The last 5 or so sessions I've had have been on a mat. The waves have been varied and so have the results. Yesterday I was out at head-high Ocean Beach with light offshore winds at low tide. The crowd was thick but manageable. The most notable thing is how much trouble I was having when caught inside. OB isn't the easiest place to paddle out but having the mat in somewhat juicy waves I found that its more of a challenge than a hard board. Still I persevered and succeeded.
The next thing I noticed was that the skilled short boarders were going faster than I was. I could tell because they were making waves that I wasn't. I still got some waves and when I got the right one it was great to get a fast pocket ride. As the tide filled in and the waves softened, so did the crowd. I ended up getting several great waves at that point.
So yesterday I found the 0-60 limit (since I believe I could have made waves if I had the tiniest bit more time to accelerate) and I've found the smallest & softest limit last weekend at Bo' and I pushed the big and bumpy limit at tre mile. I also learned that there are times when the mat works better than anything else in the water, such as small onshore John st. Another point is that yesterday I took the bus(es) to the beach. With the mat it's just one more lump in my bag. A surfboard would have been an ordeal, especially when the bus gets packed with people. So the mat is much more portable than any surfboard.
That leaves me to think its time to try a hard board again, see what that feels like under me feet. I will also bring my mat, and consider it more often now that I've gotten a better feel for it. My goal is to have the right board for the conditions, and sometimes a mat is the right "board."
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