From Vogue, August 2022

 

From JB

 

Well gentlemen, I'm back.  Here's a sampler. South Central Atolls, Maldives. Quote from a local: "Bruddah, you make history here."

From SC

 

 Blowing minds in the Mentawai. Surf mat was breaking down peoples mental about speed, riding in the pocket, and what it means to enjoy perfect waves.

Stoddy

Mystery Party Wave

 

From Steiny

 

The woman in middle is Hilary Bryant, on right Christy Chin. Christy's husband Eric just ordered a mat. These are all very good people. Hilary ex mayor of Santa Cruz. Christy vote.org organizer.

Dispatch From Foreign Correspondent Jim B

 

 My sunrise swim spot out front. 

Photo: Main Street, Thulusdhoo Atoll, Cokes surf spot down at the end of the road.

 Whatalife!

Our choices involve: surf or snorkel in the morning?

Where to do either or both of the above? 

How long to nap? 

Do we hire a boat at 2pm or 3pm, to surf until near the quick tropical sunset? Don’t want to be in the water and sun for too long. 

And where to surf? So far I’ve slid some fun, like really fun waves at Chickens and Ninjas. 

 

Four Italians, two guys two women, yes, surfing Italians from Palermo, two Spaniards from Bilbao, and me. Where’s your board? They ask. As we cruise the five minute crossing from Thulusdhoo to whatever atoll that is where Chickens is, I show them the mat and inflate it. Italians don’t do it often, but they were kind of quiet. Okaaaay….

 

1.5 hours later they gave me standing ovation when I paddled back to the boat (the last one out). Yesterday, after a similar session at Ninja’s, one of the Italian women laughed and said, “You’re crazy.” I believe it was a compliment. 

 

So, that’s a summary of our first few days here, more or less. 

Oh: Lotus absolutely flying down the line and holding an edge really well on the bottom turn and cutback. Haven’t taken it out on any super steep reef ledge wave yet like Cokes. Not sure I will. 

 

Just finished another late afternoon/evening session at Ninja’s. Super fun and nothin’ serious. I got some pretty good zippers, and one way down the line, far past where others were making it to. Paddling back out, one guy asked me how the food was in India…took me a little while to figure it out. Pretty funny. 

And an Austrian woman surfer, when I got back into the boat, asked me how old I am. Classic.

We’ll be joining our four Australian boat mates next week and surf the southern atolls. 

Jimbo

Newest 4GF Team Riders

 

From Lloyd's Blog

 

I met George Greenough in Santa Barbara in 1971. He was the next door neighbor of my friend Bob Easton and one night he came over to Bob’s house and showed us some of his surf films. At the time, George was riding a knee board and had a homemade waterproof wide angle movie camera powered by a motorcycle battery. He was the first guy to film inside the curl and it was breathtaking. Bob said that George was like a martial artist, crouching low, being part of the wave, as compared to standup surfers trying to conquer the wave. He ended up revolutionizing surf photography.

These days George lives in Australia, and is a legendary waterman. For some years now he’s been riding an air mat, which he considers superior to a knee board. It appealed to me. For one thing, it’s way easier to travel with a foldable air mat and fins in your backpack than to lug around a surfboard. For another, as us surfers get older, here’s a way to stay in the water. Plus they are fast as hell.

 I did some research and found that George gets his mats from https://www.surfmats.com/ (“Handmade in America by Paul Gross since 1984.”) Over the years, Greenough has worked with Gross on mat design. I bought one, have not used it yet, but it’s in my car with a pair of DaFiNs https://www.dafin.com/, small flexible fins from Hawaii, highly rated by lifeguards and bodysurfers. I’m going to take them on a trip in the Spring to Micronesia and Hawaii. Check out also https://surfmatters.blogspot.com/.

From Lou

 

G, day Paul...

Some photos of Surf Mat beach hire Kirra Gold Coast.

Bit of history in these photos..

Cheers.

Lou.😎