From Marc In The Haag...

Hi Paul,

Just received the Vespa.
What a combination!

Greets,

Marc

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From Mike...

paul;

rode the new vespa monday and tuesday in a droping swell 2 to 3 ft the vespa does better in smaller surf then the tracker a little more mat than the tracker. I like the tracker in a bigger surf a little faster I think. to tell my mats apart at a glance I airbrush things on each one I use water base acrylic on top of the mat. does not come off in the water.

MIKE

From Regis...

bonjour,

i m regis from france;its a long time i look for a surf mat ,dreaming on greenough video but i was scare to own one ;here in france surfers are a little closed in their mind when you talk about different way to have fun in the water ;but my best friend Max in san diego ride a tracker roundtail and he never be so happy;i m bored about crowded beach ;and i look a mat for the sand beach in les landes;waves are speed with big barrels but far from the car park so nobody go;so i hope the coversion are ok ;5;741 feet and 182;981 livres that for me;i look for the tracker roundtail;do you accept to make me one ;and for how much and how long it take to make one?

thanks for all;

thats my old surf mobile

Pranaglider...

(Sequence from last year's Cotton's Mat Meet. All photos by Ken Samuels.)

The two-shot header sequence on Surfmatters this past Tuesday showed Pranaglider in a somewhat unusual position. So unusual, even he didn't know what was going on!

To wit..

Dear Paul,

Since you have probably seen more mat photographs that anyone, I was wondering if you could tell me just what might have lead to the positioning in attached photo?


I have been studying it intently since it was posted on Surfmatter's this morning. A side drift gone horribly wrong? A bit of side-shore backwash mishap? Did I feel the mat was under inflated and choose this moment to "pop the cork" and add a few breathers? Perhaps an attempt at turning the mat?

Maybe I was just going too fast and fell off the back. Any help on your part would be appreciated as I hope to avoid assuming this position in the future.

Regards,

Bruce

To help allay his (and our) fears, I'm publishing the sequence from the whole ride, so the world can see that Bruce was, in fact, executing a "Mat Surfing Island Pullout."

If you are under, say, 80 years old, you might not know what an Island Pullout is, or was. Basically, experienced surfers could exit a pitching wall while still standing in trim by breaking out the tail and pulling the nose through the back of the wave. And a great surfer could do it without using his or her hands on the outer rail. (A "Standing Island Pullout" was one of the defining manuevers of the 50s.)

Since Bruce kind of cheated and used his hand on the outer rail, we'll give this an 8.5 out of 10.
:)

Now that he's fully entrenched in the corporate world of greed, exploitation, and general anti-social behavior, Bruce has taken his new move in a commercial direction...

Bruce continues...

PS As you can see from the attached photo I am taking advantage of this opportunity to "maximize the profit potential" and "capitalize on the group synergies available" by using this photo to market not only surf matting but also assure a steady flow of Benjamins from the fine folks at Joe's Beanery the "Home of the Bottomless Burrito"!

------------------------
Follow up...

Paul,

Looks great!

I think I remember why I was in such a hurry to get out of that wave. The shore pound that day was pretty bad. You know the setup, a long steep beach and a fair amount of swell. Once you were off the beach and over to the right you were in good shape. If you got caught just off the beach it could be challenging.

I watched Mary get get clobbered just a hundred feet from the sand.

(Mary, getting clobbered a hundred feet from the sand...)

But all in all it was a good day!

Hope you can make it to the next one.

Bruce

From Jason in Oz...

How goes, Pablo?

My kid was out with me last Tues. But before he jumped in he took a few pics. Not the best lighting, and a lot of wind. Anyway, had a good time on my RT tracker. RTT is my mat of choice for this particular wave of late. The wave's on the soft side, and never gets too big, but it's long and allows me to build up speed. Too bad all he took were pics right at takeoff, when i'm still adjusting position on the mat, because later down the wave the RTT would just find a nice high line, and zip. Well, we'll give it another lash soon.

I have a Go Pro HD cam, and that day it would've been a better choice of camera. Kids though - no listen - what can ya do?

Hope all's well with you.

Jason

From Denis...

Hi Paul!

Just a few words to say that my (almost) one year old-turned-French Standard mat was the ultimate toy today...

I went surfing a small right looking a lot like some famous Baja right hander and had a really good time surfing my standard, speeding across the sandbar.

A few controlled cover-ups and cutbacks...I'm starting to understand the mat surfing technique...and, even if I remain a stand up surfer aficionado, I can tell you that, today, my shortboard spent more time in the sand waiting for a ride!

There's no cure for surfmat addicts, I guess?

Best wishes,

Denis
Les Sables d'Olonne
France

Follow-up email from Denis...

Hi Paul!

That's right, I'm hooked on mats

I'll try to make a surfmat movie soon with my new Gopro HD cam...as soon as I drop my hooded wetsuit!

Denis

From Bagofwind...

These blokes haven't figured out that if you want to shag the shielas...you need a high-end mat! And, oh yeah, maybe a rashie in lieu of the Hanes T.

From Matt B...

Lock-down, open camera surfing sequence from "Secrets." One of the trippy-est mat riding vids ever...great stuff!

Steiny...Pumped Up!

hi paul-

i hope you are well. i surfed XXXXXXXXX on my mat this evening and had a great time. i had been riding the mat fairly soft and low pressure my last few go outs but today filled it up as hard as i could with my lungs. i got some really good waves and found myself getting in easier and having an easier time trimming the mat up. interesting. i am pumped to ride it again like this. this week we should have mid afternoon onshore winds and minus tides- perfect!

all my best to you, i hope you are happy and getting some waves,

steiny

ps- two people i passed on my bike on the way to surf yelled "george greenough!" at me!

check my blog:
harmlessneighborhoodeccentric.blogspot.com

First Mat Riding Lab?

(David, anxiously awaiting his flight to Puerto Rico...)

Paul,

Received Vespa today as expected. My wife was amused by my excited un-boxing. She thinks I am a descendant of a Labrador retriever. Can't wait to ride it during a trip to Rincon PR in March!!

Will try to get out in close by NJ surf (burrr) before then. Just love the whole mat attitude.

David

in the ice age, new york matters

tobay beach, long island ny

 remembering summers past with family matters. looking forward to getting back in the water soon with my crew once things warm up again!

From Mark...

Hi Paul,

Wanted to drop you a line...

Rode the Tracker at a sand bar point today. So much more fun than the beach breaks around here. But it's all relative.

It was interesting answering questions, "Does that have a fin on the bottom?" "Shouldn't you fill that with more air make it harder?" One guy I talked to said he rode mats at Makapu, and paipos in Town as a kid, and hadn't seen any mats in a long time. So of course I gave him the low down on 4th Gear Flyers.

It's also interesting gauging the reactions to people in the lineup. Usually pretty tolerant, probably thinking what is this guy doing? I got some good waves, I believe because people were curious to see what was going to happen.

All in all a great day, fun linking sections, figuring out how to manipulate the mat for the best results.

Thanks,

Mark

From the Notorious Mr X...

"I've been getting out on the mat a bit, that shot was on Friday, surfing through the contest area of the richest pro junior event in the world at Burleigh, just a friendly little f-you to all the groms on their narrow pointy white things."

New Fins, and a Good Session...

Hey Paul, Dan here in Ventura.

Been surfing boards all fall, including an epic big moon night session two weeks ago. Had to be my best Rincon session ever, over a mile of surfing I reckon, on a 7'11 Andreini that was perfect for the overhead conditions.

Viper finally made more V7 fins and I bought some this weekend. Went to the beach tonight with two roundtails, my Vespa and a 9'6 longboard Spence calls the Judge, you know the board.

Low tide, fairly soft, 5' @12 surf and the mat was clearly the call. Surfed sunset through twilight and got some super long rides on the mat...when the longboards out in the water were not really connecting the sections. Definitely my longest mat rides ever and it was super fun, learning to control the tail sides and build a rail to shoot the little sections.

I like the Vipers but my legs are out of shape. I think my calves may be pretty sore tomorrow. The kick is different from the DaFin. Seems like Dafins uses my quads more, and the Vipers my calves more.

Just wanted to say hi and let you know I'm still having fun on the gear you make.

Cheers,
Dan