MyPaipoBoards Forums

Reports are, this board works insane, but obviously in 'clear' water, no kelp allowed....Kind of throws out any obsessive theory about rail configurations, eh?

I'm Transpaipoexual...there, i said it!

I'm not divided...i'll try/ride anything. just some things are going to feel better to me than others. plywood is crazy fun in the 1/2"x19x48" realm, very tubie, and all my foam boards are well worth the ride. i will not, never, no no never ride or surf just one type of board, ever. in fact, if i had to admit another thing, i've been kneeriding the past 7 outa the last 9 times in the water. i was actually a full time kneerider (40 years) up until 5 years ago, when i started transitioning into prone, because of bad knees, back and shoulder. i would still call myself a kneerider even though i love paipoing more and even wish i had started doing it a long time ago. skiph, i would be willing to give one of your fatties a go. let me know when the swell will be just right for a trip up there on a friday or saturday.

Skiff,

That board looks insane. Count me in too! In fact, maybe we could get an informal get together one day for the so-cal / central cal area?

Love to host you guys up here, just get ahold of me on the private messaging thing, and we can plan some dates? I'm pretty flexible on my end. The offshores have kicked in, so I'm sure we can find something appropriate, swell or not.

A buddy just had this paipo custom shaped.....turned out insane.

All shapes and sizes out there.................with one primary goal: a room with a view.

Brand spanking new............still waiting for just the right day for testing.

This Blue Plate board has really got me intrigued. Especially the part about getting into the wave earlier than most other paipos.
Do you think I could get similar results from riding a kneeboard prone? I don't think I am ready to throw down the greenstamps to have a board custom shaped.

I do see the value of increased size, which is even more important if you weigh 230 like I do. My main ride these days is a plywood alaia/paipo shape that is 6' by 18.5" It really flies.

I ride a plywood paipo and get into waves earlier than most shortboarders do. That being said, I use UDT fins, kick hard from off the board, and try to let the swells/waves energy help me get into the wave early. It helps to know the break well and watch the swell for a shift in its peak.

Atlanta Surfer- I've had all manner of skilled surfers, from 120lbs to 240, ride these larger platters, and to a one, everyone wholeheartedly agreed that the bigger ride was what generated the horsepower and improved the experience. A larger kneeboard might be a good way to start to inexpensively experience what this new template can do for you personally, but my guess is they'll be 21-23" wide, and that's a whole lot skinnier than the 29" of these boards, and there IS a difference. But check it out, and see how it feels. When I'm out surfing, in between waves, I seem to turn the board sideway and hang onto it like that, and it gets my body like half up out of the water? That helps keep me warmer, which translates into longer go outs, so the design as a whole seems to be beneficial in lots of areas.

Skiff,

Like all surfcraft there is a balance. On first appearances your board to me seems way wide, but if it is 6'3" x 29"the ratio of length to width is not radically different to other paipo.

To me it's a matter of what conditions a particular board is suited for. I'm sure these boards would fly in clean, long lined waves. It would also be a lot easier to kick/paddle in situations where there is a strong current. I'm not so sure that I would like to surf it in very choppy conditions (which can be fun) or have to duck-dive through solid waves. On my latest board I reduced the maximum thickness to under 2" to make duck-diving easier.

The distinction of seeking a bodysurfing/out of the water experience could be considered one dimension in terms of riding paipo. Some others are: the finned/finless, flex/no flex as well as simplicity/complex manufacture (a piece of ply is the ultimate in simple to make).

I like mixing up the boards I surf.

Bob

Bob-

For sure, there are plusses and minuses, limitations and advantages............to all manner of boards. The platter works for the types of surf that I usually try to hunt down, and I've optimized the design for those types of waves. That said, it does NOT like it when the waves begin to get choppy or jumpy....all the width just transmits and magnifies the bounce and the fun quickly ends. Duckdiving well....? Not so much. So yes, nothing is perfect, and I'd certianly never claim that for what I've developed. The larger the wave, the cleaner the conditions have to be or things get bouncy? The last board John shaped for me has quite a bit of roll, or 'hull' design charactaristics shaped into the forward 2/3rds of the board, and one of the benefits of this is that it has cut down on some of the bounce over my flatter bottomed boards?

Skiff,

The issue of reducing bounce is an interesting one. I''ve had two boards made from the same template - Larry Goddard's makaha master. Second board was thinner than the first to add duck-diving (and allow surfing in conditions where there aren't easy channels or where there are plenty of cleanup sets or I want to sit further inside), now I'm considering a narrower board to allow surfing point breaks when they are choppy (ian Anderson called this guerilla paipo surfing). It has been suggested to me that some vee would make riding choppy conditions easier. How much roll, is "quite a bit"?

When it comes to bounce, there is the bounce you get from chop and you get bounce when you are really speeding (like a stone skipping). Do you get the latter on your board or is it more the bounce from chop that you have experienced. I was going to have the tail pulled in a couple of inches to also facilitate surfing choppy condiitons.

Bob

BG-
The bouncing is a small issue really? I try to get my surfing to places that are smooth, lined up, and suitable for what I'm trying to accomplish with my day, but with some spots, they tend to get a little bouncy with a higher tide, and if it gets bad enough, that can set up a bounce? If you're familiar at all with 'Liddle' surfboards or some of the theory behind 'hull' designs, that is sort of what I was aiming for with the belly roll. How much is it rolled? I'd say a fair bit. On my latest board, I think that it's this roll up forward, coupled with a fairly severe single concave in the rear and that big 9.75" Greenough paddle fin that gives this board a much better 'rail to rail' transition when compared to my flatter twinne? The paddle fin especially is a big part of this. That fin just seems to really do something with this prone surfing thing, and I credit it with giving the board the inherent 'drive' that it seems to possess vs. some of my other boards? George was onto something, as I guess we already knew, and having all that base down low on the fin really contributes to making that board get up and go when we get the proper test track. Believe me, I 'get' the allure of the simple plywood paipo, it's historical significance, the trimmability and genetic, inbred speed of the thin'ness? But for me, it's the subtle variations that you can shape into a foam board that steered me off down this path, and though it's been a victory in small, elongated degrees over time, it's been a victory (*at least for what I'm trying to do with 'em) nonetheless.

Best way I know to quantify roll is use a level straight edge across bottom of board and measure difference between stringer and apex of rail ie the very widest point at that part of the board. Don't know if I said that clearly, its clear to me! Of course another variable is what you do with that difference/roll. Is it gradual to the stringer or flat in the middle and more curve out nearer the rail etc.

This is a place that I surf when it breaks while we are there. The wave is probably a half mile paddle out, at least a quarter mile straight out. The wave pictured is between 10 to 12 foot. You might notice the slight cross shop, or wind swell at an angle perpendicular to the forward motion of the breaking wave. It can be relatively glassy but a slight cross swell from light northerly winds run across the face. When making speed on the drop and when charging across the face I sometimes find myself "skipping" violently, or going airborne for 5 to 10 feet, landing and taking off again with continuing great speed and force. A couple of years ago a couple of ribs were bruised and tender.

This wave/board behavior stimulated thought about solutions. The board I ride out there, the RPM Checkered, is flat bottomed, 50x20x2.25 inches with only a small amount of nose scoop/rocker, ditto for the tail. Hmmm, what changes should I make to mitigate this "bounce?" Should I go with a more flexible board? Should I go with a more pronounced roll or V in the forward third of the board? Shorter or longer? After much thought and some discussions with others I have decided to stand pat. Better to skip rapidly across wavelets on this wave then to plow through the wavelets and slow down. Wearing some form of chest padding, such as a 1mm neoprene vest, might be the way ahead.

Hmmm, roll or vee up front would definitely mitigate some of the bounce and probably slow you down as well. I know though, that mats with their very soft flex, love texture and small bumps (emphasis on small!). On that sort of surface they seem to go even faster than on really smooth glassy waves. Could be illusion but certainly no slower and if you relax and sort of let your body conform to the ripples as they flow under the mat, bounce is minimized or eliminated.

On some level, the bouncing thing will always be a part of paipo boarding once you begin surfing waves much over 6'? It's going to take a really, smooth, calm playing field to not end up inducing some sort of bounce action...? I know that from my 'stand up' surfing days, I didn't really realize how much I was using my legs as 'shock absorbers' when surfing? But once I went prone, it became obvious. For me, the paipo thing sort of restricts my overall surfing experience in that I now look for ONLY those venues where the boards will work....and work well? But in the end, it doesn't really matter, because over time, these are the types of surf setups that I most prefer anyway, so I'm more than happy to concentrate on them.

I had some bounce on Azul. To help cushion myself I had one arm resting on the board, from hand to elbow, the other arm had a hand on the board, the arm in the air. I kept my body off the board this way and let my arm with only the hand on the board float a bit. Seemed to work ok.

One day at GP it was bouncy...the spot in front of the flag that I had to myself that one afternoon.