Dale Solomonson - The Magic Towel and all that other stuff!
photos courtesy of Dale Solomonson
by Ken McKnight and Dale Solomonson
posted 2004-11-15
Mat surfing has taken on a whole new character in recent years and Dale Solomonson can be thanked for most of it. After 30 some years of design and concept development, Solomonson's inventiveness and practical application have pushed mats into a realm not seen before. He uses space age technology, age-old concepts, a pinch of mumbo jumbo and a whole lot of input from others to bring each mat to life.
Photo courtesy of Dale Solomonson
The names of those riding his Neumatic Surf Craft are very impressive. Greenough, Rastovich, Malloy to name a few. But when you search a little deeper there are so many others enjoying the mats in lineups all over the world it is mind-boggling. There are many surfers that have added a mat to their quiver, but more on that later.
Mat surfing is magic. They have acceleration points that you just don't find anywhere else in ocean riding equipment. Whether you ride one in 2 foot slop or six foot perfection the feeling is just second to none. Greenough once said he likes them because of the feeling he got from being close to the water while going fast.
Surfing on a Mat filled with air is no easy feat. Go ahead and laugh, go ahead and point that finger, but until you try and do this, you better shut up and learn.
Canvas mats go back a long way in surfing history. Remember the blue and yellow ones that seemed to saturate the lineup everywhere from Seaside Heights to Zuma Beach or Bondi and Manly in the 60's. Well okay, maybe you don't remember but the tiny craft's were everywhere. Every beach concession stand around the free world had them for rent. And of course there was the Aussie "Hodgeman Mats". Rip Curl's early models were by Ray Thomas who put them together as a youngster for the Curl in Torquay in the early 70's.
Photo courtesy of Dale Solomonson
It took Greenough to put them on the map publicly with his super trim, flying down the line style of riding. It caught many of us slack-jawed when seen in movies like, Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, circa late 60's. Yet the Mats were always just a novelty or offside dalliance to regular surfing. A sideshow so to speak. They were too hard to master for the body boarding generation. And, there is the difficulty of actually constructing them in a suitable aerodynamic and ergonomic way as to make them work. Not to mention who was going to build them.
Enter Dale Solomonson, stage right, from his world up north standing in the front of the line inviting us in to look around at his work. Dale is the preeminent builder of Mats today and his craftsmanship and knowledge are second to none. Today, after 30 some years of design and concept development, Dale is getting his due.
Dale Solomonson is truly a pioneer figure in the world of surfing. His mats are his primary focus but he dabbles in inventiveness like bees dabble in honey. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, has an active life and family, and a passion for everything he does. From his Mats to Skateboards, fishing to Art, Dale is a renaissance fellow with a very interesting tale to tell. We thought you might like to see where the mats receive their first breaths. He was kind enough to open his workshop for us to come in.
-- Ken McKnight
Neumatic Surf Craft
by Dale Solomonson
Photo courtesy of Dale Solomonson
For many years good surf mats have been a hardcore, underground phenomenon. But since the advent of Neumatic in the summer of 2000, the opportunity to purchase true custom mat designs (never commercially available before), handcrafted in modern materials, has really opened up mat surfing performance.
All my surf mats are individually handcrafted. I've been building mats since the 1970's, and modern polyurethane and nylon mats since late 1982... working alone, with personal control over design and quality from start to finish. Composed of two different polyurethanes and mil-spec nylon deniers, they're ultra light and extremely supple, averaging 18 ounces. Neumatics are the most advanced equipment of their kind in the world.
