…Goes the surf mat !!
took off on a head high [standup size ] one early this morning , got pitched / lip launched, reconnected at the trough , grabbed the handles [yeah , i know !] to bottom turn , and hey presto …
got DETONATED by the lip !
A handle came off in my hand , the mat got ripped out of my grasp .
five minutes later , wading through the white water on the shore ,
I came across what looked like an ocean-going front doormat !
[The funniest part was when i picked it up …all the white powder [no , not schapelle corby style] inside the mat had mixed with the water , and it looked like i was milking a cow [or playing talc bagpipes] , as it squirted everywhere !
…thank goodness that ian and i had the foresight / cash to buy two each of the things . [the tear is around 4" long , the puncture repair kit that came with our 'Redback’s had little circles and squares , around oh , say. 1-2" in size … nice [for fixing bike tyre punctures , i guess ?!]
ben
p.s. - for those with a similar photo fetish to me , here ya go then !! …
Chippy I bought a Redback the other day.
The waves were small ,saw it in the shop and couldn’t resist after seeing the time you guys were having on yours.
''The kids’ll enjoy it ''I told myself.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…n.
Been daydreaming about experimenting in bigger waves but now I know not to tie a leggy to the handle !!!
.
hi nukes !
actually ,
it’s interesting you say that , because ian and i were wondering if the leggie would have maybe put LESS pressure on the handle , than my “death grip” [and the wave’s obvious power] did ?
i might post on the " for surf mat riders" thread again , as i still have questions , as i am new to this [well, revisiting it as an …erhum …“adult” , i guess , anyway ?]
cheers ,mate !
ben
Dale has mentioned that free fall landings are NOT recommended for mat longevity! He will put grommets for leggy on them but only under great protest as they shorten the life of the mat, teach you to rely on the rope and then when you need it most in bigger surf, that is when it will fail by ripping the mat apart.
Your best bet is the death grip but also being judicious and bailing if severe impact threatens. Dale’s mats are about a zillion times stronger than any other and I think at least they will do reasonably well with water pressure barring direct lip impact. But altitude plus body weight plus lip likely equals disaster. So far I’ve had good luck just rolling off the mat still hanging on…sort of taking the hit edgewise mostly with my rubbery meat.
Really best bet of all is more or less dodge the late takeoffs and try and see how early you can get in. Play the other end. Then you have plenty of time to set up whatever. Its a different mind set. If its a critical moment, another wave coming soon so I’ll wait and take that next one instead. So far I’m leaving the pit drops to the hard boards.
“Really best bet of all is more or less dodge the late takeoffs and try and see how early you can get in. Play the other end. Then you have plenty of time to set up whatever. Its a different mind set”
thanks mate
yeah , nice in theory …
but our waves here may be a bit different to what i saw in the santa cruz vid , i think !
…oh , to have a reasonably long , non-pitching, mushy rolling wall to ride ! i guess a lot of us dream of that
[that was probably why ian and i were the only two out early this morning in side/onshore waves , for a change …we were definately hoping for some “rolly” ones , for a change !!]
cheers
ben
Just mix some resin with q cell and milled fibers to reattach the handle then glass it with a couple of layers of 4 oz. Don’t forget to feather the edges so you don’t cut yourself.
ahhh yesssss
now , why didn’t I think of that ? …silly me !
[I LOVE the taste of resin and q-cell first thing in the morning , as I blow into the hole ]
…thanks for the …er… “heads up” [?] , Ben !
cheers
ben
Quite the budding matman eh chip!
I was wondering if you ever fixed up you blue mal “involuntary bisect” board? Pictures???
back to the KFC for a family meal then.
…it’s funny you should say that , cap’nn kirk , because I saw a 50 year old riding a foamie yesterday [not the KFC model though] .
and the involuntary ‘bisect’ board is still bisected , Dave !
cheers
ben
Chipper,
Good thing the handle come off I say… in my opinion, the handles are in the wrong spot for those mats. I think there is evidence of that in your mat riders thread where one of you guys in the pics was holding onto the front of the mat on a wave.
You’d be better off with 2 rope handles attached to the front of the mat.
-Cam
…I agree !
I think it is in the rabbit bartholomew “busting down the door” book , where they show a photo of the 1960s ‘surfoplanes’ , with rubber handles on the END of the mat . I vaguely remember having one of them when I was a little tacker , and don’t recall having ever seen handles falling or hanging off THEM !
And , I think the ‘Merrin’ surfmats [of the early 1970s] had metal eyelets , with a cord running through them [again , this was on the END of the mat !]
cheers
ben
