MyPaipoBoards Forums

I just noticed that Josh Klein is building customized classic and derivative Paulownia paipos again. https://xylemsurfcraft.com/ I have two of his boards. He is an old school craftsman and good soul. I have ridden his boards in east coast slop and demanding Costa Rica heavy breaks. He has a new board that looks like a Lord Board (see https://vimeo.com/15614139 for foam version). Go to him for classics and new frontiers.

Nice cool foam-board surfing..... Classic rides..... great vids...

Josh makes a Paulownia version if that was not clear. His made me think of the foam version in the vid which is just a foam blank without a skin.

Josh didn't mention dimensions for the SRFDORD (Lord Board) but they seem to approach Jeff Chamberlain length and width specs albeit with a different thickness and plan shape. Also notice the hand slot for carrying the board like you see on SUPs. Good to see Josh up and running again.

Follow-up with Josh Klein -- The SRFDORB is 60”x 28” x1-1/4”. He commented, "That width helps it get on plane and glide through flat sections. Certainly the widest board I’ve ever made or ridden!"

Low centre of gravity short and wide, wise words

The Lord Board references are to Lord, Lindsay. 1963. Naval architecture of planing hulls. Cambridge, Md: Cornell Maritime Press. See for more information:
https://mypaipoboards.org/pubs/BookSumm ... rd_Lindsay

As you can see in Josh's length x width measurements his new board has a spot on aspect ratio.

I can see that the SRFORB could work in east coast summer beach break in particular. Check out some of the pics on the site. I recently built a bigger board than usual for slop but added too much buoyancy (EPS foam). All my extra float got in my way. The 60”x 28” x1-1/4” SRFORB has more surface area but less float than my 52"x23x3 Slop Hopper. The SRFORB, which is thin, appears to rely more on surface area and the magic Lord ratio rather then buoyancy for slop. I would love to hear how that works out on the SRFORB or other builds that go with surface area rather than float?

The Xylem SRFDORB is certainly an interesting board but do not lose sight that Josh is mostly known for his hand crafted authentic Hawaiian Alaia and Paipos.

There are many people riding the Jeff Chamberlain paipo boards -- sometimes called "SUP-styled paipos" -- and although Jeff's boards are thick much of the design philosophy has to do with planning surface. His boards are also longer so although I have not computed the aspect ratio, he successfully adapted the "wide is good" philosophy. As a qualifying note, he doesn't usually surf breaks without a channel so duck-diving-is-not-required.

This Lord Board is right in my wheelhouse. Look's intriguing.