OK, got it. I’m all set! ( haha)
Slds,
J
yup, Dale - here’s the thread you mentioned - temporary amnesia I guess.
rest of you: had my encounter with the Surfmat Grim Reaper yesterday.
Yesterday after contact with a young surfer who used his board as a fender, instead of duckdiving or letting his board go (he pointed it at me), my mat received a about a 6-7 inch long gash on the bottom. tragic. was planning on surfing a special spot today that needs a good swell too.
Dale’s advise was invaluable - did my repair with some of the 70 denier material and aqualseal. (I highly recommend getting a tube of that stuff, some 200 grit or higher sandpaper adn keeping it handy…small scissors too ) As per advice, I put the aquaseal on thicker rather that thinner - seems key to a good repair with Aquaseal.
After surgury early evening and ICU until about 6:00 am - inflated my mat, and she looks to be fine.
Did you castigate the ignorant young man who took your raft’s life?
glad to hear the surgery went well, let us know how she rides in the second of nine lives…
Dale- are mats like cats?
Hopefully Dale can chime in and tell me if I’m way off base here… There is a repair glue for Thermarest camping mattresses that you heat in boiling water. It comes in a foil pouch, squeezes out when hot and a nylon patch is applied and pressed until it cools. I’ve only used it on my sleeping pad but it seems really tough and is ready to use almost immediately - like 10 minutes.
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=7543
Dudley — i can’t fully blame the guy… I was racing the lip - i could have broken off the pursuit and played it safe, but I didn’t. I just think most guys with experience would have duck-dived, or let the board go and held on by the leash.
when i’m paddling out (when I’m riding a board) , i do all i can to let the guy riding the wave proceed – paddled into the maelstrom, dive under, safely let the board go.
You live – you learn
Re that other glue you heat up… the Aquaseal is some pretty heavy duty stuff, without need for heating up or anything. Understand from Dale that the is what’s used for the air plug.
yesterday I was surfing a point - having a blast definately - but then the place started getting way crowded (weekend swell)- and my legs wuz killin me too. (long paddles)
the ‘accident’ took place at a beachbreak. ordinarily i wouldn’t have even gone out at the place, but it was nice big faces and some actually peeled a way. (this place is normally one big dumper after 6’ faces). No one could do anything but catch the wave and just drop - whoompf - like squashing a banana! However my mat was getting in early and riding very high, allowing me two and sometimes three long-arc swoops before blastoff. I got some comments on the beach at the apparent speed.
except for the collision with the guy who’s board ripped my bottom - afterwhich I purposely let the mat go, i never lost my mat. Since I started riding the mat in dec/nov 05, I haven’t had it yanked out of my hand.
further, yesterday I learned to do this thing with my arms while duckdiving- when I’m paddling I’m usually grabbing the corners hanging off the back now. but just prior to duck diving I move up almost into riding position – then do with my two elbows kinda like a clamshell think which, pushes the air to the back and stabilizes my mat while I’m under – keeps the mat in place, which allows me to scoot out past the next wave easier. I used to 9 out of 10 come up after a ‘duck dive’ all discombobulated, have to get in position and then scoot out.
never leave an airmat when its hot. Never. i learned the hard way…
yesterday surfed my repaired mat on a long point break – 3-5 ft faces with side-shore cross chop. My mat really took a pounding with that cross chop – bucking bronco until I let more air out – the repair held up fine.
Aquaseal unreal stuff…and pretty easy to use… I highly recommend.
A long board might have surfed better in that cross-chop. “WHY GO OUT?” - when it’s so choppy?
no Bruce, you misunderstand - i was very pleased with the performance in chop, and smallish conditions. after i deflated mat a little - the ‘bucking bronco’ was controlled.
Why go out? with a mat: ample speed… and best of all, you fit in the slot/tube very very nice. (although cross chop and bumpy at this spot yest, the wave still produces a nice little barrel)
not to say a heavy log might not have handled it - i doubt very much the control, tube time, and sensation of speed would have compared to a mat in those conditions
Why go out?
cuz in rainy season when this place is anywhere near rideable - it’s minimum 20-30 people (weekends 40-50 surfer + tourists and weekenders bobbing around). yesterday after two frustrated board surfers and one frustrated boogie left …it was just me and a pal on mats all to ourselves.
didn’t have to hump a 20-30 lbs board up a trail and put on truck either.
Sort of relevant even though not strictly speaking a true “magic towel” so here’s my latest surf adventure:
Finally got my $10 (including shipping from Toys R Us) Intex mat in the water. That big long point East side Santa Cruz (shhhhh). Perfect beginner mat waves. Head high to a foot or two over, kinda weak, super clean, some hollowish sections. I was very well received by the small crowd of shortboarders! As I arrived in the lineup, a kook on a long board was being not too politely told that he was not allowed at that peak until he could ride a shortboard. I was greeted with comments like “Hey, I’ve never seen one of those around here before.” And, “I’ve got one of those but only taken it out a couple times. They sure are hard to ride.” And, “I that the high performance model with the twin keels?” Several times, people backed off and gave me the wave when I was in deep position for the sets! NICE!!!
The ride? I’m pretty much a kook so hard to know what was the mat and what was me. Paddle out was easy easy easy. Hopping over soup a breeze until mistimed one and got pitched backwards. Also doing that, a tendency to get bapped in the face. Duck diving was a snap. Got caught just inside impacet zone on bigger sets a couple times and went under easier than a hard board. Missed first few waves and then figured out I had to hang off the back so rear edge of mat was about even w/arm pits and squeeze in a bit of concave to firm it up. Then I could take off even w/ the shortboard stand-ups. Had a lot of trouble holding an edge. Finally found it a bit better if I was so far forward may face was about 1/2 past the front edge and concave squeezed in but still a lot of getting pushed sideways. Also pretty slow. Kept accidently dragging feet and when I remembered to lift them out of the water got a big burst of speed but still pretty slow . Could be that type of mat needs to be blown up HARD as I started at about 60% and later added air to about 75% and it was somewhat better. Never got any real speed out of it though and was most often riding under the edge of soup. Found I had to reel in a lot more fabric than I would have thought to “shape a rail” which may have been part of the holding an edge issue. Amping to get my Neumatic from Dale
Having read some threads and FAQ’s on the mat forum was a huge help in figuring out experiments to try around positioning and squeezing etc. Overall, a ton of fun. Felt like a fat man body surfing.
“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”
-Bertrand Russell
“WHY GO OUT?” - when it’s so choppy? <--------Because it’s FUN!!!if we only went out when it’s clean and glassy, we would never really surf…ride everything and SMILE!
“WHY GO OUT?” - when it’s so choppy? <-------cause it’s FUN—if we never wendt out in the bumps, we won’t love the glassy soo much-----ride everything and SMILE a LOT!
Why go out???
Because you can.
Catch some for me.