I got that Roundtail feeling

Anyone else on here ride one of PG's roundtail 4GF mats?

I was really stoked after my session yesterday as I found it easier to turn the Vespa Roundtail down the line, left and right than I had on the squaretail XL I tried out earlier in the season. Ok I'm a newb and I don't know sh*t about top end mat performance and tech but the difference seemed striking.

Also, the XL seemed wider in beam and draught but shorter in length than the Vespa roundail. I had more mat under my thighs on the Vespa which improved glide no end - possibly making it more stable and improving steering response. The glide transferred straight through to my UDTs so i felt really at one with the mat. A case of good fit or roundtail (e.g. extra length)? Who knows.

I'm going to compare it with the squaretail Fatty we have to see how both mats perform (the Vespa is a Fatty with a roundtail). Still, from first impressions I reckon the 4GF Vespa Roundtail is a bomber mat for West Cornwall / North Coast conditions.

Would definately recommend it for the quiver!

J

Bod likes his roundtails.

PG tells me the Vespa is only 1/4" longer than the XL. I suspect the longer feel comes from the width to length ratio. The mat being narrower will make it quicker and the round tail will give extra hold, hence you feeling of being locked and tanking it on more hollow, solid surf.

That extra hold comes at the price of speed so you may find the Fatty quicker in a straight line. However, having a tail that releases easily means it will slip more readily and a mat going sideways is slower than one going forwards!



Personally, I prefer to have a tail that releases but like all things, its horses for courses.

G

G's quite right I like a roundtail.
I find in fast breaking big surf they hold a high line better than my other mat.
In smaller surf though where you need to make turns to generate speed I go with my fatty as the roundtail doesn't turn as well.
What ever works for you though really

Interesting.Pg made a shortened version of a Standard with a round tail for Kana.I took it out today for a laugh,and found that it was a bit slow ridden normally,but sped up ridden wrong way round!As everyone knows,I ride mats upside down ,wrong way round,any which way but fully inflated...that goes for fins too!

piskian wrote:any which way but fully inflated...that goes for fins too!

I always have my fins fully inflated.

G

Nice, I like the idea of riding it the wrong way round. Going to have to give that a try.

I started off on a 70" flock Li-Lo,and worked my way down!
G,your socks were fully inflated last time!Reminds me of when I got a full flush-through in the Vestaeralan Islands,suit blown up like a balloon!

I've got a Roundtail Tracker that I'm liking more than my Standard at the moment. I find it's a lot less hassle to get going where I want it to - loads more responsive to my input and available wave energy seemingly, which is a bit counter-intuitive.

Could be because I've only been out in sloppy gutless mess since the infamous KBay trip I guess, or perhaps I'm just built like Chaka Khan. Perhaps I just like my girls with curves.. More testing due this winter

T

Interesting stuff after extensive testing of my tracker in B/land back in the winter I preferd it to the standared which I found bogged alot this I am sure was to lack of size of wave my weight 14 stone, sh*t riding technique and probably to much rum!
The constant break away of the tracker I didn't like again I am sure this was technique on my part,but I now have a Fatty which I find works alot better for me but I will know when I have used it alot more,I am hopping 2 weeks in B/land in November will sort it and me out.
S.

Yeah ..... I try not to dwell on the sh*t technique part too much.

I'm kind of expecting I'll swing back towards the Std. as I get better (mat and fin technique).

What exactly is meant by "break away"? I always thought it was a chocolate covered biscuit snack

James H wrote:What exactly is meant by "break away"?

Dunno.

On the bogging, the extra length helps with that. Get some juice though and the Standard is a much looser mat that goes where it's put.

G

There seems to be no discernable pattern to the reaction of mat riders to the round and square tailed mats. The height, weight, age, level of surfing experience, sex, and local wave conditions of the rider are non-transcendant.

Some mat surfers like one tail, others like the other. Some like both.

(Insert your own sexual orientation joke here...)

At first this was mildly disconcerting to me, since I'm in a position of trying to recommend specific mat models to prospective customers. Then I realized that the nebulous nature of mat riders was a reflection of why mat riding is so great. You just can't predict how someone will react, and that's one of the reasons why mat riding has stayed under the radar for as long as it has.

PG wrote:
(Insert your own sexual orientation joke here...)

Piskian likes it backwards.



G

PG wrote:Some mat surfers like one tail, others like the other. Some like both.

I took Alison's Fatty out for a sea trial today after I spotted a few crisp peelers turning up at my local. Beautiful glide on the Fatty and it seemed easier to get going under today's less powerful conditions. This is RAD hardware Paul

James H wrote:hardware

Software...



G

Phwoar...