Duckdiving tips for plypo newbie (& boards built)

[OaxacaBob]

First time poster and forum newbie. 68 yrs old and lifelong surfer, off and on. In Oaxaca state, Mexico and have surfed a mat for 3-4 years now for health reasons but finally tired of fighting a airbag out thru the impact zone. And thrilled to discover this site, go thru the rich interviews, and study the forums and board design-construction. Facebook seems to have supplanted this forum but like the format here so hope some of the old guard, and new, still hover here occasionally. Should say thanks to the forum posters of old.... learned SO MUCH from your experience. Veteran small wood boatbuilder so I have crafted 5 boards to take down to the great points we have here on the Oaxaca coast: 3 "plypos", a 6.5' alaia, and a 50" chambered wood T-Belly clone.

My question is can anyone share duckdiving tips for plywood paipos? Possible in a shallow beachbreak? How deep should one dive to avoid various size waves? Excited to finally avoid the worst of traditional floaty board paddleouts. And very curious how folks maneuver a neutral bouyancy plypo out in the line-up? Some seem to paddle a bit, others kick and extend the board way out in front of them. Will try to post a pic of the finished boards.... synthesized from many posters here. Thrilled to be heading out on a test run coast trip. Thanks..................

[bgreen]

You may have resolved this question. Low volume boards duckdive easily, though require a good set of legs to deal with currents and long distances. The paipo nui style boards actually get a glide going underwater. Finless boards of low bouyancy are hard to arm paddle in a traditional sense. One arm paddling can supplement kicking.