Another post about mat riding........

.........from the guy that doesn't know how to ride a mat apparently! Anyway, getting back to the matter (ha, ha, ha) in hand, finally we are starting to get some favorable winds and working banks. Last Sunday morning the little bank not far around the bay was arcing up perfectly with some good size waves coming through and holding up very nicely thank you. I had intended to go further around the bay as I wanted another session on the new Krypt and the conditions were looking suitable. But my beloved talked me into trying that bank closer by as she had seen some good sized waves coming through on it that I had missed as I struggled in to a wetsuit again after weeks of just wearing boardies and a rashie! (Wetsuits seem to shrink when they are really dried out?)
Well, I have to report that she was so right and so was I for deciding to take out the Krypt as a couple of the waves needed a mat with some stick to say the least. They were quick but had a bit of size giving time to get straight across the shoulder as the wave broke and on to the face. There was no way there would have been time to stand up as you really had stay on the high line so the mat was in it's element while others struggled with the conditions. I actually ended up with a bit of strained muscle in my neck this week and I think that might have been due to the wave of the day on which I remember struggling to maintain position as I was really having to use my head as well as my body to keep the weight on the inside rail. I even got a hoot or two from her grace who rather usefully happened to be on the way back out and saw the whole ride. Where was the bloody camera?
Anyway all this preamble is leading up to the fact that I appear to be adjusting my take off routine a little and I think it is because I have been riding a mat with a lightweight deck more often of late. My usual routine is to use a flailing right hand to assist the take off and so the distribution of my weight on the mat is unbalanced which I appear to have got away with on a heavier weight canvas top mat up to now. However, on lightweight decked mats such as the Krypt, Blue Streak or Neumatic, occasionally, this causes the collapse of the left hand front corner of the mat into the wave face stalling the bloody take off! Clearly, a little more care is required to maintain a lightweight mat's shape. So rather than using my usual robust flailing right arm and DarkFin gloved hand to assist the legs to take off right in to the wave, I am doing so only until I get the mat moving forward nicely. Then I am placing my right hand back on the mat and using the legs for the final push into the wave ensuring the shape of the mat is maintained as I drop in to the wave. The result is much more consistent take offs!
* Rightly so, the interview with MT has garnered an unprecedented number of views and hopefully this has cleared up some of the hearsay myth and fable that has been concocted about him and his relationships with others. My hope is that maybe now the global mat riding community can grow up a little and leave behind the bitterness and discontent that has infested it of late. As MT says "It is just a surf mat for God's sake. Enjoy riding the bloody thing!
Time to spread some good vibes folks!!!!