The truth about surfmats?

I miss running over Malibushuffle on my mat. Good times.

 

Ja, ja,ja, Mary when I read "run over... on my mat" I remembered this one time a grumpy longboarder dropped in on me after making eye contact, I caught the wave anyway, bottom turned and with the speed I developed I ran over the nose of his board, continued speeding down the line, looked back and smiled at him and just kept on going... guy tried to catch up but I was going too fast for that to happen...

 

A couple a summers ago my family and i were hanging poolside on a vacation minding our own business. There was one of those purple, $2 dollar vinyl, blow up pool style mats abandoned along the fence by no doubt some similarily cheap ass vacationer like myself. For shits & giggles i saved it from the trash heap, fill it up and decided to paddle it around said pool and the decerning observers. I swear to God ive never paddled a board as fast as that $2 dollar, six foot mat and a still dont know why it was. Go cheap and go big

 

I once ran into Joe Aaron's brother on my mat. He and I had been kind of trading waves throughout the session. He managed to stay upright, but screamed like a girl when I flew into his legs on one particular wave.

 

Funny! and the best part is you can't really hurt anyone on a mat.

 

Chris, it's all about buoyancy and friction(or lack of it). What separates your body weight from the surface of the water is a bubble of air contained by to thin layers of fabric, on a mat when you are going fast the bottom layer will behave very different from the top layer that is holding your weight... this is why a mat is a displacement surf craft and at the same time a planning surf craft...

 

That video I posted of mr greenough on nedsurf's " all about fun " thread has George claiming the "speed" is "perceived speed". Lay down on a skateboard vs stand up on it on the same hill. You'd think when you are laying down you're going faster.

Either way, one thing is for sure ...mat surfers love mat surfing!!

 

Thanks, Tony and M.

 

Like this?

 

exactly! i bet that mat surfer felt like they were going fast!