The Very Definitely Last Post!

Here is the winner of the 2013 Tube Riding Competition Mr Chad Stickney proudly displaying all the great prizes that he won.
Now that my commitment to the competition is over, ASMR officially ceases activity today with my wishing you all a bloody Happy New Year and that you have many slip slidingly brilliant years of waves on your mat!
As I have reiterated before there is a wealth of information about surf mat riding that has been collected here over the last 3+ years.
Rather than going all the way back to the first post and working your way through to the present, the easiest way to explore is to use the pretty useful blog search function that can be found at the top left corner of the blog as I have shown in the image below.

ASMR will still carry on albeit in a much abbreviated form on Facebook here. Do visit there and like the page.
I will leave you with this video which kicked off my now rabid appreciation of riding surf mats. After viewing it, I was utterly compelled to get my dirty little mitts on a surf mat so as I could experience what my then slightly disbelieving now believing eyes were seeing!
The  modern surf mat is a truly remarkable wave riding vehicle and I, and many others, highly recommend it!

The 2013 Krypt Surf Technology Surf Mat Tube Ride of the Year has a winner and it is...........

Well there were 3 actually but formalities first. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed. There have been some truly great entries and they show just how far the the art of surf mat riding has progressed in the last few years.
A special thanks to the sponsors, Krypt Surfmats, Voit DuckFeet fins, Patagonia, The Surfer's Journal and the Ho'okupu Surf Shop.
After last years social media bunfight the judging format was changed this year.
The head judge was my grandson 5 year old Jake Baily Thomson renowned for his innocence, incorruptibility and lack of political agenda. Jake suggested that, with the high number of quality entries received this year, the prizes should be split. So this year there are three categories:

1. The Krypt Encouragement Award
2. The Best Photographic Award
3. The Ultimate Winner Award

So without further ado here are this years winners.

The Krypt Encouragement Award goes to Justin Spittle for a great high speed completed tube ride at Thirroul in Wollongong. The sequence was shot by Zoe St Hill-Warren. Jason and Zoe will receive a high quality surf photo of their choice from the Ho'okupu Surf Shop.

The Best Photographic Award goes to Wade Saunders for his awesome slow motion footage of Jason Hall in Maui. The hands down winner of this award as it is beautifully shot and edited with amazing light and water quality. Wade will receive a Krypt Surfmat, a pair of Voit DuckFeet fins and a year's subscription to The Surfer's Journal. Jason Hall will be receiving a Krypt Surfmat because it looks like he took a flogging during the making of the footage.



Now for our Ultimate Winner Award.
With some amazing still and video entries the 2013 Krypt Surf Technology Tube Ride of the Year goes to Chad Stickney. Yep, the defending champ from 2012 has upped the anti again with some killer clean, deep, perfect and completed tube rides.
Chad will receive a Krypt SurfMat, a pair of Voit DuckFeet fins and an R1 Patagonia Steamer.
Congratulations again Chad. Such a great effort!



Well that is it for this year.
We will try to make the Krypt Surf Technology Surf Mat Tube Ride of the Year even bigger and better in 2014.
I hope you have enjoyed the competition and the great year of waves. I know we did.
Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year to all.
Mark Thomson

Stickney squeaks in!

Chad Stickney has lodged a last minute entry for this years competition with some very competitive footage. You can view all 16 of this years entries here.

Calling for last minute entries for the 2013 Krypt Surf Technology Surf Mat Tube Riding Competition

2012 Competition winner Chad Stickney's entry

Entries for this years Krypt Surf Technology Surf Mat Tube Riding Competition close on the 15th of December.
So far, 15 entries have been received and you can review them all here.
It is well worth getting an entry in as the winning rider and photographer/videographer will receive:

1. 2 Series IV Krypt MT5 surf mats
2. 2 pairs of Voit DuckFeet fins
3. A year's subscription to The Surfers's Journal
4. A Patagonia R1 Steamer
5. A framed photograph of your choice from the Ho'okupu Surf Shop 

MT has decided that the way in which the competition is judged will be changed as last years turned into a bit of a social media bunfight although a worthy winner was decided ultimately.
So MT and myself will be judging the entries this year and will get a 3rd party involved if we cannot come to an agreement.
Apart from the winning entry being a great tube ride MT is keen that, whatever format is used, a single technically great image can be extracted.

15th Tube Riding Comp Entry

Another ripper of a shot! Ben DeCamp courtesy of Chad Stickney.

14th Tube Riding Comp Entry

Hawaiian based Jason Hall in super slow HD glory. Video guy was Wade Saunders!

13th Tube Riding Comp Entry

The irrepressible Adam Williams with GoPro stick in hand providing us with a viewing treat on the new JT5 no less!