Not sure about Teahupoo but up to a point at least, with good technique and big legs and good flippers you can get in very early and set up before it gets crazy. There is a sequence on inflatabledreams that starts here
http://groups.msn.com/InflateAbleDreamSpeed/shoebox.msnw?Page=4 and continues on next page of mattitude (James Sowell) riding meaty Wedge in Newport Beach, CA that show this. A lot depends on variables of how the wave forms up early but with enough skill, muscle and huevos it obviously can be done!
All kinds of hollow waves have been (and are) surfed on mats. The Newport Wedge, Shark Island, Sandspit, etc. Pipe has been ridden in years past by Bud Browne and George Greenough, among others. But for most experienced mat surfers, the over-crowding of quality breaks is more of a serious issue than how critical the waves might be.
As for the life of a surf mat when used in extremely hollow and powerful waves… remember that all manner of surfcraft are frequently damaged and/or broken in those conditions. A direct hit by a massive lip can destroy any surfcraft… and sometimes their riders.
How well a mat can hold in on a steep hollow wall? That’s like asking if an expensive musical instrument can play a complex song. We all know the quality of sounds created are largely dependent on the skill of the musician.
The largest, deepest, longest tube ride ever filmed (from the inside out wearing 20+ lbs. of camera gear) was documented over 30 years ago by George Greenough surfing on a $20.00 discount store rubber and canvas air mat.
For reference: The Surfer’s Journal, “The Tube” by George Greenough, Volume 13 Number 4 - Fall 2004. Also, George Greenough’s final tube ride sequence (“Echoes”) in Alby Falzon’s film, “Crystal Voyager” (1973).
Surf mats can often get to the trough faster than the lip during late take-offs in hollow waves, allowing a long bottom turn around the initial section, and back up the
face.
Sequence taken from QuickTime flic by Harold Ward of George Greenough, February 2006:
I sent you a ‘p.m.’ , with ‘plan B’ , as I don’t think my email could do it , unfortunately !
…is there ANY way of posting it on this thread , somehow , I wonder ? [ as I’m sure there are also others here who would not have seen EITHER of the articles mentioned …]
…do many of you guys sit on your mats while waiting for waves , to get a clearer view of approaching sets ?
if so , how well do they float you above the water?
also , today eno and I were mucking around with backward takeoffs fun fun fun
[bit dangerous though , maybe , as you can go head first into what are at present about 6" deep sandbanks …after riding one wave in , eno bogged his mat while trying to paddle back out . Now i see why mats don’t have fins , and also why i didn’t ride the prawn with the curved fins today !]
also …today , flippers were DEFINATELY needed ! Ian got ALL the waves [that I missed] today …
chip- i’ve ridden my mat in some real shallow stuff. in this one place i surf, you walk down the beach past some shallow reefs that alway catch the eye - sometimes they break nice, but anyone would right away see how shallow and move on. so one day coming bakc from the spot i regularly surfed - i had my mat - i watched is for a while, still plenty shallow with boils all over – but i went out and had a blast for about a halfhour until the tide dried it up. like my own wave. i’d just come from surfing with a mob down the beach.
kinda opens up a whole new frontier of uncrowded surf
Just had a surf during the Charger game with my buddy Ken he was riding his solomonson mat and got the longest barrel on this clean little wave could hear the boys on the beach hooting. Its a trip watching him tune it after a wave by letting a little air out. Those things are so bitchin'
Maybe Dale won’t mind if I jump in… I think that is indeed him riding one of his insane tri-plane belly boards. The description in link below alludes to a photo of him riding one. I think that may be the photo used on his old website homepage.
Looked at a mat today. It was a redback, 140cm, with 2 handles on the front. Im definately gunna get one, for the days when i take the family to the beach. When im surfing, my wife and ( in the future ) daughter can use it. That way, if the surfs crap, the whole family can still have fun. For 30 bucks, it should be worth trying anyway. They also had a bali mat!!, which had a square nose.
