The Tracker Roundtail Is Here...

4th Gear Flyer's latest model is the Tracker Roundtail. It's been in development since this past September, and it's on sale at our home page through August 31, 2010.

More details to follow!

PG

Another Uncensored UK Email...

Hope swell coming your way. We're having a good season hereabouts. Just been in off Lands End with a couple of seals.

Cheerio, Ian

From Piskian, via UK Mat Surfers Dot Org(y)

Hey all!

Just wanted to share this screen grab from 'Sliding Liberia' (woodshed films)
It is a very brief part of the scene, but it is just sweet to see people all over the world embracing this activity that we all believe in so much! A nice film too, check it.

n s pye

Fun With Jamie And Tatum...

Hi Paul,

Small fun day yesterday down the coast. Tatum and I took turns surfing and snapping photos. I surfed the small sand point, she stuck to the open beach and got heaps of waves by herself. Shared the day with good friends Bob Green and Mateo Plummer. Yew!

Jamie

Air Mat As Spiritual Vehicle

When I go matting my ego dissolves and quiet space emerges. Waves, mat and flippers, self and Universe become one. Lo and behold, people notice, and they remark on the energy. Mat surfing is a portal to higher consciousness. Check out this video explaining why surfmat riding is time well spent.


Another good video related to matting.

KOOK, A Surf Publication I Can Relate To...

There's something about the title of this new UK surf newsie that spoke to me. I can't put my finger on it, but as soon as I saw the name, I knew it was for me!

Published at the laid back pace of once annually, KOOK promises to be the yang to the World Wide Web's frantic, moment-by-moment yin. (Or is it the other way 'round? I'm not sure how that metaphor is supposed to go.)

Issue number 01 shows great promise, as it's chock-a-block full of everything you've never seen in a surf publication. Even the 70's-era Aussie pulp classic "Tracks" couldn't approach the free ranging litany of topics covered in KOOK.

And, according to the publisher's note contained within, if the name puts you off, then you might not be qualified to read it anyway!

Go to this page, click on Buy Now, and buy one, buy one now...

The Basics

$5 shorts, flippers, mat. Am now hardened to the point where I can surf all day in trunks without canvas rash. Second hand Quicksilver shorts are best yet. pod PF2s give superb wave holding ability, and now that the retainer straps are tied extra short, they stay on through anything. 4GF Standard is magic in all conditions. Ah, simplicity...

World's Most Dedicated Mat Rider!

This is how Garrett K spent his honeymoon...dude rocks!

Pranaglider, Going Left

Paul,

I thought I would send this shot along.

Me on the Fatty hoping that the inside section decides to swallow me.

The surf was not great but we got a break from the spring winds and the sun was out.

The spot is called Blackies, just north of Newport Beach pier.

More of a longboard spot not really as much push as I like for the mat but it was fun.

Several people very interested in the mat.

BTW there should be a matting shot on the Surfers Journal "Journal Entries" section shortly.

I hope you are well.

Bruce

Steve Pendarvis, Going Left...

Hey Paul,

Here's a little video I shot of Steve riding his 4th Gear Flyer Fatty on some small waves on a very windy day. I removed the audio, the wind was so noisy. The mats are so much fun, even in little reefy waves like this (when boils abound) on a day with white caps outside!

Aloha and Cowa-flexit!

Cher and Steve

"First Ever Public Unboxing Of A 4th Gear Flyer!!!"

From Tom S...

Paul-

Had a great 10 day visit with my son and his GF, they are living and working in Cabo Pulmo, Baja California. Located on the Sea of Cortez and a beautiful marine sanctuary, they are the resident dive masters and instructors. My wife and I got our open water cert. while visiting them.

Surf wasn't too bad either, a short 25 min dirt track to the N. and we were on top of some of the area's best point breaks. Had 3 days of 5-7 feet @16 sec. The go-to surfcraft was the FGF-Standard, never had the urge to take either of my resident boards out. Last session this past Friday I went out and surfed with a couple of guys camping nearby they bailed for breakfast on the beach while I had it solo.

Another guy slipped out through the lineup, moving like a lynx on a SUP. He took one or two waves inside of me and paddled further out on the point where I was and we said good mornings. He had a familiar looking face under the hat brim so I paddled over and shook hands. He introduced himself as Gerry Lopez, and we shared set waves for the next 45 minutes or so before I left him to enjoy it alone. The mat screamed on those long pointbreak lineups, very pleased with the volume of that design.

More later...

Tom

Sunday Morning Fatty

Less than a week ago, my mother passed away from a pneumonia. This was the second time I lost my mother. You see, I have had two. I was adopted and shortly after I was reunited with my biological mother, she was killed in a car accident. So this Mother's day, I was blessed to spend the morning all alone with the only mother l have left, doing what I love the very most; surfing. The conditions were windy and cold but there was warmth. I thought it was a nice touch, surfing in such a manner as matting. This is the first time I've really surfed a mat. Here's a humble little sequence of waves from today...


Sunday Morning Fatty from Vyusher La Kali on Vimeo.

From Kendog...2006

Tom K from O'Side...

Paul,

After four decades surfing I've progressed from a shared short stand up tri-fin Walden Pig to a mat with a lot of stuff in-between.

Still stoked, love the mats.

Here's a picture of me last December on a kneeboard I shaped in 2007. The board is a parabolic shape outline super loose fun to ride, kind of like a mat but I can duck under waves with it.

Looking forward to the UDT tomorrow.

Peace to you,

Tom

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

Paul,

Hi the new UDT arrived today a little late to have another session. I'm sure it will be as much fun to ride as the rest of the mats.

I've had a few good sessions with the new mats in the beach break here in Oceanside. Also went to Trestles today and the XL worked awesome. It's easier to paddle around in the impact zone compared to my first mat (Standard) with the traction pads on nylon top.

I rode on so many waves today some tubes held up long enough to get comfortable and enjoy.

One wave stands out in my mind as worth mentioning. I was at the north end of upper trestles so was riding mostly lefts when a right came through at about 8' and a way out from where I was positioned. I wasn't to happy about having to duck under another wave at that moment and a guy was attempting to take off on the wave but he stopped and the wave lagged so I went on it. I was paddling out at the time of take off so I caught it side ways and went right to trim along the highline. I was tired as hell so I just lay there watching the wave rope out in front of me. As the ride was ending, or so I thought, I rode into the oncoming left over the falls and ended upon the bottom of the left going left along bottom of the right I was just riding. It was so wild going left into this right tube that I was just riding the other way.

The interesting thing about the new canvas top mats is they have more directional control and they are much easier to paddle around and into waves.

Keep up the good work,

Thanks

Tom

Tom T Visits Portugal...

Hi Paul;

Even though we didn't have a telephoto lens, I think this is a pretty good shot of a mat rider taking off deep and setting up for a fast ride.


It's me riding, too, and I'm pleased to see that I look like a serious surfer on my mat. As a mat surfing pioneer in Portugal, I was hoping to set a high standard.

The next day I was back at this reef, to find bigger but windier conditions. It was actually more fun because there were only three of us out, and my Fatty really worked well in the chop and bumps. Here's a shot from the cliff before I went out:


One wave I caught was a thick bumpy double-up. I started out riding the top of the wave, gliding effortlessly while looking for an opening into the lower, bowly part of this double-up. I found it, pushed the mat over the edge and free fell into a bottom turn. When I looked down the line I saw a kid just on the other side of the bowl paddling for the wave, but watching me. He paused as if uncertain as I aimed right at him, then pulled out letting me have the wave. I rode it all the way into the cove. When I got back to the outside he had a gigantic grin on his face. "Looks like FUN!" he said, and asked me what I was riding! He spoke enough English for me to tell him about surf mats. This young Portuguese surfer had never even heard of mats, but he was really stoked about what he had seen. I was smiling too.

There are a lot of waves in Portugal, lots of interesting reefs. I didn't get anything in the way of epic swells, but there were no crowds anywhere I found surf. When there wasn't a swell, it was flat.


Lisbon wasn't breaking, but I imagine the crowd factor there is insane. The city is insane.

Tom

Update from Denis...

Hi Paul,

As I expected, a short period swell hit our shores on Sunday with a little wind, but still good 3 to 4 foot waves to share with some friends. So I took my new Standard Mat to a remote pointbreak and started to apply a little "surfmat theory", to see if things work...

To my surprise, it only took 3 waves, or less, to adjust my positioning while paddling or surfing. I started to feel the subtelties of hand and fin positioning, too, while bottom-turning and soon I was flying down the line, eating all the flat spots of the wave and connected all the sections through the shorebreak. There were plenty of hollow sections on the waves, but the wind was killing every single cover up attempt...but I've already felt that Mr. Standard likes to put me right where I should be!!

I now have a little rash on my chin...and a huge smile on my face!

I guess you know why??!!

Thanks Paul

Best wishes

Denis
Chateau d'Olonne
France

"2:35"

Heydon Bunting Sequence: From Seaworthy from Nathan Oldfield.

4GF Survives Volcanic Journey!

Hi Paul,

Just a few words to say that my Standard 4GF mat arrived last Wednesday in wonderful shape, after being stopped by the Volcano air traffic mess!

I'll take it to my local break for the first time tomorrow, as a new swell is about to hit our shores, after a 15 day flat spell...

Thanks for the stoke, Paul!

Best wishes,

Denis
Chateau d'Olonne
France