MyPaipoBoards Forums

Four of us are down in Costa Rica... one guy (Philly) brought 4 surf mats, rode them the first two days and tried out Terry's 50" Austin paipo yesterday (he also owns the Austin Big Boy model). He like the 50 inch version. Another chap, Atlanta, brought two Alaia-inspired paipos, one long and one shorter (5 foot?). He seems to like the smaller one much more than the larger one (6-ft?) in the waves here. He is gonna give Terry's 50-inch Austin paipo a trial spin today. Terry has a Romanosky paipo (50" long but wider and thicker than the Austin) and the baseline 50-inch Austin paipo. I have my S&S Checkered RPM Austin paipo which is a thinner, slimmer version than my baseline design for the Austin Paipo. We are all having mucho fun in the surf which has ranged from 3-8 foot in various increments and wave types. It has also been great fun cross-examining each other and our surf riding histories and trying to explain what we like about the boards we ride and what tweaks we might make to search for the ultimate prone riding craft.

Talking about traditional Hawaiian (or wooden?) and contemporary paipo,as Nels suggested isn't a bad way to go.

Prone riding platforms missing from the photos are (L to R):

• Terry's Austin paipo - pictured is the Romanosky
• AtlantaSurfer's longer plywood alaia paipo (he used that the first day and put it away - he also rode Terry's Austin and Romanosky and decided to buy a used pre-Austin paipo)
• PhillyViking's other 3 surf mats that he brought (he doesn't travel with his Austin paipo but he borrowed Terry's a couple of times)
• Rod-None

Fins used:

• Viper Yellow Dots 7" (long blade)
• UDTs and also borrowed Force Fins from Philly
• Force Fins
• Vipers Orange Dots and Yellow Dots, both 5" blades.

Is that Rod's famous paipo camp?

There really are not that many of us paipo riders... although we had 3 paipo riders and a Wave Skate rider this past April, spread out over 2 weeks. A couple of my local surf club fish riders as well.

AtlantaSurfer's two boards that he brought down. He left them here as gifts to a couple of kids.

cool pics, glad your having fun.

Rod,

How long is your leash and do you attach it to your wrist?

nok wrote:Rod,

How long is your leash and do you attach it to your wrist?

I typically use a 5' or 6' leash depending upon conditions. It is attached to my wrist and the leash plug is several inches from the tip of the nose, centered. I prefer the straight, non-coil leash.