From Max

 

                                                          Max, River Surfing In Munich

 

 Dear Paul,

Last week I finally made my way down to The Tusked Beast's cave in SF. It was nice to meet
Jonathan - an incredibly humble and interesting man. During our conversation he reminded me that you are always happy to hear feedback on the mats. Thinking about it, I can't remember ever sharing with you my feelings about riding your mats here in Spain. The environment here is not mat-unfriendly, but the mat community is small to non-existent. Approaching a humble decade of matriding I can still only count the mat surfers I know around here on one hand. Nevertheless, mat surfing has become an integral part of my life. An average week these days is around 15 hours on a mat.  

My feedback on the mats is most likely redundant to you, but since we do live in circles, what the heck - here you go:

Out of all mats, the Standard and the Omni get surfed the most. Big days are mostly Standard days but with a certain amount of uncertainty about where I will be heading I prefer to pack the Omni because it goes well in just about anything. Since the Omni feels much like a slightly larger Standard with just a bit less hold and responsiveness I pack it for days where maximum hold and minimal volume are not essential. Wearing thicker neoprene in winter I often graduate towards the Omni. 

I used to only take out the larger mats on the smaller days, but I remember one day in particular when I only had my XL at hand. Perfectly clean day with mild offshore winds at a break near my home in Spain. The wave I am talking about is a slow breaking wave on the flatter side. That day, the size of most sets was solid overhead. I could not believe how well the XL went. Hold was not a problem and the extra volume and size felt really good. Despite the size of the surf I ended up with a rather low inflation level – the mat almost completely deflated. I recall quite a few sessions in decent surf where my larger mats worked surprisingly well - despite the strain of getting out the back. In certain conditions more air moving around in a mat can feel really good. As fun as the large mats can be in the right wave they are just terrible in steep waves of even medium size. Slow, slippery and not very responsive. I have somewhat stopped judging mat selection merely by the size of the surf, I found steepness and speed of the wave to be an equally important factor.  

Something I pondered quite a bit is that when the surf is very very small my XL stops working, where the a smaller Fatty would still work. One explanation I came up with is that I like to go with very low inflation on these super small days, but when the air in a large mat gets under a certain threshold it gets very difficult to manipulate the rail and rocker. A slightly smaller mat in that case can usually be better handled at these low inflation levels. I guess my general feeling is that I do not like to go super low on inflation with the larger mats.

By the way, I seldomly end up checking my inflation levels by the ''degree-method.'' I prefer to get the inflation level down to where I am still able to get the inside rail firmly inflated by body positioning and manual compression. I use that approach for all mat models, usually very little adjustment is needed from there. This way the larger mats end up with slightly firmer angles and the smaller mats slightly more deflated. It feels like the larger the mat, the less impact compression and positioning has on the shape of the mat. I am guessing this is a big part of why we find mats with smaller volumes more responsive.

For unknown reasons the Lotus has flown under my radar until you mentioned it during my last order. After one good go out I already wish I had ordered at least another one. Hold is just superb at no expense of speed. The Lotus just flies! One hell of a mat! Can't wait to get the Lotus going on the next big swell.

Having the ability to choose between different mats is quite a luxury. Most mat surfers would probably be fine if they only one mat to chose from. You can really surf any model mat in just about anything. There are quite a few cool - and a hand full of rather sketchy - river waves around my former home in Germany, and even there the mats work. Some might say that matting a river wave will never unleash the full potential of a surfmat. There is no where to go, no "down the line". And they are right. But it is still heaps of fun and quite an experience to ride them in sweet water from time to time. Same stoke, if you ask me.  

There are quite a few river waves I surf around Europe including the Eisbach river waves. Something that all sweet water waves seem to have in common is that building up down the line speed is immensely difficult and turning ends up being mandatory in almost every river wave I know. Positioning on the mat and strategic turning are crucial. For inflation levels on a river, I generally use a lot less air than I would for the same size wave in the ocean. I always end up riding the waves quite high. If you lose speed and glide the water coming at you will suck you right up and out of the wave. Remember that unlike in the ocean water is moving against you in a river, so every bit of slip and slide that keeps you tracking downhill is helpful. The Omni at low inflation levels is my favourite river mat. The major downside of river matting is that dropping into the wave from above drastically decreases the life span of a mat. Killed an Omni in about three weeks at the Eisbach river. Anyone who attempts to surf a river would really want to focus on dropping into the wave gently.

Thank you for everything Paul, for the happiness you brought to so many people by keeping 4GF going. I know on your side of the planet the mat community is good and growing. My point is, Paul, probably less than a hand full of people would still be mat surfing if it was not for you. You are a true beacon of hope and inspiration to today's surfing. You have brought mat surfing from the last century all the way to the state that it is in now. Serious surf matters will always be charging all kinds of waves no matter where they live. Stoked and happy and excited.

Thank you for the daily stoke Paul. I know I am not the only one! :)

Warmest greetings from the Northern Atlantic!

ML

4/20

 

Surfmatters Retrospective #5 From The Tusked Beast

  The Tusked Beast, known to the non-matting world as Jonathan Hess, is a ''multi-verse renaissance-person'' of many talents...from professional dog walking to library science to talented wave rider.  Jonathan has generously offered to cull through the past 14 years of Surfmatters and select his favorite postings...and add his personal thoughts. 

Diminishing Returns

For many of us, surfing keeps us sane and grounded in a hard, unforgiving world… very much like- well, let’s say exactly like- a religious faith. The ocean, the sun, the wind and the waves endure, even as everything else on land changes, often for the worse. We lucky people who “know” can always eventually return to this place of solace and rejuvenation.

You’ll have your own takeaway from this heartfelt, moving essay, written in 2009 by Paul when he was landlocked and caring for his mother. Mine is to cherish and be grateful for what surfing gives us, and for being relatively healthy and in a positive space, especially as I age and my physical realities become more challenging.

Thanks, Paul, for the mats… and for articulating emotional issues so beautifully.

(And the comments on the original posting add a lot to piece, I encourage you to use the link to read them).

https://surfmatters.blogspot.com/2009/02/diminishing-returns.html

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Theses two shots of George, taken 40 years apart, tell an interesting story. In the top shot he’s riding a Stripes Down Hodgeman in 1969 -- the best surf mat of that era, but a slug by today’s standards -- in virtually perfect, uncrowded surf. In the lower shot, he’s riding a state-of-the-art nylon mat a few days ago in what amounts to a slop wave on a slop day at a slop spot.

I had the same reaction as Dale S. when I first saw those shots of George taken a few days back at Wategoes. It seemed like a shame. Here’s one of the 10 best surfers from the past 100 years, and he isn’t able to express his art in waves that are anywhere near the quality that were once commonplace for him. The intensity of the local crowds have overwhelmed a man who is both in his mid 60’s, and who grew up riding excellent, uncrowded surf. It just isn’t in the cards for him to crack Lennox with 85 guys out in hopes of snagging a few good waves. Even if he succeeded, which he surely would, it wouldn’t be a meaningful experience for him.

So, in many ways, George is being true to what has always motivated him to surf. And that’s why I have so much respect for him as a person. Too many times I’ve pulled up to some out of the way break with him on a marginal day, waited 15 minutes for a rideable wave to barely break, then watched him tear off his civvies, pull on a wetsuit and run into the water. That’s the real reason why George Greenough, and anyone like him, is a great surfer. Whatever perfect surf he once rode -- and the incredible equipment he developed to ride it -- were a distant second to the experience of simply being in the ocean. The fact that he had these experiences growing up surfing in an idyllic place like Santa Barbara in the 50’s is just a footnote.

“Diminishing returns” describes the circumstance most of us are dealing with in terms of surfing and in life…especially if we’re over 50. But it’s all relative. I’m sitting up here in Walla Walla, Washington, of all places, caring for my mother who’s about to turn 91. My wife Gloria and I are watching a woman in dramatic decline. A woman who as recently as 3 years ago was taking care of her neighbors’ homes while they were away. It’s killing both Gloria and I to see her fade mentally and physically. And it’s killing me to do it in a place 5 hours from the ocean. I'd give anything to paddle out somewhere and catch a wave...any wave. But every single day here carries responsibility and has meaning. The next wave I ride, however mediocre, will probably the best wave of my life. The law of diminishing returns will be reversed, if only for a day.

When I saw Simon Perini’s shot of George on the beach with the mat I sent him 10 days earlier, I have to say, it was one of the most surrealistic moments of my entire life. I was a child when I first saw George burn across the wall between the Indicator and the Cove at Rincon on a mat. Now, here I am, some 45 years later, sending mats I made to the same guy. And my mother, who was there for my entire board/mat making experience, is now reduced to being my child, like so many aging parents. For a moment, when I saw that photo, I lost all sense of time. It was truly a case of, “Where did the last 45 years go???”

Sh*t Just Got Real

 

We've been warned about the threat of Artificial Intelligence for at least the past 70 years, probably longer. (Sci Fi aficionados would have a firmer idea about the timeline.) 

It now seems inevitable, leaving the only question: Will is save us or destroy us? Or the former, followed by the latter. In any case, you know the AI creep is real when not once, but twice in one week it came after the mat riding community.

And it case you think this posting is a goof, it isn't...

Yesterday, March 21st, we here at 4th Gear Flyer received this obviously generated comment intended for the Surfmatters comment section. We get lots of junk submissions like, "Love your blog and the great job you're doing. Try Product X to enhance your experience." But this one was amazingly specific, and almost believable.

I popped it over to Mister Dirk, who is literate in all things IT, and this was his reposonse.

I’m going to guess that Walmart has an AI bot that does things like that. Insidious but presumably effective. To post it, or not? Maybe yes, and it could be the fodder for another post and discussion? If you even want to get tangled up in all of that.

Dirk

 

Then today, Sammy B of some note in the tech world, passed this along...

I thought you’d get a kick out of this. ChatGPT knows what’s up! Or maybe we’re all doomed with the impending AI takeover.  Fortunately — while I’ve no intention to build a mat, and will leave that to the Expert, ahem…you — it doesn’t seem like AI will mean doom for your job :) Unless that kevlar and carbon model is secretly in the works at 4GF HQ!

 

When something as inconsequential as mat riding somehow can garner the attention of leading edge tech, however inaccurate, you know the takeover is imminent. Your cue, Rod...

Winter Wonderland

 

Last week in Paso Robles!

Surfmatters Retrospective #4 From The Tusked Beast

 The Tusked Beast, known to the non-matting world as Jonathan Hess, is a ''multi-verse renaissance-person'' of many talents...from professional dog walking to library science to talented wave rider.  Jonathan has generously offered to cull through the past 14 years of Surfmatters and select his favorite postings...and add his personal thoughts. 

Greetings, canvas-clutchers! 

This month’s Retro Surfmatters offering was penned by Paul and posted back in 2009. Jeff C. wrote asking what was Paul’s “best surf-mat trip”, and caught The Maestro in an uncharacteristically garrulous, possibly caffeinated moment. Lots to enjoy here- honestly, it’s exactly what I most want to hear from a fellow mat surfer- and rendered beautifully, as expected… 

 

Hi Paul,

Have you ever thought about writing about your best surf-mat surf trip? I, for one, would love to hear more about your stealth adventures.

Jeff C.

Hey Jeff,

This is a slam dunk question to answer... but I don't have any photos to illustrate it! (Which is apropos, since no one else was there that day.)

When I woke up one Thanksgiving Day in the mid-80’s, it was threatening rain, and it had been flat for a week. I was fully absorbed in riding the nylon mats at the time, and I was getting in the water 3-5 times a week…so I was in really good shape. But, since it was about to rain and we were in the middle of flat spell, surfing was the last thing on my mind.

Around 8:30 AM friend called me up from the South Bay and said it was closed out in front of his house, and the wind was straight off shore. (Which is often the case in the South Bay on rainy days.)

So, I threw my gear in the car and headed down to Rincon for a look-see. Sure enough, it was 3-4 feet in the cove, but with a faint, rainy-day southeast bump. No one was in the water. Not one person. A few guys hanging out in the lower lot…that was it.

I figured the best call was the Overhead. It can handle south wind better, since it faces a more northwest direction than the local points. I toyed with the idea of going back home and getting my spoon, since Overhead was a great spoon wave. But, I decided to stick with the mat, and headed south.

As I drove past Faria, there was swell showing, featuring a slight south bump that would surely get worse as the day progressed. Still no one out. (It was Thanksgiving day, mind you…but this was the first day of a swell before mass-media surf predictions and instantaneous surf reports.)

The outer reef at Overhead was cracking, as expected, and wind and texture were a lot better. That was the call, but I wanted to go down and check out California Street. The long, long walls there were made-to-order for the "new" mats. Unlimited speed potential when it was over 4 feet.

When I got there, the sets were 6 feet. The wind was from the south, but not ruining it. Like all the other spots that morning, no one was in the water. I figured I'd get out there and snag 2 or 3 walls across the point before the wind destroyed it.

I suited up and walked all the way past the Pipe, towards Hobo Jungle. I wanted to paddle out up top, and drift down with the current, especially since the swell was consistent, and I’d be punching through the white water on a mat.

I slipped out during a lull without even getting my hair wet, and started moving from the Pipe down towards the parking lot. The wind was starting die down, but there was a residual south bump lingering. I picked up a wave in front of the lot, and rode it all the way down to the pier. Great fun. The swell had more depth than was apparent from the beach.

After I pulled out of my first wave, I decided to stay in the water rather than go into the beach and walk back up. I paddled out parallel to the pier, then worked my way back up the point. As I was kicking along, the wind started blowing again, but this time it was from the north/northwest…¾ offshore from behind. The ideal wind direction for California Street. I looked over towards the parking area, and there were still only a handful of cars there, and none of them appeared to be surf cars. It started to dawn on me, this was going to be an epic go out!

It was still overcast, but out towards the islands, there was a large patch of blue sky starting to show. That meant that the bulk of the daylight was coming from the west. It was maybe 10:30 in the morning, when the sun is usually coming from the opposite direction, but the waves were backlit…like morning in Queensland. My favorite lighting to surf!

A handful of other surfers paddled out during the session, but I never came into contact with them. I rode so many wave across the point, it seemed like I spent as much time riding waves as paddling. And I could let waves go that I would usually kill for, just to watch them break, unspoiled. A rare feeling, even back then.

What was the most interesting was being able to take any line I wanted on a wave, with no fear of someone taking off in front of, or behind, me. And no fear of blowing a precious wave, either. When I screwed up, there were plenty more where that one came from!

I tried riding my mat with so little air, my chest was almost touching the bottom skin. And I rode a few waves blown up almost rock solid, just to feel the rail hold in like a fin. Each extreme worked, but in a profoundly different way. What worked the best, overall, was the 90 bend we had been happy with for a year or two. But it was fun to try variations with no pressure (pun intended) to make the most of every wave.

After 4 hours, I finally started to get a cramp in one of my calves, so I reluctantly came in.

What I came away with from this day is that when it comes to riding good waves on a mat, less is more. Less turning, less concentration on myself. I just started to feel my way along, the way you do when you ride a mat in the dark. And, the exact opposite of how one might surf in a modern, competitive/photographic environment.

Later that evening, another friend called and asked if I surfed that day. He said he’d been in the water at Faria all afternoon, and a few guys came and went, but that was it. He had it to himself. He was riding a fin-forward hull, and conveyed a lot of the same observations I had about my day in the water down in Ventura. “I stood there and did nothing on most waves…just flying…it was incredible!”

I looked at the surf the next day, and it was a Victory-At-Sea, post-rain-front blow-through, with 30 knot west winds, and dozens holiday surfers out at every spot. At the time, I certainly appreciated what I had experienced the day before…but not as much as I do now! I don’t think I got in the water again for another week.

I still have the mat I rode that day, BTW. In fact, it was the original "Standard" 4GF shape. Since then, the canvas strips got peeled off, and several other non-skids have been added. It's a damn mess now! The last time I went surfing, a few days after Christmas in 2008, I rode that mat because I knew I wouldn’t be in the water anytime soon, and I wanted to see how it felt after all these years.

The first wave it jumped into second gear before I got to the bottom of a 4 foot wave!

From Max L.

 

Hi Paul, 

This is on the Canary Islands, a spot just 5 min. down from where I used to live (-: 

Gnarly lava shoreline, and minimal crowds even on the good days!

Max

From @surfcollusion

 

 

 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cna5njcPNgS/

 

Hot Off The Press From Steiny

 

Surfmatters Retrospective #4 From The Tusked Beast

The Tusked Beast, known to the non-matting world as Jonathan Hess, is ''multi-verse renaissance-person'' of many talents...from professional dog walking to library science to talented wave rider.  Jonathan has generously offered to cull through the past 14 years of Surfmatters and select his favorite postings...and add his personal thoughts.

 ------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Happy Hollowdays, Mat Marauders!

This gorgeous candy-colored sequential confection of matting perfection was published January 10th, 2010. Whoever it is has never piped in to “claim” it, which makes it that much sweeter... and that much more "mat", if you know what I mean.

Here’s to happier days for all of us in the water and out of it in 2023!

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Our own Mystery Mat Rider greeting the new year!

From Jack Coleman

 

The narration for this short is mostly from a video I shot of George in his backyard in 1985.  PG

Link From Steve

 

 

Gerry Wedd: The Opening WAVE

Stu Nettle (stunet)

Talking Heads

Tuesday, 06 December 2022

Gerry Wedd is a six-time state champion of South Australia. Won 'em all on the trot, though that was a while ago now. He's since been a gun for hire at Mambo, back when they were a more daring enterprise, collaborated in all manner of surf art, but is never more at peace than when he's sitting in his studio knuckles deep in supple clay.

Gerry's become "the village potter" at Port Elliot, surfing whenever his timetable or aching body allows. He's also just finished working on a film project, which is somewhat novel for a ceramicist. The film is called WAVE and has been described as "genre-defying", which can itself be defined as any artwork that's difficult to describe, even by the people who created it. But Gerry, despite being in the throes of illness, gives it a red hot go.

 

Swellnet: G’Day Gerry. How’ve you been?
Gerry Wedd: I wish I could say good, but I'm fucked.

What's going on?
I’ve just had an endless litany of weird injuries and then COVID got me and then I got injured again and now I’ve got a cold that is fucking nuts.

There's something to be said for getting it all over at once; just combining your ailments into one short time frame.
Oh yeah…

So for the next two years you'll be sitting pretty…hopefully.
Let's hope so.

Your new work is the first thing people see when they visit the Art Gallery of South Australia. I know very little about it, so can you describe it to me?
Last year a guy that I used to see in the surf all the time approached me. He's a film producer, he’s done all sorts of work, including working with [Indigenous musician] William Barton. They'd just done a VR project and he said, ‘You know, you do those drawings on your pots, you tell stories, do you want to be involved in developing something?’

I foolishly said yes and then began developing something that has not a lot to do with surfing.

 So what is it?
It’s essentially your classic ecological nightmare. It's a story, eleven minutes long, shown on a surround screen. The story starts with the ancient world, and then it moves quite quickly through an area based upon where I grew up, a little coastal area, and then very quickly goes from [white European] arrival to development to fire and catastrophe. The closing part of it is just this hilarious kind of cartoon wave that looks more like some kind of weird rendered chop.

Is it a morality tale..?
You could look at it that way. It started out being much more didactic and having a lot of people in it, however it just got to the point where, I guess, the viewer is nature. It's nature kind of standing back, watching the environment and things happening very quickly.

A weird thing was the story…the way it changed and unfolded once we started working together.

Yeah, I want to ask you about that because you usually work with ceramics - static, not moving - yet this is something else entirely. How did you adapt to that?
I had to do a lot of drawings. Basically, I kept redrawing the cartoon of this very basic idea, but then trying to imagine it at the VR stage, so that you would be wearing a headset and you would be in the forest and things.

I found it really hard, particularly through the middle of the project because we were doing all these things. I'm the artist, so I was supplying them with all the images and then they would just send me back these short clips of how I imagine it might work, which was challenging, but I got the chance to do some very, very rough kind of animations and stuff, which I'd never done before. I really loved that part of it.

Are you the sort of person who likes to be taken out of your comfort zone?
No, no. I'm a two foot feet beachbreak kind of guy, in every way. But the way people see me, I'm operating out of their comfort zone. But no, actually I'm not risk averse, but this was certainly different to the way I usually work. All of a sudden I was dealing with a team and each of those people are visual artists in some way. That was the good thing about it because normally I'm in complete control of just about every aspect.

Of course.
But it's funny, because years ago when I did work with Mambo, I quickly adapted to my work being completely changed.

You're OK with that...?
Yeah. The art department would say, ‘Yeah, this is fine, but we got to do this and we got to do that.’

The great thing was that, say for example when there's this kind of tsunami thing at the end [of the WAVE film]. I didn't do that. The guy who is the VR expert, we described to him how waves break, so he built this ocean and then built all the wave movements. We tried to get the wave to be somewhere between a film and a cartoon and a wood block print and all those things.

Yeah. When I look at the wave on the screen it's disorienting.
Well you picked it, because water in one part of the wave is moving the wrong direction, so the water's running down the face instead of pulling up from the trough. Both of us, the producer and I, we're both surfers and we thought it's weird, but it's also kind of great. For us, it's suggesting something that's a lot more out of control than what you're used to.

Okay. And now people can see this when they go in through the foyer of the art gallery?
Yeah, it's in the front room. I know lots of surfers have already been and some of them just for a selfie. You've got this kind of giant Hokusai wave behind you.

So they don't have to put on VR headgear?
No. This is called a 360 degree screen.

You are in the middle of the action, so that 180 degrees that you're looking at if you're facing forward, as that's changing, so is everything behind you.

It's never going to translate well to a flat monitor.
Not to a monitor. I found out a couple days ago, it's going to do an East Coast tour*. It'll be on a different kind of screen, which is like, I don't know what circumference or whatever, but it's quite a big screen.

What about real waves? Getting any..?
No, I've been. Fuck, pinched nerves, all kinds of shit. For years I've done rehab on a mat and now, at the moment that's 90% of what I do.

Sorry, when you say mat, do you mean a yoga mat..?
No...ha ha.

Oh, blow up mat. George Greenough.
Yeah, a Fifth Gear Flyer.

OK gotcha. So you're sort of using that more as a necessity to keep you in the water?
Yeah. It's really funny because friends say, ‘Why didn't you get a boogie board? You could do this and this and this’, but they haven't tried them out. There's a peculiar kind of glide that you get on a mat. Only every now and then. I haven't totally worked it out yet.

Do you ever take it out to Knights?
No, ha, then I really would have back injuries. I did that three summers ago and I got flipped three waves in a row. I didn't have the paddle power to kind of knife into it.

I tell you, one really good thing about the mat is it makes shit surf really good.

Because you're down lower to the water surface. Is that it?
A part of it. Also, part of it is your ego goes out the window, and so you're not looking for a wave with a wall to do whatever on, if you know what I mean. It's much more immediate when you take off, you're just dealing with what's right there.

Even if it’s not perfectly shaped?
Yeah.

Talking about ego. I do a lot of bodysurfing and that can be humbling because you’re not even considered part of the pecking order.
Yeah, yeah.

But I find a freedom in that; just do whatever you want. Catch any sort of wave, even closeouts
Yeah. The really funny thing is, in the shitty waves I surf down here, I still have very good knowledge of reading the surf. Even when I go out on the mat and it's quite crowded, I'm still getting most of the best waves.

Nice.
It's weird, and I call people onto the waves!

"Please, please, take my waves."
And I thought, fuck, when I was younger, everyone wanted to drop in on me.

Yeah.
Maybe they feel sorry for me.

Perhaps. But you've earned your spot up at the top of the totem pole. On your blow up mat.
On my mat.

 

 

From Charlie and Henry

 

Paul...wow! Henry and I got in a few hours with our new mats yesterday, and we had SO MUCH FUN. A night-and-day difference from the canvas Redback we had been riding, though it's clear that he and I both have a LOT to learn. We do have the bug, though. After his first wave, Henry said, "Pop, that is one of the greatest moments of my life." (Granted, he's eight, but still.)

I have attached some photo evidence of our first outing, though you will see that my action-shot-photography leaves even more to be desired than my mat surfing. The little black blob is Henry :) 

Thank you again for making it all possible, and we will look forward to keeping in touch!

 

Charlie M

From Soulofgpl

 

                                                                     Photo: Sean Manning

  Michael Davidson flying on a Lotus model!

Surfmatters Retrospective #3 From The Tusked Beast

 

The Tusked Beast, known to the non-matting world as Jonathan Hess, is ''multi-verse renaissance-person'' of many talents...from professional dog walking to library science to talented wave rider.  Jonathan has generously offered to cull through the past 14 years of Surfmatters and select his favorite postings...and add his personal thoughts.

 -------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Surfmatters readers! This time we’re going to revisit two posts from PG he shared during the holidays in 2011/12, which themselves revisited his and Greenough’s filming for Big Wednesday in El Salvador in 1977 (pretty “meta”, huh?).

There’s a lot to appreciate here. The centerpiece is a joyous, dynamic eleven seconds of Paul surfing shot by George which speaks for itself. It’s extra groovy because Paul hadn’t seen it since it was shot; imagine how it must have felt to see it again for him. For sure it inspired a vivid recounting- enjoy!

(From my perspective: as well as the choice footage, it makes me appreciate the various hustles our mat maker had in his checkered career, the cast of characters in his life story, and (he’s going to hate this) the specialness of being able to get his handmade mats directly from him. Nowadays you have a few choices of where to get a mat… but none of them got a side slip panning shot while grinning like a fool, shot by Greenough in 1977.)

 

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I've had this short clip of 35mm Panavision movie film tucked away in a storage bin for the past 34 years, and finally got around to having it transferred to digital. (Well, actually, it was Mr. Dirk who put out all the effort with regard to the transfer!)

Some back story on the shot...

When GG and I were working on Big Wednesday in the Spring of 1977, we needed to do some test shots with the backpack camera that George built for the project. We didn't have time to shake down the rig before leaving for El Salvador, so when we got down there, a bunch of the actors and their surfing-doubles went out at Zunzal to ride waves alongside George...while he tried various focal lengths, aperture settings, FPS speeds, and camera angles. The camera wasn't designed as a point-of-view unit, but more for tracking shots as someone rode the wave ahead of him. (This was new for George, as most of what he had previously shot off his back was POV.)

I had been jockeying the camera rig back and forth to the beach most of that day, and I was pretty tired. The air, water and humidity were all "85." At one point, a wave came along and George shouted "Double!" which was 70s-era mat surfing shorthand for inviting another matter to catch the same wave. We got that one wave together, and then George went back to shooting the serious test footage.

The material shot that day was flown back to Hollywood. (I love saying "Hollywood" like I was a part of the film industry!) After processing, it found its way back to our encampment a few miles north of La Libertad. We watched the footage one evening, and I had completely forgotten about the shot George had taken of me until it popped up on the screen. Culturally speaking, this was near the bottom of the mat riding bell curve, so none of the many surfers in attendance took notice of it...other than Greg MacGillivray, who thought it was neat because I was laughing. (In truth, who doesn't laugh when you ride a wave on a mat with someone else???)

The next day, George snipped the mat riding shot out of the reel of test footage with a pair of scissors, and gave it to me for safe keeping. I brought it home a few months later when we wrapped, and hadn't seen it projected until a few days ago, when Dirk forwarded the digitized version it to me.

I have to say, the first thing that jumped out when I looked at it was my abundance of hair and the lack of body fat! Beyond that, the lively performance of the old Hodgman is what's really neat. I do remember that the surf down there was well suited to those mats...having a strong shoreward push without a lot of curling power. So, the relatively crude shape of the mat was in its ideal element. The current generation of mats would go even better, by a long shot, but it was a lot of fun to ride the last-of-the-Hodgmans in warm water and fun surf conditions. And I think the film clip really conveys that.

The first few frames of the clip are of me sitting with Greg MacGillivray and Lance Carson. They were taken earlier the same day, as I recall.

This is George at Zunzal during the Big Wednesday shoot, riding a pretty big wave with the same backpack camera rig. I shot these photos with a 400mm lens from a lifeguard tower near the water's edge, so that will give you an idea of how far out in the ocean he was.

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Along with George Greenough and Bud Browne, Dan "Man Mountain" Merkel did the water photography for Big Wednesday.

Bud Browne with clapperboards and his surf mat.

George Greenough with a water housed Arriflex. When he was caught inside at Sunset -- which happened often -- he would let the camera go and hang onto his mat. He reasoned that it was easier to ride the mat into the shorebreak and retrieve the camera than it was to swim in with the camera and find his mat!

Dan Merkel shooting up at Conception. This is the same mat and camera rig he's duck diving in the shot below...I built the housing while we were in El Savador.

All three water photographers utilized surf mats in their effort...but none more impressively than Dan Merkel. For all you lilly-livered wusses who moan and groan that you can't duck dive your mat in surf over 2 feet, check this out...Merkel takes down a water-housed 35mm camera and a huge, rental-sized raft at Sunset Beach!

Next time you're caught inside on your mat, keep in mind the sage words of Dee from Sunny/Philadelphia: "Sack it up, Bitches!!!"

Seriously, there's a nice interview with Dan Merkel about the changes on the North Shore from a photographer's perspective...here.

From Twitter, Via Mister Dirk

 

 

A school of stingrays riding a wave...amazing!

Three Reader Submissions

 

  Hi Paul,

If I had to pick the thing I like the most about mat riding it would probably be that the rocker fits perfectly in every wave!

Gogglefog 

Thanks for putting me on the blog. I’m loving the Lotus, it holds in and threads the tube better and doesn’t slide slip on bottom turns as much . Still getting used to it. Here’s a shot with a nice rooster tail! ( On me Standard) 

Aloha,

John L

 

 

 

Pulled from Facebook and sent from my pal Steve Heilig. I think it's Rob Belli. It has that "Where's Waldo" quality that you seem to like (as evidenced by Surfmatters!)

 

Tusked Beast

From Fantasy Island

 

Hi Paul !

 

Wanted to show you how fast I went on the Standard !

Aloha,

John L

Most Soulful Mat Failure Ever?

 

 

Hey Paul, 

I’ve been really enjoying the xl blue streak! I punctured the bottom flying through an unexpected school of fish. I felt the air bubbling up from under me. 

Thanks, 

Lucas