Musings on My 4GF Tracker Squaretail

I'll tell you what—this thing kicks ass. Now, we must all remember that my matting experience is fairly limited. Although I've had a mat for over a year, I didn't get serious (okay, addicted) until recently. The mat I learned on, the mat I knew best, was my trusty 4GF Standard. I really wasn't sure I could easily distinguish one mat from another once on a wave.

I was mistaken.

The Tracker Squaretail is everything PG said it was. I could immediately feel the difference between the two mats. My only problem is that I've yet to master getting the mat on the rail when getting into a wave. I'm close though. The Tracker Squaretail makes doing so much easier. It does, however, hold back when dropping in. Once you're in though, you're flying. When I looked at the photos from today's session, I could see how the Tracker Squaretail sits differently on the water than the Standard does. The rides are different, but not in a bad way. I feel like I went quite a few notches up the mat riding learning curve after a session on this mat.

When I first kicked out to the lineup at this break, I stayed away from the surfers. Unfortunately, the waves were breaking where they were. I got a few when I was off to the side, but that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted some juice. So I made my way into the thick of things. This is not my home break, but it is a break I frequent. Many people in the lineup know me. As I've said before, one thing I will not cotton to, whether on a surfboard or a mat, is a lack of etiquette. If I've waited patiently and you're just paddling back out, don't even think about paddling for my wave. Surf Sister don't play that.

Not even on a mat! My wave, snake! Back off! (And, as you can see, he did.)


Two thumbs up on the Tracker Squaretail!