https://www.facebook.com/groups/paipobe ... 912265080/
Rob Beling
Loving the look of that board! It looks a little smaller than the HPD XL which I love to ride in most surf conditions. I think I would struggle to ride a heavy hollow shorebreak wave on my HPD. I do love that delta shape though.
Jarrett Liu
Yeah’ this shaper was from Hilo and made me one “demo” and he donated the one Neal’s photo of my “1st place Gold Metal” for the Paipo Board in 1992. That year eastern shore surf was rolling at 6’-8’ft at Makapu’u, Lifeguards who walked down with surfboards and I joined them with this spoon shape paipo. Everyone caught theirs wave as Kaeo (Sr lifeguard) “yelled” go go go, 16’-18’ft face clean face as I lean hard on the inside right-rails found myself in the center on the face as I can hear the crushing waves behind me as I looked ahead of me the “WALL” was straight vertical that I knew that barrel was so close behind me as I got closer to the cove
rock as I pushed down hard as I can as this huge wall of water passes me…wood board has weight that is needed, HPD doesn’t have enough weight to get the proper speed and distances
Rob Beling
My experience too! I bought some 1/2” marine grade plywood and experimented with different shapes and sizes last winter. The art work has been heavily influenced by yourself and your riding style along with other inspiring Hawaiian designs I have seen. None of the boards have any rocker or nose lift on them. They are super fast but I have to move around on them more to prevent pearling. I like their simplicity. The board with the he’e and the Duke body surfing is my preferred for heavy shorebreak waves. I love the story of your epic ride! We don’t hear enough rides described like that! Thanks again for all the inspiration that has allowed me to experience surfing in such a wonderful way! Mahalo Malolo!
1/2” plywood
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/paipobe ... 081640080/
Interesting - what material are they made from please?
Alex Williams
Very good quality Plywood...
Jon Holden
Very cool, is the artwork lazered on?
Rob Beling
I drew them on initially with a pencil till I got what I wanted and then used a Pyrography tool to go over the drawing. So the images are actually burnt into the wood fibre’s slightly. It’s a great way to while away a Winter evening! Very relaxing, highly recommend it. They are very easy to use.
Jon Holden
that’s quite a talent Rob, they look great
Steve Milne
They look a bit like Hawaii Paipo designs. Really cool
Rob Beling
I bought the red Hawaii Paipo Design board initially and was totally blown away by it’s speed, the skimming sensation and the feeling of being so close to the wave. A very similar sensation to body surfing but with the speed to make fast breaking sections. I put off making my own for some time, but then curiosity got the better of me, and I bought some 1/2” marine grade plywood. The plywood boards are slightly heavier which gives extra momentum and distance. You have to move about on these guitar pick shapes more, but I am a longboard rider, so I am on familiar territory there. The design originated from the longboard era from surfers who also rode stand up boards!Sean Ross called them body surfing boards, which sums them up perfectly in my humble opinion! They make me smile!
Steve Milne
How do you find the performance of the marine ply version compared to the Hawaii paipo board? Yes, I made a paipo out of marine ply and it was heavy but also had that momentum you mentioned. It had straight rails though, so not guitar pick shaped. I guess the latter allows for more manoeuvrability. Would like to try making one. Also, do you use similar dimensions to the Hawaii boards? And do you do anything with the bottom? Sorry about all the questions.
Rob Beling
I initially tried more conventional shapes but have found the guitar pick shape to be faster. I was inspired by Ray Ho’okano and his angular plan shape and wondered “why/how the hell do you come up with a shape like that?!” I have been able to find very minimal info about him and his boards though there is a tiny clip on YouTube of him riding one. I made as close a replica as I could, and the comments walking down the beach with it were hilarious
I proceeded to round the nose progressively. Riding these boards got me thinking completely differently about board design and the physics involved! There’s a definite knack or art to riding them especially in hollow waves. I personally use the curve in the nose as the rocker when dropping in on a steep face and slip the tail out in front of me more so it’s more like body surfing down the face with a hand plane. There are photos of Sean Ross doing this at Pipeline on guitar pick boards. When I first started I would keep my weight back on the board to avoid pearling as I would on a stand up board but I would get swallowed up and wouldn’t have the speed and control that I do when riding off the nose rail! The essence of the board is that I am forever adjusting the rail according to my wave positioning and so the water flows along the bottom at various different angles, and so consequently bottom contours are not going to be so effective. I keep the bottom totally flat, so the board actually behaves a bit like a skimming stone. The rail actually works as a fin in the face a lot of the time when in trim. Drifting and side slipping can be controlled after getting tuned into the different way of riding, in fact I really love the drifting feeling. The danger is getting caught up with how everyone else is riding waves and trying to surf them like stand up boards or boogie boards! The wide tail is more for speed for me plus angling in the rails in towards the nose gives a slightly longer rail line proportionally! I am still learning all this stuff as I go. There’s something wonderful about riding these boards! Wow, takes a long time to describe all this stuff! Hope some of it helps you.I actually ride my plywood boards more than my HPD board which is slightly more forgiving and manoeuvrable but a bit slower.
Too true! I love that underwater aspect of it! After all the wave energy is under the surface not above it!
Jarrett Liu
HPD mini probably but the rest looks extended but the tail look like 26”
Rob Beling
Red board is a HPD XL . I am 6ft tall. I will measure the tails when it stops raining! I think you’re probably pretty close though! I can’t remember off hand! I use the bigger ones when the waves are weak and small.
You were spot on! You have a keen eye! The board to the left of the HPD is bang on 26” tail!…
Jarrett Liu
yes, HPD was our sponsor back in the 90’s, Paul use to have a Warehouse here on O’ahu, I used to pickup couple of “Black” (Big) n “Red”(SM) boards for the Worlds Royal Richards Paipo Board Contest.
Rob Beling
Sounds great! Would love to have seen some of that contest! Stoked he still makes these boards!
Rob Beling
Ha! I have to laugh a little as a few of these boards have subsequently been tinkered with a little and fine tuned some, since this photo was taken! This is one of the many great attributes of making boards from Marine Plywood! Surf it in the morning, take the jigsaw to it and then surf it again later that day, provided you have the energy that is! All the improvements have worked I’m happy to say!
3 October 2022
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That would probably have been one of the wonderful “Surf to Save” fund raising contests. They were great events with the entry fee going to help Greenpeace and Surfers against sewage. The boards you mention have been used on our beaches for as long as anyone can remember! They are mostly used to ride the broken whitewater, which on a very flat beach like Polzeath can still give a very long ride. With the development of swim fins a few riders discovered they could then go out farther and ride in on unbroken waves. Today they are being ridden much more in this way and they work pretty well! They are very fast and quite flexible so you can adjust the rocker to suit your position on the wave. I sometimes take our very old family bellyboard out with swimfins on! I have had some great small tubes on it! However I find the flex a bit difficult to cope with in bigger surf and prefer a thicker, stiffer plywood board then, or body surf. I remember at one of the Polzeath contests a guy being there with a boogie board and a pair of Vipers which we had never seen before! I wonder if this was you? I believe he was from Hawaii.
The old family bellyboard and my thicker stiffer Hawaiian style Paipo for shape and size comparison.
John Morris
Nice. I would be challenged to get around in the line up with no more flotation than those boards appear to have.
Rob Beling
I have met many people who think the same way! I think you have to enjoy and feel comfortable in and under the water, and enjoy body surfing. I like being able to easily dive under whitewater and loose boards and out of control surfers! Guess it’s not for everyone.
John Morris
I started standing up on a surfboard at age 12 and never got good at body surfing. 60 years later I can't get to my feet anymore but still relate to a wave the way I have for decades. I have been exploring large paipos but systematically reducing size and volume to find the 'sweet spot'. The most recent board, at 4'11" and 2" thick has crossed the line into feeling closer to body surfing. I'm pretty hopeless at snagging outside waves when longboarders are in the water and have to settle for left overs and insiders.
Rob Beling
That’s what I so love about surfing right now. The freedom to explore different wave riding craft and find your own way out there depending on your background and personal preferences. I remember when I started riding longboards in the late 70s nobody would be seen dead on one, and I got a lot of flack for riding them! Not because I was a wave hog ( my friends all rode short boards, and you don’t steal from your mates!) but it was simply seen as regressive! For me I just preferred the connection to the wave when trimming and gliding and the relaxed and beautiful style that came naturally out of it. Yeah, ride whatever makes you feel the best inside, and respect other surfers. Nobody can compete with longboarders. Great that you’re still surfing and loving it.
Neal Miyake
back in 2004 I wrote an online article called "Alternate Waveriding Methods" which included paipos. I ended the story with, "However, it really shouldn't matter *how* you ride waves. If you're out there being respectful of others and are having fun, then it's all good."
Archived link here (might not load images): https://web.archive.org/.../neal.../200 ... ethods.htm