Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

What works and what doesn't. Share design ideas, references and contacts for paipo board builders.
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zensuni
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Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#1

Unread post by zensuni »

I wondered if it was possible to kneeride a plywood paipo.
I tried sometimes without success (the board started to sink), but I guess the waves were just not powerfull enough.
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OG-AZN
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#2

Unread post by OG-AZN »

Yes you can!! Jack Lindholm, the "inventor" of drop knee bodyboarding" credits plywood paipo riders as his inspiration. You can even stand up ride a plywood board. Look up the vids of Val Ching from way back in the day, stand up riding his paipo at Waikiki Walls. There's also a famous picture of Wally Froiseth sp?? stand up riding a paipo, prob in the 1950's. I knee ride and drop knee my paipos occasionally. The key to success is extra surface area, much wider than what you're used to on a boogie, and/ or a lot of speed on the take off. Getting up to your feet or knees tends to stall a ply paipo, so extra surface area and speed compensates for that. Val Ching's boards were fairly short in length but really wide. There's a vid floating around of a guy who copied an old paipo design which was both wide and long to do stand up rides. Those boards had skegs. I use my skeg less board for knee and drop knee riding. Longtime Hawaiian paipo rider Stan Osserman, who makes his own boards, is a dedicated knee rider.
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#3

Unread post by GeoffreyLevens »

I did it for a year or so in .ate 60's inspired by a friend. Very narrow (base and tip) and fairly shallow glassed on fin, board was only about 40" or so long and 18-19" wide (just sort of guessing but in that ball park. Did not work much in small mush but once a bit of juice under it, very fast and controllable though of course easy to stuff the nose since dead flat
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#4

Unread post by rodndtube »

Zen, I think you would enjoy reading our paipo interview with the late Bud Scelsa which will provide you a good idea of some of the board characteristics for kneeriding a "paipo board." Also worth noting he is riding on Hawaii's punchy waves. Some of the folks on the forum were kneeriders, now or in the past, so might provide some insights as well.
http://mypaipoboards.org/interviews/Bud ... 0409.shtml
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zensuni
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#5

Unread post by zensuni »

Thanks for your replies guys, these are interresting feedbacks. In "the endless summer", there is a video of George Grenough having a loooong ride at Malibu beach, he is kneeriding , do you know what kind of board it is, plastic spoon, fiberglass or wooden board ?
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#6

Unread post by Atlantasurfer »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S58kY5jsLTI

Someone posted this Proto-Kneelos video a while back. This thing is a gem and a good source for paipo/Kneelo crossover history in California.
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#7

Unread post by bgreen »

Stan Osserman - kneeriding a paipo with great style -
https://vimeo.com/166754020/48e15eaae6
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#8

Unread post by GeoffreyLevens »

Atlantasurfer and Bob those are both great fun! I went to college in Santa Cruz starting in 1968 and had a wee fish kneelo shaped for my out of an old board I stripped; John Mel did the deed as he was one of the to go-to shapers around so I went to him. One of the best boards I ever had! But pretty soon I lost it into the point at Steamer's and it snapped against the cliff. Damn! Good times...
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Re: Can you kneeride a plywood paipo ?

#9

Unread post by Uncle Grumpy »

zensuni wrote:Thanks for your replies guys, these are interresting feedbacks. In "the endless summer", there is a video of George Grenough having a loooong ride at Malibu beach, he is kneeriding , do you know what kind of board it is, plastic spoon, fiberglass or wooden board ?
It's been a while since I saw ES but I'm pretty sure that sequence was filmed at Sandspit in Santa Barbara.

Image

The red see thru type Velo didn't come along until 1965 so during the Endless Summer footage he was likely riding something along the lines of this earlier balsa spoon of his that was on exhibit a couple time in the past few years.

Image

Image

Image

Image

A little GG background by pal Paul Gross here:
http://flexspoon.com/Photos/silver/04.% ... 0-1965.pdf
Paipo surfer in repose,
Nose on the nose,
No grunting he-man pose.
See how fast he goes!
What is it he knows?
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