Get Your DaFins Here!!!

Hello y'all!

Just a quick reminder that we have DaFin swimfins available for sale un the UK MAT SURFERS SHOP.

Da Fins are the fin of choice for many of the UK's most committed surfmat riders: 

• Soft foot pocket for comfort.

• Large “strakes” give drive and fantastic hold.

• Stiff, wide blade.

 

Worldwide shipping is available with

FREE SHIPPING IN THE UK!!!

Wide range of colours and ALL sizes available.  As always, profits go in to the UK Mat Surfers kitty so get spending!

Cheers

G

Why Matting's Crap

1)It's impossible to convey via a)visual,b)textual or c)aural means.
2Each session is cumulatively "the best session ever".
3)Quikoneillabong hasn't yet released a mat-specific suit featuring hyperflex parrot shoulders.

Despite this,Matt23 seems to be giving an early prototype the thumbs-up!

Bolsa Mat Meet

Iteresting and fun little mat meet vid. Looks like 4 matters having a blast in small but fun surf.

Great stuff.  :-)


Surfmats Bolsa mat meet from chad Stickney on Vimeo.

You just can't beat the smiles can you.

Cheers

G

Handplane For Sale

HANDPLANE FOR SALE!!!

I'm selling my handplane.  Basically, I'm just poop at bodysurfing!

Anyway, it on ebay so CLICK HERE to have a look at it.  All the bumf is there but to give a short description, I shaped this from an old skateboard deck. It also has a layer of 4oz glass over the top.

The strap is adjustable and it comes with a bag.

This is based on dimensions of a Brownfish plane and works really well.

Cheers

G

Round tail tracker on ebay

Found this on ebay if anyones after a roundtail?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Surf-Mat-4th-Gear-Flyer-/260840096482?pt=UK_Surfing&hash=item3cbb4802e2

Brittany Trip... Session 5 - Unexpected Fun...

Well as this trip wraps up I am sat here 1 1/2 bottles of plonk down and reluctantly looking at my journey back home. We have had such a great time here and we leave with heavy hearts. We've all really enjoyed this trip, so much so that Becky is aiming to save enough for us to return in April as opposed to our usual February Centre Parks trip!  Beleive me when I say that's a big deal,

Looks like we might be turning into a two-euro-holiday-a-year family!

Anyway, I'm sat here in the tent and it feels weird knowing that this is our last night in what we've called home for the last week:

We decided to make a real day of it today so swam, hit the water slides, played ping pong, played football and then decided to hit the beach... What the hell, it was sunny!

Webbo was having a real blast on his skimboard bought with holiday money from Nanna and Auntie Pat (thanks Auntie Pat & Nanna):

The thing with skimboards (for them what don't know) is they need a good expanse of flat and shallow water to work. Due to that fact, our initial stop off of St Tugen was far from ideal being a dumping shorey. So it was that we headed around to Baie which Jim had told me works right through the tide. Webbo was in his skimming element and I got a few on the mat which was a real treat having expected nought today but despite the onshore, Baie was serving up a few treats:

Far from perfect but a great end to a great holiday! I had a good few waves today finishing up with a hands-behind-back bowling left linking into a racie right hand shorey which was the perfect sign off to a perfect trip.  :-)

Thanks again to Jim for sharing his local knowledge and thanks to him and his good lady Tina for a beautiful meal last night and a good look at Jims Neumatic Advanced (circa 2004). Hopefully we'll see Jim making use of this beautifully crafted vessel. I know it's inspired me.

Cheers

G

Brittany Trip... Session 4 - At least I can say I have...

I awoke before the sun this morning. Hastily flung on some clothes, packed some water and pain au chocolat and tip toed my way through the campsite to get to the car. Once in I set the Sat Nav for Leyde and off I went...

For those who don't know it, Leyde (known as Les Roches Blanches by the locals) is a very classy point setup needing a good sized W-NW swell and SW-SE winds. You will understand my sense of excitement then when I saw this local forecast:

I got to the little carpark, headed down the track and....

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!

Still, this is a local classic and I'm on holiday so what the f*ck eh?  Paddled out, had 3 waves and even got a glide going on one or two but the waist high waves and a dropping tide meant I was clunking around on bare rock a lot of the time. Good job mats are what they are. A board would've been dinged to bits.  Still, I can now say I've surfed Les Roches Blanches. Beautiful set up and would love to get back here when it's really on and like I say, the middle section on the ones I had was a delight.

After hopping out I nipped up the coast to look at Pors Theolen but that was dumping and Baie was well over head, closing out with a monster paddle. All the south coast spots were blown out but I did the tour just to see them which was good fun.

Sun's out too so it looks like MSW got the weather wrong. :-) Gonna have a bash at carp fishing with Webbo in a mo.

Cheers

G

Brittany Trip... Session 3 - Lumps, Bumps and Pleasingly Long Rights

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

That my friends is the exhillation one emits after a really rewarding surf.  This avo saw me hit Baie des Trépassés with Jim at around 2.30pm (that's 1.30 proper time). We were met by a moderate cross shore wind and a solid and building swell.

There were a few out but not as many as you'd expect due to the bloom of green algae which plays havoc with leashes. Obviously, that's not something I've had a problem with. :-) The other problem with Green Algae is that it is seriously poisonous when dry.

I'm reliably informed that it has killed a horse!!! (What he was doing in the sea is anyone's guess).

Anyway, Jim and I were not perturbed and paddled out to a peak which we pretty much had as our own. Very bumpy but also very long rights which we shared as party waves for the most part.

Jim was riding a very interesting bodyboard/paipo hybrid thing which almost kept pace with G-Mat 3 (not quite though).  Unfortunately, cramp ended Jim's session after an hour or so and his leaving seemed to curse the peak leaving me with head+ closeouts and a mother of a paddle.

Nonetheless I came out smiling. I had some great rides today and G-Mat 3 also showed herself to be The Tank she was intended to be coming through some decent poundings unscathed.

Anyway, off to bed now, I hopefully have an appointment with a renound point break in the morning.

Cheers

G

Brittany Trip... Session 2 - Mush Burgers to Go Please...

OK then. Session 2 found us at Baie des Trépassés on Jim's advice. This is basically the most swell hungry spot in the immediate area so was certainly a good call. We took a peek at the beautiful St Tugen first but the north in the swell meant that really wasn't getting a look in.  Anyway, I decided to pass on the dawnie as the winds looked poor and gusty but I awoke to find they were uber-light...

Bugger...

And so it was that Webbo, Becky and I made the trek over and made the most of the 2-3 foot weak but playful conditions.

I had a good few funions on the mat, even landing a floater infront of the good lady. Obviously she was blown away. She's been looking at me with an expression on fascination and awe ever since!

Becky had a good time on her sponge and Webbo was ripping things up on the Beater "One" borrowed from Blimp (cheers again for that Jerry).  He was riding kneelo and stand-up and alternating between the two on the same wave.  I reckon he could end up like this fella:



Anyhoo, looks like the waves drop to nought or so for the next couple of days but the sun should be out and the skatepark in Duarnanez has got Webbo's name all over it.

I'm off to sink a bottle of Cotes du Rhone

Cheers

G

Brittany Trip... Session 1 - Good start!!!

Well, after landing yesterday avo, driving down with an annoying (and worryingly worsening) rumble from the drivers front wheel we've had our first night in the tent. Comfortable, and warm in a great campsite.  Woke this morning and headed to Penhors to meet up with Jim as arranged.  Got there to be greeted by this!

This gives some sense of perspective:

Beautiful, mellow glass and a great vibe in the lineup.  Jim tells me the French don't like getting up early...

Suits me.  :-)

G

Brittany Trip... Breaking new ground!

Well, the new surf-o-tastic vehicle is fully loaded, including the tent, etc which was previously in a trailer. Unfortunately, the new wagon doesn't have a towbar meaning everything is in it! Now this in itself isn't actually a massive problem. It does all fit. The problem is, after fitting in my lad's boards, there is no room for my kneeboard.  My quiver for tthe trip is, therefore as follows:

I also have a handplaneand a couple of bellyboards. However, not having a kneeboard to hand is newground for me.  It's interesting as I've not actually ridden it for nearly 6 months but it's still an odd feeling. The fact is, I'm also overcoming an achiles injury agravated by kneeling so my kneeboard would probably be a no-go anyway but it's still a very strange feeling.

What if it's well overhead and going square?!

Perhaps it's time to just go with the mat no matter what. After all, that's what I made G-Mat 3 (middle) for...

Anyway, sailing tomorrow so feel the tingle of anticipation. I'm often cursed on surf trips so fingers crossed not this time. Forecast certainly has some promise.

Cheers

G

Pocket Surfer

Just got sent this link by Cookson to buy the "Pocket Surfer" on eBay. A weird mat thing.



Clever inflation design and good to see them advocating low inflation rather than mat boarding. Don't really see the point in the shape but I bet Bluey gets one!

;-)

HERE'S THE EBAY LINK

Cheers

G

Britanny Trip... Transportation issues...

I'm due to take the family to Brittany. We sail Sunday early and mid week my car went into the garage. Because it's a heap I asked the garage to give me a quote before working on it...

700 odd quid!!!

What's more, they said it would cost at least a grand to get through it's next MoT so just had to go.  As a result, I've had a stressful week fitting car hunting around work with the clock ticking towards departure! Finally got sorted:

PHEW!!!!!!

45mpg and roomy enough to change in in winter. £2k so not a bad deal I reckon. Very helpful trader too.

Onward....

G

PS Swell looks promising for the trip too.

:-)

UKMS Crew

Hello there matters.

Having made the transition from forum to Blog, I think it's really important to keep the open communication going between us all. We've got some good momentum going in the UK scene and I don't need to tell you, we all get on really well! 

So, on to the UKMS Crew thing. As you will have seen, people other than me have made posts on this Blog. They are people you'll see in the list on the right hand side title "UKMS Crew".  Basically, people who make that list can make new blog entries and also comment instantly without their comments needing approval. 

The easiest way to get into that list is to get to a meet. Do that and you're in.  You can also be nominated by someone already in it so hook up for surfs. Mini-meets are great. I pretty much always surf with other mat surfers these days. 

Anyway, we're basically like an inflatable version of the Freemasons although obviously we welcome input from anyone and everyone on a mat in terms of comments!

Cheers

G

big paipos for big guys

Following on from my earlier post, and my inability to partake in the 'young and often spring' of my youth aka - the snap of being prone one second and then standing and trimmed the very next - i started to think back to something I saw on Swaylocks, years ago - el paipo grande.


I'll go digging around but I seem to recall it was around 8' long. I thought at the time it was overkill, but now I'm not so sure.

for this 56 year old it might prove to be worth investigating. Stay tuned.

my technique sucks

The sun is out the tides are ok and, what's this? a real swell down at Hells Mouth.

Clean sets with no wind and a bright sunny day greet me as I get down there.

Unfortunately before this I had to run the gammut of August Abersoch with myriad tossers wandering all over the place. You know how it is; the waves will wait, in fact it won't really be getting any better for another half hour or so, but you just have to get there....now! The last mile or so is sheer frustration with the expectation levels being ramped up, usually to be followed with a degree of disappointment as you set eyes on the onshore mush.

But not today! clean 3 footers breaking onto a sandy shore with not too many out... a few empty peaks along the beach.

Hmm. Mat or longboard?

I took both.

A few waves on the longboard told me all I needed to know. No snap in the legs anymore. Despite a couple of decent waves, by the time I had clambered to my feet it was time to get off the wave. I need a longer longboard - something around 11' rather than the 9'3" Hobie I have had for years.

So it was out with the mat, and no matter what I did I could'nt get the thing to go. air out - no; more air in - no. get in early- forget it; get in late - ditto.
I changed my fins - no change in the water.

In the end I gave up and took one of the outside waves in - all 3' of it. This at least provided me with a decent left, but the mat just would'nt go today.

Or maybe it did, but I did'nt.

Paulownia Paipo

A paulownia paoipo I finished at the weekend. 3,7 x 15 x 3/4. The second one should be finished by the weekend. Cant get the photos in the right order! Bottom to top.

Save Chally - Update

Thanks again to everyone who has signed up and sent letters to South Hams Disctrict Council.

For those who haven't followed this, my local break, Challaborough in South Devon is under thread from planned sea defenses. CLICK HERE to see details of the Surfers Against Sewage campaign.

I was interested to get some feedback so emailed the South Hams planning department and was given the following reply:

Dear Mr Webster
The hearing has been fixed for 2nd November 2011.  Letters will be going out to all who wrote letters of representation for this application.
Regards

Diana Tyler
Planning Agreements Assistant
South Hams District Council

I'll keep a watchful eye and feed back as things develop. This has already been rejected once so I'm hopeful. However, money often talks... So have we! 

Anyway, fingers crossed and thanks again for the support.

Cheers

G

New Mat

Going to treat myself to a new mat more than happy with my 4GF standard with a hot wax coat which is still going strong after more than 10 surfs but time to take advantage of the sale and get myself a Blue streak , This means I will always have a back up mat and I can compare the different types of grip and find what suits me best

UK Mat Surfers - Mat Meet 7 - Report, etc

So, Matmeet 7 happened in sloppy, small, onshore conditions. Nonetheless, the attendees showed their typical never-say-deflate attitudes and made the most of things. In the end ten made it:

Me, Dan Lawrence, Ian and Kana Wraith, Andy Cooke, Adrian Paterson, Jerry (don't know your surname Jerry, sorry), Phil (same again) and Juan and Peru d'Ornellas.

As always, there were plenty of awards to go around (as well as some quality snackage and bizarre fancy dress):

Best Party Wave - Jaun and Ian

Longest Swim - Peru (due to no mats being lost this was down to his rad bodysurfing)

Wave of the Day - Ian

Here's the video then.



God the surf was rank but as always we had a good ol' giggle though! 

Roll on number 8... Some surf would be nice!

Cheers

G