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| Photo by Glenn Sakamoto |
It's all about spreading the mat stoke. All of it.
And this is why Pranaglider, Pranaspouse and I manned a booth at the Deus Ex Machina surf swap this afternoon. We weren't trying to sell mats, especially since the mats we brought were our own. It would perhaps be best to insinuate that we were trying to bring people over to the
It just hit me that matting is different from surfing in so many ways. Those of us who ride boards regularly find solace in the sticker that encourages people not to become surfers ("Surfing sucks. Don't try it."). The matting community is the antithesis of this, isn't it? We want people to try it. We want them to experience this thing that none of us has been able to eloquently describe. So, we were more than happy to go to the surf swap to spread the mat stoke.
We showed up with mats, a slideshow of mat riding shots and a couple of pairs of fins (which I ended up giving away, much to the disbelief of the folks who went home with them).
You know, we really must get Pranaspouse to do the PR for our community. She got people talking about mats even when they were only looking at paipos. Seriously, we need to hire her. Or at least buy her a lunch or two.
Spread the stoke, friends. It doesn't cost anything and it's the right thing to do.
4 comments:
It was great fun sharing a tent with you guys. "The paipo is great, but have you tried a mat?" – Bruce
Even more fun...knowing there are mat riders who will go to this much effort to spread the gospel!
Thanks to everyone!
Got out of the water a few evenings ago (at a place where, on good days, non-thrusters are barely tolerated) and attracted some curious onlookers.
Young dude: "Is that a body board?"
Me: "No, it's a. . . um, partially inflated nylon bag."
After briefly trying to explain the hydrodynamic benefits of variable inflation and no fins, I encouraged him to look up 4GF and give it a go. To which he replied:
"No thanks, bro, I'm a SURFER."
Me: "Me too, bro."
I felt a little disappointed, like a salesman who lost a sale, and I all I was selling was free stoke.
PG, its so fun one cannot help but spread the word. the problem remains that you can very easily loose someone in mat stoke conversation. I've pushed fish boards in the 70's, Asyms for 30 years, all kinds of weird fin setups and never have I been involved with something as esoteric as mat surfing. People (i.e. Surfers) really don't get it until... They see someone do it. Once you get to 3rd gear on a great lined up wall, the hoots and "what's that?" questions come flooding in.
My suggestion? Make sure every mat goes out with a least 50 5x7" postcards with a GG speed run photo, along with the same amount of your business cards. I can't tell you how many times I've need one at water's edge... And I'm just a newbee myself!
Not telling us what to do but for the sanity of the rest of us mat nuts, get a hold of www.modernpostcard.com
They can work wonders! plus the owner is/was a surf collector.
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