Brett Christens His 5GF!!!

Hi Paul,

Grabbed the 5GF today, for some reason I felt compelled to take it today even though the surf wasn't very big. Loved it straight away felt fast and solid, rode at 180 fold. Inflation made duck diving easy. Its hard to put in words but I really have been happy after riding this mat and I know Im going to riding it a lot more after today. I always say about different models is they all go unreal they just go different. I noticed that the 5GF didnt have the same glide as my Standard (remember it was small) but the speed enabled me to burn out a massive cutty if needed. I love the Standard but I love the 5GF too now...it makes me want to go in bigger waves than I thought I could on a mat.

MRF
Brett

From Surf Sister...

I went down to the Paipo Fest at Scripps pier on Sunday. It was great fun. I stayed on the mat through 98% of it. I traded my mat for a handplane at one point. But the guy I traded with had a strap that didn't fit my smaller hand and he couldn't handle the mat in those conditions. The waves were actually pumping. But quite a few folks showed up with mats. We definitely were out there representing!

These two were the team to watch!

SS

From Brett and Michelle!

Hi Paul,

The mats really got a grip on me now with many hours in the water today, Michelle got a couple of sequences of the Standard. Body and mat copping a flogging but holding up well !!!!

Mat riding forever,
Brett

From Greg...

From Steiny...

ah, the memories. zuma, south swell, the mayhem

Steiny

From Tim...

Hi Paul,

I just read your post "Tips From the Pros: Part Two!" Great stuff that I have to try as soon as possible, but right now there are no waves in sight here in Sweden.

Recently I returned from three weeks of surfing in France. The most used surfcraft in my quiver were my mats. Actually I used them 3 out of 4 times and the other times I went out with a longboard.

Compared to last year I did much better and I had a lot of fun on the mats. There were also frustrating moments, especially when the waves were fast and steep. Sometimes I just didn't manage to generate speed and did not feel in control. Other times my rides were just a blast. Super smooth, buttery drops, accelerating fast and speeding high along the wave. Several times I ended up laughing loudly at the end of such a ride. Why do I never do this on my surfboards?

I just wish I could surf more consistently, with more control. On the other hand that's what makes mat riding so fun for me. It's new, challenging and I'm just at the beginning. Thanks again for the great mats and the new sensations they provide!

By the way I just published a new video...surfing a standing wave in Munich. I know that I wouldn't have had nearly that much fun on a surfboard.

I hope you like it!

Kind regards

Tim

Three more great vids from Tim...

From Bob...

I just ordered a Tracker Roundtail and look forward to re-living my youth. The picture was taken at Ave. C in Redondo Beach around 1960.

Bob

Mat Riding Tips From The Pros!

Manipulating the shape of the nose of your mat is a great way to generate more "hold" while moving across steep or bumpy sections.

At 8:41 Mike Cundith finds himself behind George G with the wave threatening to pass him by. He pulls up on the outer pontoons to create more rocker and a deeper belly shape in the nose. The added drag in the nose allows the mat to climb back up into the power of the wave and accelerate forward.

It's a case where adding drag adds speed, which is counter-intuitive by conventional surfing standards. You can apply this move riding any wave on any day...try it!

From Frank...

Hi Paul,

We've been on Bald Head Island NC since July 14. Have had several days of good waves. I'm having a ball riding Fatty.

Stoked to receive compliments from the local surf crowd. Lots if questions and oohs and ahhs when beach goers note the portability. I brought Surfer's Journal with Inflatable Dreams article. Thanks to you I'm living the dream this trip.

Monday's waves brought out the best in Fatty. And I'm a more experienced pilot now and on better form than when we first arrived.

The Fatty held it's position on right and left faces. It is night and day compared to my two "Drugstore" four-pontoon mats I also brought. The performance of your three pontoon design is superb. I'm living the descriptions offered by Dale Solomonson, Kenny Hughes, and George G. In Surfer's Journal. And on the website.

I only wish I had this 4GF Fatty mat a decade ago. I love surfing but I love Mat Surfing even more. I like staying busy.

Thanks and best wishes, Frank

Pic of me holding Fatty below...

US Soldier Saved By Mat Surfer...

Paul,

Hurricane Fabio blew into to Orange County right on time. My wife Christine and I were on a walk to Trestles Tuesday night, and I stowed my udt mat and fins in the backpack along with the dinner. We first checked cottons, then headed past uppers, lowers, Middles, etc. I decided not to head out any of these spots as the shortboard crowd was on top of their game and in full effect. So I stopped at a weird riptide/left into a little bay north of church but south of middles. It was pretty much pumping, and after my wife said for me to go on out and that she'd finish her walk alone, I suited up, inflated and began psyching out for the paddle & kick out. The left looked ideal for matting as there were no surfers up that far, and it was big and lined up, though bumpy and drifty.

As she walked away, I jokingly told Christine to check out 2 soldiers from Pendelton preparing to swim out in full military fatigues. I couldn't believe that they'd try to swim in fatigues. I thought that this was part of some weird training regimen, but that they obviously knew what they were doing. After about forty minutes of catching waves and paddling back out I stopped once again to check out these 2 soldiers now roughly 75 yards off the sand. I noticed this time, unlike the previous paddle-bys I did, that one soldier was having trouble keeping his head up out of water. Then after I'd kicked over a wave and was about 50 feet further out one soldier began screaming for help. I kicked as fast as I could to get within range of these guys and just before another wave broke, I got the soldier most in need to grab the mat, which I now let go of. I instructed him on grabbing the corners and not letting go, and I simultaneously grabed his wet military fatigues behind his shoulders and began backstroke kicking as hard as I could toward shore.

By now another surfer had made his way over to the less distressed soldier, and was helping him in. After getting hit by 2 or 3 sets and swimming like crazy dragging this guy, I finally made it through the shore pound and we washed up on the sand together. He was still gripping the mat for dear life. All he said was, "thanks." I told him not to go back out there, and walked up the beach just in time to meet up with my wife now returning from her walk. She commented on the two wet soldiers trudging back past church toward base. I related my story to her and just sat tripping out that I'd just been involved in the rescue of a soldier using my udt mat. We sat and ate dinner as the sun set in total disbelief. What a weird session.

Jim

From Brett...

Hi Paul,

We've had many days of good small beach days and a few point days. Michelle had her best session yet on the 5GF today on way overhead beachies, she got 3 screamers and has been amped all day on the biggest rides of her life.

I have developed a manoeuvre which I named the train. Best done with a female mat rider where you ride up behind and lock on to the tail of her mat and continue to ride effectively giving you a rail line of over 8 feet, the rider behind has to steer as the front rider has no control, its a lot of fun.

Heres some photos of the types of waves we've been getting

Mat riding forever
Brett