11 February 2024
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Andy Bick
My longest Paipo is 6 ft and I use fins (flippers)
Kevin Barrett
I’ve got a Tom Wegener Seaglass Tuna and Albacore. 6’2” and 5’6” If I go out with fins I just catch loads of waves, if I go out without fins my ego gets the better of me and I end up trying to ride them standing. Not that I can’t, just not very well and spend a lot of time falling. Still good fun but.
Mark Grulke
I just picked up a secondhand Albacore at a Pawn shop, have only had 10 minutes on it at the end of session in shore break. Seemed quite quick? It was mainly what i was asking fort? I'll try fins to start and see how they go. Might not be needed , it has tones of float.
Kevin Barrett
I really don’t need fins to catch waves on them, just arm paddling. Quick in a straight line but can slide around all over the place. Just great fun.
Roger Harrell
5'6" to 4'10"
Arm paddle only
Rod Treece
Mine is 4’8 . I weigh 195 6’. In warmer weather with on wetsuit I can catch waves without fins
John Morris
I ride paipos between 4'11 and 5' 1. I use flippers to kick around in the line up, sometimes trading off with arm paddling. That means I'm either hanging off the back of the board so my legs are free to kick, or moved up into planing/trim for effective arm paddling. Taking off on a wave the board needs to be in trim, so I move forward and arm paddle, often after doing a quick tail sink.
Harlan Fujioka
I use fins just make cruising around easier. Choose which method you feel like using arms or legs which ever isn’t fatigued. Better to have and not need than need and not have.
Stephen Newbegin
Always use original soft rubber duck feet fins and webbed gloves for maximum acceleration for take-offs. I have ridden boards from 5'8" down to 4' but my sweet spot prone is 5 feet. I no longer have to shift around and can use all four limbs to rip the wave, stay in tube zone and catch reforms. Where I surf a reef break with channels I use the 5 foot board with high float volume. I am getting a new board built just over 4 feet with neutral float for duck diving for surf you have to fight your way out in. Will be using shorter YUCCA fins with this smaller board for climbing around pebbles and rocks at beach edge easier.
Bill Wurts
I started riding prone boards 4-5 years ago. Still fairly new to me. My stand-up surfing days make paddling an (almost) overwhelming instinct/urge. But I find fins can ease the effort getting out by using the surfcraft like a swimming pool kickboard. I recently concluded I should be doing a more combined kick first/tail pull-down/final burst-paddle takeoff like John Morris describes.
Lynn Bellomi
this is what I do too. My longest board is 4' but I'm only 5' so probably proportionally about the same as you.
Rod Rodgers
Two inconclusive answers: 1) it might depend upon the floatiness of the board with foam/glass tending to be floatier than wood board and 2) the types and sizes of waves you are riding (point breaks with channels, sandbars vs. weak or strong waves) and are they breaking close to shore or several hundred yards out. The board length could also dictate method for paddling and catching waves. So no simple answers.
A five foot wood board not close to shore, for me, would mean swim fins and pushing the board in front of me for the paddle out and then for catching a wave grasping the boards with as much length as possible and once catching the wave pulling myself up quickly (not recommended with sharp fish tail boards or large extended skegs).
Elijah Baley
On small boards swim fins are necessary I think. But if your board is big enough to arm paddle, why not ? More freedom, less drag.
Martin Hallen
I have always had fins from my early kneeboard days to now when I am riding prone due to my disability - Another reason I use fins is if I take a bad wipeout and lose my board, I am a lot better off with fins on...
John Mandybur
Yes I am.