I’m considering ordering a Surfster mat. Are they any good? What kind of performance? How about those handles? Surfsters seem too good to be true!
http://www.cheetahtradingco.com/gallery1.htm
Looks more like an “uli” bodyboard than right proper surfmat. try amazon.com and search for canvas " Intex Wave Rider"… only cost $6.00 – which may be a better way to get a feel for a surfmat before you spend money on a Neumatic.
uli? I thought maybe the Surfsters were a hybrid device- halfway between the old rubber rafts and today’s bodyboards? Have you ridden a Surfster? Why not? Whats “right proper surfmat”? Thanks for the tip on the Intex Wave Rider" only cost $6.00
anything with a girl in a bikini thats all wet …
give me a dozen…
…ambrose…
on second thought me woife would just get mad.
when she’s frothing at the mouth
there’s no dealing with her.
my new neumatic is slowly approaching
I believe ,I do believe
though the force seems undisturbed
it may as yet not been started
so the eternal ether remains
un ruffled…I DO BELIEVE…
The “Intex Wave Rider” is sure cheap but it doesn’t have any handles. There’s nothing to hang onto. The Surfster has gripping handles. Aren’t handles (or the leash) supposed to be “standard” equipment for surfing?
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The “Intex Wave Rider” is sure cheap but it doesn’t have any handles. There’s nothing to hang onto. The Surfster has gripping handles. Aren’t handles (or the leash) supposed to be “standard” equipment for surfing?
Well, the best surf mats have neither handles nor fins. They are designed not to need them. Neumatic Surfcraft have the option for grommeted rope across the front, which mine has, but the fact is the less clueless I get the more I realize that I never use the rope for anything except hanging it to dry in the shower. The best (and the rest) mat riders grip the front corners with their hands or clasp the front corners with their arms…check photos related to Neumatic Surfcraft to see as this really helps to understand. Neumatics have an amazing non-stick surfacing on the mat decks, so sliding off isn’t really an issue.
This doesn’t mean that the Intex Wave Rider and the Surfster don’t need something to hang onto, though, as they are not Neumatic custom surfmat caliber, nor are they intended to be I wouldn’t think. A good thing to do at the start is adopt the notion that any of these inflatables are not “standard” surfing equipment in any way, shape, or form. Get one, get both, get them all and freak out…the operating word is “fun”, which doesn’t carry a bad connotation in the mat world.
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A good thing to do at the start is adopt the notion that any of these inflatables are not "standard" surfing equipment in any way, shape, or form. Get one, get both, get them all and freak out...the operating word is "fun", which doesn't carry a bad connotation in the mat world.
I get the whole “not standard alternative surfing” thing. I don’t care for “boards”. I love bodysurfing and being close to “in” the water. I checked the expensive model on surfmat.com. Whoa!!! how much more “freak out” can a $349.00 super-dooper mat possibly give somebody instead of a $6.00 mat? Stupid question: why can’t surfing fun be free or at least close to it?
“Right proper” - hmmm, I pondered using those terms… what i meant is the type of mat that experienced mat riders use. The surfster looks like a boogie board, meant to be ridden at full inflation. (looks like it from the pics i’ve seen) The Neumatics are ridden in some cases at 50% inflation (maybe some peeps less?) – the idea is a surfcraft that is super-duper supple - water don’t stick to it too well – don’t cause drag. You crush the outside rail when you want the inside rail to firm up for bite – let go and let off on internal press when you want to run down the line with speed.
so… you’re a purist? you like to be close to the water?..den even more reason to try the ‘right proper mats’.
Neumatics are awesome – dey’ll surprise you. (only been on one since nov/dec05…and it’s my choice ‘board’ these days )
Nels 'splained perfectly about the handles.
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I love bodysurfing and being close to “in” the water. I checked the expensive model on surfmat.com. Whoa!!! how much more “freak out” can a $349.00 super-dooper mat possibly give somebody instead of a $6.00 mat? Stupid question: why can’t surfing fun be free or at least close to it?
Dale of Neumatic describes high quality mat surfing, or maybe the mat surfing he builds his mats for, as something like supercharged body surfing (my choice of words, not his unless I was lucky). Design-wise none of the three mats really are terribly similar, therefore they would all surf differently. I believe the archives here would give the overall impression that the cheapest of mats probably won’t last as long as a Neumatic givent he same use. I haven’t heard enough about Surfsters.
Speaking of free or close to it, I wouldn’t be put off by the various prices of the mats mentioned. They will handle things diffrerently and will last different lengths of time. The closest feeling (and not too close) to laying on a surf mat is laying on an inexpensive bodyboard, one that is limp as the proverbial wet noodle, wrinkled and considered useless to most hardcore bodyboarders. Yet that experience is also akin to boosted bodysurfing.
Closest to Neumatics from the pictures, the Wave Rider. The Surfster is fairly different. You might try the paipo forum (http://rodndtube.com/paipo/forum/index.php
for more info as I think a couple of the guys have tried them.
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why can’t surfing fun be free or at least close to it?
With bodysurfing you are already as free as the ride gets. The more equipment, the more $$$, the more babysitting of and hassles with toys.
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i’d ride it…but, what’s that blue thing she’s holding?!
A heavier bodyboard mat is an advantage? Without handles or a leash what keeps it from getting carried away? Surfsters weigh about 5 pounds.
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A heavier bodyboard mat is an advantage?
Well, first off it will also be good to remember that any surfmat won’t surf like a bodyboard really. The Surfster if I recall advertises itself as an inflatable bodyboard but it doesn’t have the total rigidity of a bodyboard and doesn’t have the rail size/configuration of a bodyboard, so you won’t get a terribly similar experience. Weight and/or lack of weight doesn’t seem to be much of an issue as far as mats go when compared to size, construction, and inflation. I have an ancient Hodgeman canvas mat, one of those supposedly classic blue and yellow jobs, and it weights something like 7-8 lbs dry and is huge in size compared to my Neumatic. I recall being able to inflate them rock hard, so to speak, but the guys with all the decades of mat riding experience ride Neumatics at the earlier mentioned lower inflation levels - 75% and under - for what they find as peak performance.
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Without handles or a leash what keeps it from getting carried away?
You keep it from getting carried away. Or you swim after it. Or make your own “adjustments”…neoprene glue a d ring to it and attach a bodyboard leash ( the river sports companies sell all that online).
At $7 and $30 or whatever, I would play with them and mess with them until I made it work the way I wanted, more or less. When you get into Neumatic territory (price and performance and personal attention and something like 25 years of custom surfmat building experience) I personally think one will do better by deferring to the accumulated knowledge base behind them. Hopefully Dale will chime in here at some point but he’s neck deep in work at the moment.
All this said, when you are talking summer fun on equipment you’ve never tried before, I would think you could get plenty of entertainment out of getting one of each and just putting them through the paces. That really isn’t a whole lot of money to spend for a few months of alternatives. I don’t know where you bodysurf but either inflatable will provide options when the surf isn’t very good for bodysurfing an can also provide some unexpected thrills when it is good. Uninflated they hide in daypacks. If you find you like the feeling then you can consider stepping up.