As Pranaglider recently blogged, the 4GF Mini Mat is finding traction out there. 13 of them have gone out in the past few weeks...3 to the people who took advantage of the first three offered at a sale price, and then 10 to the blokes who bent my arm via e-mail to get one at the regular cost.
The feedback has been really positive, so we're going to make them available as a model. It'll take a week or so to get the Mini Mat up on our home page...
... but if you wanna get one now, just order a Standard, and note you want a Mini Mat in the "Instructions to Merchant" section.
Here's some feedback that has come over the transom in the past couple of weeks...
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Paul,
Sorry I haven't been very quick about getting back to you with feed back on the minimat. But that said my initial impressions are very favorable! Right out of the box the mat just flys!
In the beach break that make up a major portion of my surfing this mat works fantastic. he take offs are quick and since the mat is smaller I'm always in the right spot. It drives well in the steep sections and goes sideways to stall if I need to wait for the wave to catch up. You know how fast mats are!
I will be giving you more feed back as I work the minimat thru the summer.
I'm really looking forward to getting some bigger waves with it.
Regards,
Bruce
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PG-
After a few surfs at our flat day wedge on the mini I did not have a good sense of smaller mat and its characteristics.
We had an off season NW swell show today and the "never to be named" point in my neighborhood was doing it thing. I got a couple long walls on the mini and got a better idea of how it works. I really like having less mat, I could push it through waves a bit easier. I liked having it all under my chest too, more like paddling a kneeboard or shortie. Out of the gate the mini seemed a bit faster than my classic or vespa but I didn't seem to have the same squirt out of the trough that the bigger mats provide. Maybe a bit less glide too. I will have to ride it more to be sure.
That being said: all in all, I really liked it. There was no problem catching waves, I am excited to ride it again tomorrow.
Thanks for making tools for fun,
Alrighty!
Steiny
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Received mini...wow that was fast delivery!
I blew up mini...I can see this is going to work for its intended purpose. will use it for quick take off / close outs etc. Can't wait to see if it can help tame some of those E-coast shore break death barrels we get later in the season. will report on initial use this weekend which may or may not present the use case for the mini.
Hitting OC NJ saturday. Will ride it regardless and compare to my vespa.
David
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Paul,
I had the Mini along with my Vespa out yesterday at OC NJ .. it was junky 3-4 feet shore break. Fairly short lived faces would present them selves, A little bit of a pattern next to groynes but mostly the whack-a-fly variety. Very late take off was essential, if you can position for a 20 yard wave face ride you were doing well. Once it broke there was only soup.. no real opportunity to glide until the wave set up again, or to work your way down to another face section. We are talking classic East Coast junk that I love. It turns out I had more fun on the Mini on that day.
Its definitely easier to duck dive and generally get out and hang on when required.. I expected that. To my surprise I could not tell the difference between the initial take off sequence (leading up to feeling the catch) of the two mats.. I thought I might have to take off even later on the Mini. However, once I felt the catch I was able to get positioned and get going faster on the Mini as expected with less "slithering" required. That faster set up time let me get some face time I do think I would have had on the Vespa.. That's what I was hoping for.
I had been concerned about the extra drag of exposing my lower portions on the mini otherwise more supported on the longer Vespa. I was particularly concerned because I am a big guy (6' 230lb) and love my Force Fin Pro fins for comfort and swim efficiency .. However, I am not so sure that the Force Fin shape is optimal for steering and drag concerns. All I can say is that I had some real fun rides across the open face .. a couple memorable cannon blast-a-ramas. Would I have had the same riding experience once positioned on the Vespa? .. Hard to say. I can say that the Vespa does better as expected on cruising once things do do slow down. However, my aim was to ride more face time on these junky waves, not to ride it as far as I could.
The handling of the mini once taken off has similarities (as pointed out by Max Mat) and differences. I still have to work out my preferred inflation and degree of pressure to apply for turns etc. I can say that I was able to get over to some nearby faces having taken off as the wave was crashing and even sucking me over the falls in fairly quick order. Faster than I could have with the Vespa. This a paramount issue in these short lived waves. I think the shortness of the mini helps there ..
I did try to use classic mat turning technique but my old boggie board instincts might have kicked in as well. (I rode a classic Mach 7-7 in the 80s). I have some sorting though to do on technique.
Before the purchase I imaged that given / my large size and the small mat that I might have to inflate it to the point of defeating zen mat feel and glide all togeather. I thought It might just end up being a boogie board. If that was the case why not just use a boogie board for certain conditions? I decided to try it out in any case since it would travel better than a boogie board if I did need to stiffen the inflation. But, its looking like at least most of the mat feel is still there for these short wave face rides - and it will travel.
I should qualify this report by pointing out that I am 58 and a have long list of physical issues that constrain my skill potential. I suspect a skilled agile rider could get going on a longer mat regardless of conditions. I continue to learn. However, I can't change my constraints but I can add mat to the quiver.
So, next time I go to OC and find junky conditions with short lived wave face time I will pull out the mini. When I see that there is some time to setup the ride and that there is somewhere down the line to go to, I will pull out the Vespa. If I see there just is is not enough umph in the wave to support the mini I will also pull out the Vespa. I will also pull out the mini if it just gets to be to hard to get out on the Vespa. I am happy having the choice.
David
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