulled a couple of stills last week from our mat session with 4 mats in the water! I'm still working on the video edit 🐌. Mat surfers are Khristian, Chris, Ryman, and Ryan.

I surfed some of the biggest wave of my life yesterday on the Standard. Chris was with me and we both surfed Standards. I caught a very large set wave outside in sloppy choppy conditions and set a high line almost as soon as I released off the lip! I don't know what gear I was in but I've never felt Speed like that before! She the mat for this mission! Three waves, all bombs, but the last one was a monster! I don't know how big she was exactly but it felt like I sliding down the side of a building! We almost didn't paddle out because we watched a couple of surfers get denied for 30 minutes, but damn am I glad we did! Chris caught three as well, and we paddled in shot out with adrenaline, and pumped for the day!

I plan on taking Tuesday off work with Chris this week to chase Maria swell on home turf!  Man these mat changed my life! Thank you so much! Keep Spreading the Stoke! Lots of Positive Vibes and Healing Energy coming your way!

Super Stoked,
Rob Pollard

Tips From The Pros: Tail Punch Take Offs

As a wave approaches, you slide back on the mat and sink the tail as deep underwater as you can manage.  When the wave gets to you, you slide forward and allow the buoyancy of the tail emerging out of the water to give you a nice little energy surge. Often times you'll catch a wave that might otherwise pass you by. (Tossing in a giddy grin, as demonstrated by the mat rider above, also helps!)

George Greenough executes a subtle version of this technique...

From Oily

G’day Paul,

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Well mate I'm loving the Omni. Think I’ve found my place on it, or should i say ‘Dabolt’ as i have dedicated this mat to the legend that is Matman.

We’ve been pretty spoilt lately with swell and conditions and have managed some great sessions with Adam , Neal and Phil at our premier mat wave in our area that is Gillligans Island..  Its always good to hear from a stand up surfer ‘you guys are having the most fun and waves out their’  .. haha

Anyways mate here;s a link to a short youtube video and some happy snaps of an early session last weekend.

Cheers

Oily

SFFS

 

From Adam

Hi Paul,

I will share the new 4GF mats you sent with the Scumm crew, so there will be plenty of feedback!

It's funny...I think Eric would be laughing his head off at Paul and Phil. They would never try or ride his 4GF's, and now they absolutely love their Omni's ! So funny, but so good to see!

Fire and Water...

Last Friday was my RDO from work, and with the bushfire burning its head off over at Wreck Bay, Paul could not get to work, so we hit the Island for a solo session before being joined by Neal and few other friendly locals on boards, till that cross shore wind blew it out.....Zoom

Thanks Again,

Adam

From Mister Dirk

Hi Paul,

A gentleman named Douglas Duquette posted this on a California Memories group on FB.

Caption: 75 year old George Greenough, Wategos Beach, Bryon Bay ~ 2017
Photo: Sean O'Shea

Dirk

From Rob

 

Paul,

 

The surf has been fun this week! Above is a pic Chris got of me on some shore pound Saturday before anyone ventured out.

 

There where five mats in the water this Sat morning, everyone was sending it on shore pound! The surf wasn't very organized but it was super fun! I have some video but haven't had time to go through and edit it. When I realized everyone else wanted to ride mats all I wanted to do was document it 😂! I love to watch other people turn into kids!

 

Sunday was probably the best and biggest surf I've surfed at Hanna Park (Sunrise pic). I rode the inside and got "in and out" barrel, after barrel, on the Lotus! I did miss time my drop a couple of times and get murdered by the lip, large waves are a different animal. Everything happens so fast! More experience and Stoke will be gained tomorrow morning!

 

Thanks  so much for making these vehicles of Joy! I'll try to look at that GoPro footage soon. Keep Spreading the Stoke! Positive Vibes and Healing Energy coming at you my Friend!

 

Super Stoked,

Rob Pollard