Friday, July 5, 2019

Surf Mat Moves

While riding my surfmat yesterday, I started thinking about what "moves" I could do on the mat. I don't normally think about that, but I was chatting with a guy on the beach before getting in and he was commenting on videos he's seen of other surfmatters. (Probably Turbo Time, Mark Thomson, based on this guy's comments.) We were looking a the waves that were breaking somewhat like the Broken Head part of the video. I had to tell the guy that I couldn't do what Mark was doing in those videos, not to mention the waves we were looking at were breaking onto reef, not sand.

And later I began wondering what "moves" could I do on the surf mat. Well, I can break the fins loose (lift my swim fins out of the water for speed). I can catch air (inflate the surfmat with my lungs). I can air drop, which will happen whether I like it or not. I can side slip, but not in control like Hynd. Mostly I can go fast in one direction. There's another spot I've matted that has a section where I actually slide off the mat and drag my body in the wave to stall into a short but hollow section. I'm not sure what to call that move.
Compared to what I see more skilled surfmaters do, the list of what I can't do includes: cut-back, hard bottom turn, and make it out of barrels.

No comments: