From Adam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Howdy & Greetings from Oz

Well with our winter months quickly approaching , with what finally seemes to have passed our Summer Blues of Small Wave Slop and entered a great period of powerful ground/ cyclone swells, so many great waves of late, with Gilligans being our premier mat wave spot, delivering the goods to us crew from SCUMM.

Even this morning I rode waves that would rival the winter of 2015, but thats another post down the track, and this is about last Saturday week, with just Paul (Oil)  and myself hitting it before first light ( 2 others beat us out there) We were both riding Lotus's , which I find my favorite mat to speed on.

One thing I would like to mention is the real  importance of using your legs, flippers and body position in riding larger waves , as we spoke before about the type of wave that I like surfing with mats , I also find my legs are my main rudder / accelerator / stabilizer , so when entering a fuller section, I tend to lay my legs down more flat, giving my mat a reverse tail rocker in sense, and giving it the extra little acceleration to help it enter the next section, and so when flying flat stick down the line , I tend to have my inside leg down, holding my line, with the outside flipper up , and if your feel the moment is right, lift both flippers up, this again will push your knees down , and help create the reverse tail rocker to really hit 4th gear !

If your confident enough, drop your inside shoulder down flat, with your arm behind your back or both arms, giving you the full birdman look as you are streaking across the face, for a full tilt speed run! Just a little tap with your outside flipper ( check the 2.57 minute mark in this video) can help correct your line and your tail from drifting out slightly, I dont know how many times I have down this over the past few years, with the best one I had to actually tap my outside flipper over my inside leg, and correct my line otherwise I was going from edge riding one pontoon to a full face turtle roll.

The main thing is to have fun, don't matter how you ride, hold your mat, or the waves you ride, just enjoy the ocean and the joy it brings!

The next morning ( Sunday)The Cushion Club

A nice flat battery in my van led to latter start to the day , so by the time I caught up with Neal , the tide has filled in, the swell had dropped and there was a fun but friendly crew of boys and girls out in the line up. So after the larger, down the line waves we had the previous day, it was fun to just relax and chill, and enjoy the banter and laughter from those bratty girls who named us the Cushion Club ! I was sitting out the back when I heard all the girls squealing and screaming , with a large pod of dolphins bouncing the thru the lineup, much to the delight of everyone.

The last time I had this happen was a few years back and I was surfing with Eric and Ric the kneeelo, we were surfing way out the front of the Island and Eric had just caught a bomb thru to the inside when I heard him yell out ' here they come' with the biggest pod of dolphins I have witness every, came marching thru the lineup.