MyPaipoBoards Forums

I went surfing this morning with and old surfing buddy and for the sake of nostalgia ,rode a regular board for the first time in months.. ( a 9'10 yater)

it was pretty small and after riding a few waves standing up, I began riding them prone just for the hell of it. While I couldnt turn it worth a crap, I was amazed at
the sense of speed and how I could drive thru the whitewater on that tank. So I began to think about making my prone boards longer.

My Patrick thomas is 43 inches, my plywood paipos are generally 48 inches or a little less.

Interested in any input you guys may have regarding board length. I am aware of the mega platter dude but those are really wide and thick and from the photos
it looks like he usually surfs point type breaks with channels for paddle out.

Just looking to hear from someone who may have experimented with more than the 40 to 52 inch range. Curious about materials used, fins or no fins and other design particulars-


thanks for any info,
flojo

Flojo

I'm in the process now of doing another board. It was supposed to be a kneeboard but I over shaped it. I did have a 4'11 at one point and I really like how it reduced the drag from my legs. Not sure why I sold it. Well I know why, it was to fund another board. Anyway this will be the same size as that one all I'm doing is cutting 3" off the nose and an 1" off the tail. Will need to refoil the nose a bit. I'll post some pics later this week. I'll be doing the tweeking tomorrow.

Paul

Thanks! look forward to the pics...

What do you use for a blank?

My favorite small wave board is still this 5'5" X 15.5" stick and I have a couple more in the 5' range. I prefer the longer boards, especially in smaller surf.

I used a 7'3" A from is blanks and it's stringerless.

Hey Uncle, nice board. What size and type of wood stock did you use?

I have always wondered how long you have to go to get your legs out of the water. If I lift my legs out the water on my 4' 2" foam board, the nose will come up and the tail will sink into the water and the will slow down almost to stop. I know that Skiff can lift his legs out the water on his 6'2" 24" boards. I wonder how much shorter you can go and still keep your legs out of the water?

this board was made from 1x paulownia


this one is also paulownia
5' X 18"


this one is plywood
5' X 18"

jbw4600 wrote:I have always wondered how long you have to go to get your legs out of the water. If I lift my legs out the water on my 4' 2" foam board, the nose will come up and the tail will sink into the water and the will slow down almost to stop. I know that Skiff can lift his legs out the water on his 6'2" 24" boards. I wonder how much shorter you can go and still keep your legs out of the water?

My 4'2" (50 inches) x 20 to 20.5 wide boards do fine with my legs up and out of the water on waves with any spunk. I also tend to ride forward on the board so that may also be a factor of not sinking the rear of the board. Extending the legs & swim fins into the wave can effect my ride in two ways, 1) create drag or 2) increase planning surface and speed on the wave especially in flat sections of the wave (but I usually do that when riding the whitewater in towards the shore).

Here are some pics. The place I shape out of made an offer I can't refuse so I'll be glassing it as well, It's a poly blank glassed with epoxy.

Looks nice...dimensions? Are you putting fins on it?
Would like to see photos after glassing..

Flojo,

The three people I know who have ridden longer boards prone are: Richard Safady, Robert Moynier and Proneman Roger Kelly.
There are paipo interviews with Robert & Richard.

I rode one of Tom Wegner's boards longer boards prone and felt I had to move around a lot and lost the sense of turning off the rear corner. I might change my mind on this if I were to ride one today, this was a few years ago. An advantage of the longer boards is that you don't need flippers. I don't think the longer boards are suited to really hollow, beachbreaks, but again I could be wrong.

The sensation of fast planning can be obtained on shorter boards.

Bob

4'11" 22.5 2.75 out at the rails and 2.5 in the middle. Flat to vee quad fin.

Rod, On my boards I keep my feet out the water most of the time and ride forward also. But when wave slows down to a crawl my feet will go into the water. What I am wondering about is how low you have to go to able to keep your knees bent at 90 degrees ALL the time like you see in mat riders or the megaprone boards. On our "medium" length boards I think our legs come out the water when the boards planes and rides up on top of the water. There is a photo of someone riding one of Skiff's boards and he on a wave with his knees bent at 90 degrees.

jbw4600 wrote:Rod, On my boards I keep my feet out the water most of the time and ride forward also. But when wave slows down to a crawl my feet will go into the water. What I am wondering about is how low you have to go to able to keep your knees bent at 90 degrees ALL the time like you see in mat riders or the megaprone boards. On our "medium" length boards I think our legs come out the water when the boards planes and rides up on top of the water. There is a photo of someone riding one of Skiff's boards and he on a wave with his knees bent at 90 degrees.

That I am not sure of. Most of by body instinctively does what it does without thinking much these days. Yes, sometimes I will find my legs/fins dragging for some reason, lift them up and off I go. The swim fins and legs in many instances may be a turning aid or a method of slowing down on the face of the wave for better positioning when a turn is not the way to go (e.g., a rock!), but at other times the legs and swim fins extend for extra push (we become a longboard, the board and my legs & fins).

It is only on sluggish or really flat sections of a wave where the shorter, narrower, thinner boards bog down. On FL waves, I don't even try to ride my S&S Checkered RPM Austin boards (narrower, thinner); instead the baseline Austin or Big Green Ashton is the board of choice (thicker, wider, fuller profile from stringer to rail)... unless it is head plus.