mat surfing
Type of surfing performed on a soft, inflatable, rectangular surf mat; wildly popular in the 1950s, '60s and early '70s with weekend beachgoers as well as preteen surfers-in-training. "For decades," the Sydney Morning Herald noted in 2007, the surf mat "was a comforting part of the summer, an ingenious but simple device that helped generations of grommets grow confident enough in the waves to beco...
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Mat Surfing Blows UpSubscribe to view
Mat surfers at Bondi, 1940sSubscribe to view
Mat surfer, Sydney, 1965Subscribe to view
George Greenough, 1967. Photo: Paul WitzigSubscribe to view
California mat surfer, 1970sSubscribe to view
Mat surfing. Photo: Paul GrossSubscribe to view
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f1hjpcr4/production/e752ea9a3a6eecdef7ba8ca14275cc8f4a50df83-900x506.jpg?w=640&h=360&q=65&auto=format)
Mat Surfing Blows Up
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f1hjpcr4/production/234f8b380c1955caf86339fbf9d1df3d3a245e7c-640x360.jpg?w=640&h=360&q=65&auto=format)
Mat surfers at Bondi, 1940s
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f1hjpcr4/production/95627eef86ffad75cc5d4b754db886e2760ed1da-640x444.jpg?rect=0,44,640,360&w=640&h=360&q=65&auto=format)
Mat surfer, Sydney, 1965
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f1hjpcr4/production/02cc5bcdb4cd7f95b4778111e4cdc43f47fe5d50-640x360.jpg?w=640&h=360&q=65&auto=format)
George Greenough, 1967. Photo: Paul Witzig
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f1hjpcr4/production/aba47ab812e629ef8d4e499d5957d4798bcb2de1-700x604.jpg?rect=0,0,700,394&w=640&h=360&q=65&auto=format)
California mat surfer, 1970s
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f1hjpcr4/production/6cb61016a68cd2319b99c5384b8a456e409f10f4-640x427.jpg?rect=0,29,640,360&w=640&h=360&q=65&auto=format)
Mat surfing. Photo: Paul Gross