Matmeet 8 - Report and Pics

Hello there mat fans!

Well then, Matmeet 8 finally went off and has to be considered the weirdest meet yet given the chunky closeout conditions! There was a clean pointbreak in the area but it isn't for the faint-hearted as getting caught inside comes with a serious risk of getting nailed on the rocks so certainly not the place for first timers and inexperienced mat surfers.

That said, our newest recruit Anthony (don't know your last name, sorry) really showed some determination taking on head+ closeouts at Crackington Haven. The fact that he came out of the water saying that he's hooked on mats spoke volumes given the testing conditions, Just think how much he'll love it when he rides some better waves!!! Not bad for a bloke who's never ridden prone, let alone on a mat!

Anyway, despite the conditions everyone had a laugh. It's always good to hook up with everyone and the sun was out. :-)

So then, the turn out was pretty good with the following making it:

Ian "Piskian" Wraith
Bob "Bob" Booth
Jerry "Blimp" Phillips
Dan "Surf Empty" Lawrence
Adrian Paterson
Phil "Sinclario" Sinclair
Anthony
Moi

We also saw John (who's name I also don't know) and my mate James Burke make it although both were heretics with John sponging and Burkie riding a shortboard of all things!

Anyway, most had at least a few good waves (apart from me... I can't remember the last time I surfed as badly as I did today).  In fact, Crackie cranked out the odd cracker and Piskian took the opportunity to remind us all that he is a seriously talented mat surfer.  Seriously... The "Wave of the Day" award is normally a half-arsed affair with little thought given when voting (as it should be) but today it really did mean something. Ian's surfing was inspirational, showing exactly what mats can do in talented hands in testing conditions.

Anyway, before Piskian starts trying to get Patagonia to sponsor him, or some such, I'll move on:

WAVE OF THE DAY was obviously Piskian. We didn't even vote. It was just a given. Like Kelly Slater hanging out with a surf school.

BEST PARTY WAVE went to me, Bob, Piskian and Anthony but video evidence now shows that Blimp should've been in the mix too! Your hat will be in the post!!!!


The next meet is on the Dorset South Coast around February (definitely).  Thanks to Burkie for filming/shooting in the car park. He's committed to coming to the next meet and will even ride a mat at it! Good lad!!!

Shame to see some significant absentees such as Juan, Cookson, Bluey, Matt23, Surfmatt and others. One of these days we'll get everyone there... WATCH OUT STAND-UPS!!!


Anyway, to finish, really good fun as always. Not the best surf for exactly the opposite reasons that MM7 was but still... We were all smiling.

So then, here are some photo's and screen grabs. Video to follow.

G

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Lineup

 Sneakers were fun!

Phil takes on dumplestiltskin on G-Mat 4

Jerry on a rare right.

Bob showing that the scorpion lives on! Bob surfed well today.

Dan. If prizes were given for commitment to matting Dan would be putting up new shelves every week! 2 years ago he didn't even surf. Now he's one of the most surf-stoked matters I know and put in a good shift today.  

Bob again finding a decent line.

Jerry finds the pocket on his Standard Blue Streak with DIY grip. Another relatively new convert who's fallen head over heels.

Post-surf mat-chat; Blue Streak Bro's Dan & Adrian. The latter tried a BS for the first today. "Zooooooom!" was the verdit!

Parrrrrrrrrrrrrr-tay!!!! Near-to-far: Bob, Ian, Jerry.

 Ian get in a wee one. Exceptional surfing.

Bob on the next on in the set. I opted to duckdive these ones and wait for the dumpers.  :-(

No retreat, no surrender! Jerry eyes an unlikely pit.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaar-tay!!! Beach-eye-view.

Dan and Phil on the road to nowhere.

Ian, bottom turn.















8 happy matters. The waves might not have been perfect but at least we didn't have to share them!

MATMEET 8 - Dates Confirmed

UK MAT SURFERS

MATMEET 8

12/13 November, 2011

Hello there.

Thank you all for giving your availability for MM8 which is confirmed as above.

The plan is going to be to hold this in the Bournemouth/Kimmeridge area as discussed HERE.  Given the fickleness of the English Channel, we need a back-up plan, however, so Widemouth Bay (venue for MM6) will be Plan B.



So then, here's the plan:

Get these dates super-glued in your diaries NOW!

We check the forecast the on 7th Nov and call the venue then.

Use the comments section in this post, rather than email to confirm attendence and make arrangements to ensure we're all hooked up and singing from the same hymn sheet!

Try to arrange car shares in both directions so we can just go with whatever's needed.

Have a think about places to crash. I can accomodate some Cornish-folk as long as sleeping on blow-up matresses is OK.

There you go. We even have a business-b*ll*cks acronym... GWUTH!!!

We've done pretty well southside over the last few Autumn/Winters with decent long-period SW swells coming up from Biscay so it's reasonable to expect this to go off on the South Coast as planned.

ONWARD!!!!

Cheers

G

Southcoast Matmeet - time to get our heads together...

Hello there matters.

In recent times we've seen a real increase in the number of English south coast matters so it only seems fair that we sort a meet up in their neck of the woods. We'll have a couple of meets this winter so the question is, which do we have on the south coast?

November or February? Let's have your preferences.

Can people have a think. It will also involve a trek up for many of the Cornish contingent so places to crash will be handy.

We also need the locals to give us the benefit of their wisdom on this. We need a spot which isn't zooed and has a good filming position. Also, waves with a half mile paddle aren't really suitable unless somebody has a boat to film from.

So, let's have your thoughts and some idea of who'd be up for the trek.

Cheers

G

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