Need feedbacks on the HPD XL

[zensuni]

I occasionally ride a finless plywood paipo in small waves. It works great, but when waves are bigger, I don't use it since I am concerned about my safety. Plywood is hard and I experienced it twice already. I think the leash may be what caused the board to hit my head, but if I don't use leash then it starts to be dangerous for the others. When it is too big for the plywood paipo, I use a surfmat, which is fun and quite interesting to ride, but duckdiving is so much easier with a paipo... So, I am looking for a fiberglass paipo. There is no paipo in France as far as I know, so it is quite a quest to find one. On the french equivalent of Craig's list I found a second hand HPD XL. I visited the HPD website, I googled HPD paipos, but I found a very few videos of them in action. Their guitar pick shape intrigues me. Are they really fast ? Isn't the large tail cumbersome ?

[bgreen]

The HPD is still a hard object. It is an established design that has been ridden in large Hawaiian surf. Under paipo interviews look for Paul Lindbergh, Sean Ross, especially and Jim Growney, but there are quite a few historical interviews which show these boards. For some historical footage of Jim and John Waidelich and friends - see https://vimeo.com/9742493
Some people love them, some don't. You just have to put the time in and surf them in better waves - ideally something with a peak to launch from. Kage and Paipo Jim are two guys on this forum, that I know of, who have ridden this design over the years.

Hard to tell why the board hit your head - you could look into a Gath helmet if you're concerned about injuring your head.

I know a French shaper who might make you a fibreglass board.

They can be fast, the tail is the planning area and the wings act as fins

[rodndtube]

Not sure about the leash you were using... they come in many sizes (lengths) and a couple of different styles (coiled and straight). Maybe try a leash a couple of feet longer. Personally, I don't use the coil leashes as they tend to be shorter and pop back harder (during those rare wipe outs, ha ha).

[OG-AZN]

Like other people said, you'll gain nothing safety wise with a HPD. They are just as hard as plywood and will probably snap back at you just as hard if you put a leash on one. I've never surfed any "traditional" paipo with a leash. I think it's dangerous. You must be surfing really crowded conditions to fear endangering other people when you lose your board. Neutrally buoyant boards tend not to travel as far in when you lose them as compared to surfboard, boogie, or mat.

I don't think the HPD does well in small beachbreak or any kind of closeout surf either. However, if you can get the one for sale in your region at a good price, you should grab it. If you're looking at paying a high price, you should think about getting a wood paipo made of paulownia or similar light wood instead. The weight difference between paulownia and plywood is pretty dramatic.

[bgreen]

Zensuni,

The other thing I forgot to mention is that a fibreglass board will hit you harder than your average ply/wood bellyboard.

Bob

[GeoffreyLevens]

The actual HPD company has newer model that is not guitar pick shaped. Having ridden a guitar pick plywood board a few times, I do not really like the outline though to be fair, it could have been just that the board overall was much too big for me. Anyway, check it out

Hawaiian Paipo Designa~PAIPO XP

[zensuni]

I thought that a fiberglass board would be less dangerous, seems like I was wrong. In this case I don't have any good reason to buy it. Will be cheaper to keep the plywood board and to buy a Gath helmet and a long surf leash On small days it is sometimes so crowded that the helmet would also help to prevent from being injured by other rider's board anyway. Again, I am happy with how the plywood board works. Didn't know either that pawlonia was lighter than plywood, might be a good solution, although I have no idea of where I can find that kind of wood. Thanks for your replies.

[Junkman]

I've ridden HPD boards for the last few years, and I'd recommend giving it a go.

I don't wear a leash and the only times I've been hit by the board is from pulling in to a closeout section. But regardless of the situation, if I do become separated from the board I protect my dome because, as I'm sure you know, you do not want to catch that rail in your skull. And per og-azn's post - the board tends to not travel very far without you on it. But not every time.

The HPD shape requires some getting used to. You direct it from the tail, like bgreen said. Infact, you really have to crank the rail to get it turning. If you just lean over to turn, you'll find yourself in a kind of slow-motion flat spin while the wave runs away from you.

Another thing about the HPD board is that its a runner. Loves to run. Give her a nice open face and she'll take off.

On second thought, you shouldn't get the HPD board because I want to get it. Wait, nevermind, you're too far away and they'll bleed me on the shipping costs. You should get it instead.

No, I'm not a paid spokesman for HPD.

[zensuni]

You direct it from the tail

Do you mean it is a little bit like a bodyboard, where you really have to slice the wave's face to turn ?

Also, I'm quite short, 5,5 foot, I am concerned about the board (especially this XL model) being just too big for me.

[bgreen]

How much is the board? If it isn't too expensive you don't have a lot to lose. Don't worry about the size, XL dimensions are: 30 inches wide at the widest point, and 40 inches from nose to tail.

In terms of paulownia boards, these guys aren't far from you: http://www.surf-longboard.com/info-wege ... boards.htm

Then there is these guys: https://surfeuropemag.com/features/shap ... -wood.html