A partially deflated air mat without a safety rope could fold over and cover the person’s face smothering them while they desperately try to hold on! Then they drift away!
I’m so relieved The Powers That Be are protecting us from deadly surfmats.
… You guys are , and this forum is , GREAT !
thanks, heaps , for all your help / advice / sharing of mat experiences … please , KEEP it coming ! All hints and tips GLADLY absorbed ! [just call me “the mat sponge !”]
Well, the mat in question…
[still wet , from its ‘launching’…]
I blew it up with “lung power” , as suggested .
It’s 51" x 29 1/2" x 5 3/4" thick [fully inflated , 31 breaths …headspins !! Took 2 minutes to inflate].
When it is half- 3/4 inflated , I can just get my arm around it ?!
…how long , wide and thick are your mats , Dale , just for a comparison , please ?
I don’t know what this mat weighs , but it feels light ! [Compared to my boards , of course !]
cost : $25aus.
Yes , I ran over ‘Sandgroper’ .
And , yes … he ran over me ! Numerous times . With no damage , glad to say …
yes , we got pounded in shallow sandbanks and came up laughing .
no , it didn’t pop ! [for which I am grateful !]
The handles …
[…unneccesary ? ]
… in the wrong place [they chafe my underarms nicely , as I paddle the mat . I think they will be going , soon , so I can ride the mat "upside down , too ! Yes, seriously ]
The plug …
… it is also kinda in the way , IF the mat is ridden upside down. [The handles don’t work really well as fins though , I noticed !]
more Q’s …
-
Flippers …are bigger or smaller sized flippers recommended for small fattish waves ?
-
watching George and others , and looking at photos too, would I be right in saying that the ‘inside leg’ [that closest to the wave ] acts as sort of an extra rail , to hold you into the wave ?
-
the comment someone made about boogie style riding of mats was interesting , too , I thought …
this morning , I was trying to suss out whether to put my head down almost flat on the mat [chin touching it] and double paddle into later drops , or kick and paddle , or paddle and push the front of the mat down the face …what do YOU mad matters do ?? [I tried all three techniques , with varying success…
- I wonder how it would go if , after grinding off the handles , I could maybe make a pair of little fins to somehow vulcanise [or maybe just glue on …what glue to use , I wonder?] I guess it would be hard to cant them correctly , though , as it seems different inflations cause the handles to slope at different angles ?
Anyway …I started off with it fully inflated …[heeding these ‘warnings’ , of course !]
…then it got softer in the water after a while .
So, I deflated it some more later on too, but maybe the waves didn’t really have enough guts / push to them for that [for , it was only “headhigh” …lying on my guts ! Maybe ribcage high , standing on the sandbar , on the very biggest ones ]
I had three and a half hours on it this morning .
Got some fast ones , [a few makeable , mostly lefts] , I did lots of unwanted sideslipping, and unintentional 360s , couldn’t get it up into the lip “off the bottom” [?waves too small ?] , and have to suss out how to hold it in for a ‘highline’ …IF in such small waves it is possible ?
I hope tomorrow will be rideable , too .
Oh , yeah …and , the looks you get , as a 45+ year old walking down the street with “an inflatable pool toy” under your arm ?! … something else …
cheers
ben
chip
you definatly need to spend a little time on http://groups.msn.com/InflateAbleDreamSpeed lots of questions answered. Prof. Deets says that they ride those upside down and backwards with the handles on.
Have fun
Chip - somewhere on one of these forums i read that you can remove the handles by using a hair dryer ( of all things). anyway, the consensus is that handles are lame - grip the fabric, it give you control of psi.
remember some things:
hands on front corners, arms extended so yr hanging off the back ( gives better kick, and lengthens yr ‘vessel’) while kicking into waves
as you catch wave, scoot up ( or/and dolphin kick into position) - yr head should be up near or over the front of the mat. ( once yre flying, yr legs will be up and out of the water a fair amount of time.
head and chest down - as much contact as you can with mat. (not up on elbows boogie style)
This is a great thread, and Chip, you make the perfect, enthusiastic test pilot for these things. I can just imagine the fun you guys are having.
I think the spider is a little scary, so I’d definitely be riding it upside-down.
thanks Ben !
It’s an interesting addition to the summer quiver , and there is much to learn , like the 9’ mal at the other end of the spectrum in my quiver.
It will be interesting using flippers next time , to compare the difference [? in speed ? in hold ? in control ?].
Once again , thank you to all you mat riders for your hints and experience , so freely shared here !
“Sandgroper” was having a blast on the mat yester day …definately hooting on waves which we woulda been frustrated on , with our boards …even on the 7’er singley. For a guy who has been a thruster rider all his life [Ian’s 5 years younger than me] , it’s interesting seeing him ride a single fin and a mat [although , he mentioned he DID frolick on a mat when he was a little tacker , but just not catching waves .
I learnt on a surf mat , then progressed to a foamie [‘coolite’] board at 9 , then my first fibreglass hand-me-down came from my brother , when I was 10 . So , mat riding , is DEFINATELY re-visiting my childhod …
as the one T-shirt I wear with pride says ,
" NEVER lose touch with your inner grommet " !
the ‘Redback’ …
yeah , hopefully the red back [a very poisonous spider here in wozzieland] will scare away the white pointers , which seem to be hanging around our beaches here , at the moment [this beach was closed , totally , for two hours last saturday, because of a sighting]
cheers !
ben
Quote:
Quote:1)People in the surf on air mats can drift away
That’s probably the key. I’m told people get blown out into various Great Lakes in the U.S. and Canada and drown. I’ve read the same rule in big lakes in the southwest like Lake Mead. If a 9 year old kid was on one of those big-ass Hodgeman rafts inflated to rock hardness and the Santa Anas were blowing, then he’d probably blow out to sea…which of course hasn’t really been a part of beach reality since the 1970’s probably. Maybe they are thinking giant pool toys.
That Q &A though…whoo boy. Human beings remain buoyant after their air has been depleted too, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Whatever happened to Dirk Brandts?
How about Greg Deets and “Thinkmat”?
bruce - i’m sure those guys (Dirk B and G Deets) are still hitting it - i see their posts and pics on the inflateable+dream=speed mat forum ( on msn ).
trimming / holding a high line ?
“2. watching George and others , and looking at photos too, would I be right in saying that the ‘inside leg’ [that closest to the wave ] acts as sort of an extra rail , to hold you into the wave ?”
anyone , please ??
…and , do you kind of move your leg up and down , to hold in ? [it kinda looks like that is what George does on his mat , on those rights in “crystal voyager” , just after he rides his black and white spoon in some small waves …]
thanks for any further help , crew !
cheers
ben
…I eagerly await seeing the footage from your week or so matting in santa cruz …
nah, you don’t really need the legs/fins to hold you in. just the big, round rails of the mat itself will hold to the face. your legs are just creating drag and slowing you down. lift them up and feel yourself accelerate.
fin ['flipper] related question , now …
how thick are the socks for the flippers , and what are they called , please [?“flipper sox”??]
I ask , because after this morning’s 1 1/2 or so hours effort …
chafed , bleeding , sore … left ankle .
The rubber on the strap on one flipper also perished , so it’s a single fin mat now , like yours , cap’nn kirk !
…how much do you guys pay for a new pair of fins ?
cheers
ben
p.s. - Pascal [‘popeye’] got some lovely glassy clean green [but tiny !] peelers on his 9’ mal , too , just as the sun came out , just before the onshore blew in [about 8.30am …which is really 7.30am , without daylight saving’s hour forwarding]
Quote:
chip
you definatly need to spend a little time on http://groups.msn.com/InflateAbleDreamSpeed lots of questions answered. Prof. Deets says that they ride those upside down and backwards with the handles on.
Have fun
thanks for the tip , Tim , but unfortunately I couldn’t get on to that forum , for some reason ? flashbacks to surfermag , where the same thing happened …
" You are not authorized to view this page You might not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials you supplied.
If you believe you should be able to view this directory or page, please try to contact the Web site by using any e-mail address or phone number that may be listed on the www.msnusers.com home page.
You can click Search to look for information on the Internet.
HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Internet Explorer "
…oh well, you guys are here , at least !
cheers !
ben
ben,
i wear a pair of 3mm socks from oneill under my UDT’s. got them on closeout for $10 from a local shop. but it’s cold here, so you shouldn’t need more than 1mm for summertime surf. the socks work better than hardsole booties for getting in and out of the fin, but if you are walking on rocks/reef you’ll destroy them in no time. your other option is to use boots and go up a size in swimfins. email prof. deets for a pair of UDT’s if you plan on getting a new pair anyway. US$50 plus shipping for a new pair. well worth the investment
hey, Chip. I think you may have to signup to hotmail or msn mail to use that MSN Mat forum. There’s another one on Yahoo, but you should check into flexspoon.com where shortly you can hook into surfmatz.com . The MSN setup can be a pain in the A. i have problem with it too.
another thing - my experience trying to buy fins direct from Prof Deets is that the man is unreal busy between his first career (marine bio) and setting up business. I waited and waited, and would email him every couple weeks to see if my size was ready, etc. He seems willing and nice enought - but he really is busy with lots of stuff on the burners - i felt like i was pestering. He sells at $50 + shipping. I found www.marinerescue.com ( or marine-rescue.com) and bought them at $62 + shipping. The peeps there were real accomodating too. There are a number of other online places to buy too. ( maybe you can become the UDT dealer in West Oz?)
if you surf with a wetsuit, then i guess you might as well buy the sox/socks, but i wasn’t kiddin when i said i don’t wear them. you really do build up calluses to where you won’t need sox. ( just another piece of gear)
You can pretty well educate yourself about products available for fins at ebodyboarding.com and other commercial bodyboarding websites. Here are two urls that will take you to all the info. When the time comes to buy you can use them or find the things closer to home. These sites also sell just about every kind of fin imagineable…they usually have about 75-80% of available brands. The mat group and other forums for prone riders and bodysurfers can debate the nuances infinitely.
I emailed Neumatic mats. Dale said I quote:
"August,
Don’t limit yourself… the more skill you gain as a mat surfer, the more powerful the swim fins you’ll want to use. While just about any fins will work, all of the most experienced mat surfers I work for prefer the largest, most powerful fins they can get. The more “horsepower” the better. That usually means Greg Deets’ Voit UDTS, Voit DuckFeet, and John Piatt’s Flips “Original” fin design. The most effective swim fins for mat surfing are not the same as for bodyboarding.
Many people also experiment with various swim fins modifying them to improve quickness, power and comfort. No matter which fin you use, I recommend wearing fin socks and/or wetsuit boots for extra comfort and to help prevent injury from chafing, walking over rocks and reef, etc.
I can’t emphasize enough that the surf mats I make have almost nothing in common with bodyboards, paipos, knee boards, surfboards, etc. Paddling, wave-catching, duck- diving, riding speed and control, maneuverability, etc. are very different. One’s choice of swim fins for mat surfing will either inhibit or enhance how much fun you can have."
“No matter which fin you use, I recommend wearing fin socks and/or wetsuit boots for extra comfort and to help prevent injury from chafing, walking over rocks and reef, etc.”
interesting …
the one thing i discovered from yesterday’s session is that my left ankle [broken a few years ago] hurt/s more than my right ankle after only about a 90 minute session with flippers.
it also chafed and bled , whereas the right one didn’t [perhaps as a result of the different shape of the inside of the left ankle ,where the bone broke and was lodged . I think it was the ‘footwork needed’ thread where that was visible ? ]. I hadn’t thought of that , prior to donning fins …
anyone else who rides mats have a similar problem [ie: previous injury inhibiting what is possible with flippers ?] …if so , WHAT did you do ?
cheers
ben
In my youth I was a hard core body surfer (all year long). We use to joke about was a pus filled mess our fin sores were. It seemed like they never completely healed. Eventually I learned to at least were a pair of socks. Its stopped my feet from being a mess. The pain in your feet eventually goes away as your feet get tougher.
Ben-
It’s the same problem with anything that’s manufactured in generic sizes, mass-produced to “fit” the human body. Especially problematic if intended to be worn snug like a second skin. In the case of swim fins, ideally they’re supposed to be a comfortable, powerful extension of the legs/feet.
You can modify your swim fins by cutting/ grinding away rubber or adding neoprene padding. Try different types of fins, including dive fins. Wear 2 or 3 mil fin socks, nylon 2 sides.
Be aware… there are many poor quality rubber formulation knock-offs of Voit DuckFeet and UDTs on the market. They might look cool, but are too stiff and/or too flexible in all the wrong places, w/ wrong ankle leverage, and the foot pocket/ heel straps will tear up your feet. Some of the most comfortable out-of-box fins are the worst when it comes to quickness and power.
As you’re discovering, even your right foot can be different from the left. Experiment and have fun!