Surf Mat

[BoMan]

I'm always on the lookout for fun stuff to do after surfing. This summer I'm going to pull out the surf mat which hasn't seen the light of day for 30 years when my kids were little. Back then we bounced around in the shore break but it looks like there's a lot you can do. Has anyone tried it recently?

[jaffa1949]

I mat regularly I have two a 4th Gear Flyer and a Krypt. Every wave is at least over head

[oldmansurfer]

I used to ride an innertube from a big truck tire long ago. My friends and I would swim it out to the waves and wait for a wave to catch it then see who could hold on the longest. That was really fun especially in at least head high waves. I have tried a surf mat but just didn't see the benefit over bodysurfing or paipo boarding so never really pursued it. One of the guys who is a minor legendary surfer here (everyone knows him and he is a good surfer) used to surf a mat at the same beach I surf. He says he used to enjoy it more before he saw the movie Jaws

[RobSF]

That's pretty much how I look on my board about half the time.

[waikikikichan]

I heard a common mistake first time air mat users make is they inflate it too much.

[oldmansurfer]

I think like most wave riding arts most people who try it just go straight to the beach. The guy in the video is not most people. The surf mat allows some small turns and stalls but and very little else. I guess the nice thing about mats are they are soft. But because they can't be duck dived so you need to go around the surf or be careful about timing it through where the waves are breaking.

[BoMan]

I heard a common mistake first time air mat users make is they inflate it too much.

When I was a kid (1960), my dad rode mats with me at White Sands beach near Kona, Hawaii. The shore break was a brutal pitching close out that could break a body surfer's back but was really fun with an over inflated mat. When the wave would slam us into the sand, we'd bounce skyward and the challenge was to hang on like riding a bucking bronco. Yee Haw!



The road in twisted through the forest and required many stops to avoid mongeese


and admire the HUGE, colorful spiders which my dad loved to touch on their webs.