Another matting session with no "Hard boarding" in between. Instead of getting more out of it, I seem to be enjoying it less. Now I should point out that the surf has been poor. It's been week semi-windy windswell beachbreak sessions for me, so I don't expect much. Today I did find some pitchy waves but was unable to put myself in a position to take advantage of a barrel. I do catch many waves, but I can't seem to do what I want to do, where I want to on the wave. I'm trying to catch a wave and duck under the lip close to the take off. I think the problem is that the mat doesn't accelerate off the bottom as quickly as something with a hard edge would. I try to angle my take-off which helps, but doesn't get the job done. I think that the mat just isn't the right tool for the job. If I want to remain prone, I think I should look into an HPD, or similar paipo. In fact, just the other day I was poking around the e-bodyboarding website. The conclusion I came to was that bodyboards aren't as fast across the water as kneeboards. But I find my kneeboard needs better waves than what's been available lately. Maybe it's time for a small wave, low volume, paipo-esque kneeboard?
I've also been dreaming of a mini-simmons. One with a fat, solid tail and two fins. That shape doesn't seem to be a barrel hunter though.
Okay, what about the idea of buying some marine ply and making a paipo? The marine ply I've worked with before was very ridgid. Time to find a boat yard and a salty old dude to get some advice from. (Or not.)
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