With the averge age of the kneeboarder these days this area should be used to post issues on health matters (surfer's ear, knee surgery, stretches, etc).
Oh, my!!! Knee I had 2 post snowboard surgeries on has been acting up BAD lately. Had reading from my friend who is a class-A medical intuitive if you like that sort of thing. She agreed w/ my intuition that KBing is stressing it. So is jumping on my trampoline. DANG! She said knees are basically one of my weakest areas. I knew that. Have had problems off and on since I was a wee laddy. And now I'm an old crabby (rhymes w/ daddy but I'm not so...crabby is more accurate)
Anyhoo, my DaleSolomonson neumatic I ordered awhile ago is due soonish!!!! So perhaps I will convert. Instead of being a half-man; I'll be a what? Gotta do whatchew gotta do. My friend is seldom wrong and since her reading concured w/ my own intuition I'm gonna run with it. Speeed speeeeeeed and flex can't be a bad thing. So ya'll look out behind yourself when your taking off.
Well, Dr...
Since you are (you're) converting please leave go forth into your (you posessive) new phase with new knowledge:
your=you possessive
you're=contraction of you are.
Afterall, you could be spared embarassment on other bbs with this knowledge and also be taken more seriously be all. Mat guys need a bb.
Have fun, I may see you on my mat in a decade or so. Oh yeah, just kidding about the your/you're thing, my mama said it's (it is) not polite to correct people.
your=you possessive
you're=contraction of you are.
Type in haste...repent at leisure.
Beeline; not to worry. I rode a mat in early 70's and sort of know the drill. I surf uncrowded breaks generally but I did once surf Malibu on a mat and if you take the highline and drop down at the right moment, you can use your shoulder like a halfback w/ a serious "clipping" violation and send 'em flying like bowling pins. Bwa-ha-ha!!! Maybe I should invest in a helmet. I could glue a Viking spike on top !
Yeah the mat forums are slow as molasses. Maybe I'll have to keep on intruding on this joint.
As for hanging on to a mat, forget the Vulcan death grip and think Russian bear wrestler---full arm wrap. Also, less inflated pushes thru/under easier and when surf gets a little bigger you can deflate and just swim it out.
Jeff, on your signature, did you mean "locale"? Laughing
MOW yup. Fixed it. I'm glad we can all help each other with our grammar and word usage. Plan to surf with Scott today. Hopefully we can snag some of the NE swell that's coming in today.
HAH I was just about to post the same thing Dale did. That was mostly what I found way back when. Surfed Chun's reef and a south shore spot I forget the name (old man brain as well as knees) and admittedly the surf was crap but the peeps were very friendly and interested though amused by my choice of ride.
Dr. Strange- You will have a blast with your mat if.....you have good wave knowledge and an open mind.Low inflation is key for duckdiving and bodysurf style trim.The things are a ton of FUN is the bottom line .Most surfers are really curious too.I ride mine alot in beachbreak when it's good size mushy peaks on the outside then gets hollow on the inside type surf......you fly!The things are built tough as nails also.Just another challenging way to ride waves......In windy or mushy conditions riding a kneeboard is kinda lame but fun on a mat or a longboard.The mat takes alot of surf knowledge to ride at a high level.If you ever seen Kenny Hughes or Greenough ride theirs well.....they didn't just hop on one and start surfing backwards in tubes .They both kneeboarded for 25 plus yrs at a high level.So.......you will be a Kook for a while!
If you haven't already, read the post at matforum referenced by flexman. Kinda says it all...
Mark, when we both graduate from the kook box we can do go-behind switch overs---behind everyone else.
Nup. Did make a plywood kneelo in late 60's. Beveled the edges (high in front and low in back) warped in slight rocker in bathtub and tacked on tiny glass fin. Flew down the line. Couldn't turn hardly at all. Just sort of stall pivot.
Finally got my $10 (including shipping from Toys R Us) Intex mat in the water. That big long point East side Santa Cruz (shhhhh). Perfect beginner mat waves. Head high to a foot or two over, kinda weak, super clean, some hollowish sections. First, a note to Beeline—I was very well received! As I joined the small crowd, a kook on a long board was being not too politely told that he was not allowed at that peak until he could ride a shortboard. I was greeted with comments like "Hey, I’ve never seen one of those around here before." And, "I’ve got one of those but only taken it out a couple times. They sure are hard to ride." And, "I that the high performance model with the twin keels?" Several times, people backed off and gave me the wave when I was in deep position for the sets! NICE!!!
The ride? I’m pretty much a kook so hard to know what was the mat and what was me. Paddle out was easy easy easy. Hopping over soup a breeze until mistimed one and got pitched backwards. Also doing that, a tendency to get bapped in the face. Duck diving was a snap. Got caught just inside impacet zone on bigger sets a couple times and went under easier than a hard board. Missed first few waves and then figured out I had to hang off the back so rear edge of mat was about even w/arm pits and squeeze in a bit of concave to firm it up. Then I could take off even w/ the shortboard stand-ups. Had a lot of trouble holding an edge. Finally found it a bit better if I was so far forward may face was about 1/2 past the front edge and concave squeezed in but still a lot of getting pushed sideways. Also pretty slow. Kept accidently dragging feet and when I remembered to lift them out of the water got a big burst of speed but still pretty slow . Could be that type of mat needs to be blown up HARD as I started at about 60% and later added air to about 75% and it was somewhat better. Never got any real speed out of it though and was most often riding under the edge of soup. Found I had to reel in a lot more fabric than I would have thought to "shape a rail" which may have been part of the holding an edge issue. Amping to get my Neumatic from Dale
Having read some threads and FAQ’s on the mat forum was a huge help in figuring out experiments to try around positioning and squeezing etc. Overall, a ton of fun. Felt like a fat man body surfing.
"If everything is under control, you're going too slow!" --Mario Andretti
Oh, my!!! Knee I had 2 post snowboard surgeries on has been acting up BAD lately. Had reading from my friend who is a class-A medical intuitive if you like that sort of thing. She agreed w/ my intuition that KBing is stressing it. So is jumping on my trampoline. DANG! She said knees are basically one of my weakest areas. I knew that. Have had problems off and on since I was a wee laddy. And now I'm an old crabby (rhymes w/ daddy but I'm not so...crabby is more accurate)
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