Ramsnake creates a little mayhem and the new booties!!

Woke up to light offshore winds yesterday and was looking forward to the day's session. Only problem is it is a long weekend and the town is full of escapees from the heat of the city 5 hours north of us here on the south coast. The point was chockablock full of longboards as there was a visiting club holding a bloody competition on the main surfable break! I had heard that they had caused some concern the day before also with a level of arrogance and aggression and riding leash less longboards in a lineup that includes plenty of beginners and young kids. A really, really stupid thing to do!
Anyway, although knowing I could assert myself there if I wanted to, there was no way I was going to be bothered competing with the 20+ throng for a wave that was not getting through terribly often. A little further round the bay there looked like there might have been a surfable left with a bunch of shortboarders on it and they looked to me like they might have been a beginner or two amongst them. As I walked past the clubhouse and through the throngs of clubbies also clogging up the beach, I was stopped by a local who I had directed to ASMR recently. He had previously asked me about the mat as his efforts to teach himself to standup surf were frustrating the hell out of him. Adding further to his frustration, he was now out of the water for awhile as he had injured his foot, just before a two week snowboarding trip to Japan. Having checked out the blog, he was keen to know which of the mats, that I have links to on ASMR, I owned. I replied most of them, much to his surprise and recommended either a Krypt MT5 or a 4GF Standard as he is a tall skinny guy. I told him I could let him try them both and he can make a decision for himself. With a bit of luck I may not be the lone mat rider out the back in the future.
So I get out to the peak amongst the group of shortboarders and it becomes apparent pretty quickly that they are all learning to surf and pretty hopeless at it too. As is par for the course, there was the usual level of amusement as the old guy on an inflatable wearing a Gath hat paddled out towards them before turned to bemusement as he went straight past them all out the back to wait for the sets! Then the fun started, these guys had no idea what hit them it was a hilarious! For some reason, people who have not seen a mat in action before, seem to automatically assume that they only go straight when the truth is they can change direction incredibly quickly. So, I take off on the first wave noting that it is basically left, wag my hips and whizz down the face straight over the top of one of these guys who was completely taken by surprise and frantically trying to get under the wave and bump, bump he cops the mat whack! Now, I know some of you maybe thinking, well I could have avoided him but it is not in my nature to do so and I will hold my line and rely on any obstructions getting the hell out of the way. Especially as these waves are not that flash and there is only a ridable face for a shortish period of time. One down and they are starting to change there view of the mat rider now. The next wave is also a left and I am under the nose of another one of them and across the the back of his mate before they realise what is going on. It is then that I think I heard the comment "This guy is crazy!" Beautiful and inside, I fell over myself chuckling so much. It wasn't over though as I went on the attack again, to the right this time, straight over the top, bump, bump, of one of them who I had just remarked to that it was a shame the waves were shit for learning on.
I have a new pair of 3mm Ocean Hunter Stealth Fin Socks to go with the new UDTs and they are really good. Previously, I have been using low cut surfing reef booties but the extra rubber around the side of the foot made it very difficult to slide the fins on and off. These new ones slide in and out of the fins more easily and have the bonus of being high cut. I got them from Spearfishing Supplies for $50 and the service was brilliant as I had them in under a week.