Credit where credit is due (rant).

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kage
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Credit where credit is due (rant).

#1

Unread post by kage »

It seems like I come across a new paipo builder on the net once every month or two. A little blurb with pics. "Discover ancient form of surfing, personal connection with wave," interesting logo, etc. Rarely if ever do I see credit given about how they found this form of surfing. I don't think there are that many Bob Greens out there digging through the old books and mags. I think many (some) aren't giving credit to who turned them on to paipo in the first place. That fries my bacon. It seems that everyone nowadays wants to have cred, or originality or something. But, many things fry, toast, and broil my bacon because I am a cranky old S.O.B.

Cranky but somewhat circumspect, so before I go casting aspersions on others I would like to credit:
My dad, who built me my first belly board.
Paul Lindbergh, who built me my first paipo and patiently answered many many questions.
Rod, who connected me to the contemporary world of paipo riders and builders.

Who do you give credit to?
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#2

Unread post by GeoffreyLevens »

Definitely Rod for this site and Bob Green for the encyclopedia of info and history, and all those folks he has interviewed. Dale Solomonson got me lying down and interested in plywood and Nels gave me some serious bump in the paipo direction both personally and with his site vagabondsurfer.com and personally via emails. Whole slew of folks offering tips and advice on these forums. Should probably mention Steve Nider who I sort of vaguely knew in high school who rode a 3 or 4 foot long piece of 3/8 inch plywood w/ a little dagger fin, on his knees. Quite an amazing surfer, rode some pretty serious waves on that little thing and made it work!
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#3

Unread post by OG-AZN »

Good topic. I credit a bunch of mostly unknown paipo riders that I would see ripping on the south & east shores of O'ahu when I was a kid for getting me started. Also the Hawai'i DOE for offering woodshop class in school, and providing the materials & tools to make my first paipo. Last but not least, Rod's forum for the resources, contacts, and inspiration that helped in my rediscovery of paipo riding in recent times.
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#4

Unread post by SlickWilly »

Good topic! I've ridden plywood bellyboards since I was a little kid. I guess I have to give credit to Tom Wegener, who got me into the prone alaia surfing about 6 years ago. That led me in turn to searching books and the web for other kinds of prone surfcraft. My first "paipo" was a rough copy of the Paul Lindberg boards. I also have to give huge props to George Greenough for the spoon design which I adapted to a prone style. I also draw inspiration from all the other guys and girls who are discovering and experimenting with the prone style!
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#5

Unread post by bgreen »

Digging around the articles, I think Poobah and possibly Uncle G (apologies if it was someone else) started the paper trail thread. Rod has to be given credit for his pages/forum - if not for his efforts a search for paipo would have brought up cigars. Have to also credit the bodyboard guy who sparked the research interest.

For me, first and foremost is John Galera who got me started, sold me one of his boards and gave me advice regarding how to surf it.

Larry Goddard has been super generous with his advice and also thanks to many others who have shared their experience and may do so in the future.

Bob
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#6

Unread post by soulglider »

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Last edited by soulglider on Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#7

Unread post by RNT808 »

Way back in the olden days, late 50’s early 60’s, when I was just a little squirt. We lived right next to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Waikiki. It was maybe a five or ten minute walk to the Wall. There weren’t too many distractions back then so it was pretty much “pau school…down the beach”. There were paipo everywhere and everybody was having a blast. Guys were riding prone, on their knees, standing up and even sitting on their butt like Buddha. It seemed like it was just the natural thing to do. So we did it, too.

When I got a little older my family moved to Kailua on the Windward side. Back then Kailua Bay had a wide, flat beach and was perfect for “sand sliding”. The shore break was happening, too. So all us kids had our homemade plywood “sand slider/ paipo” and just went to town on ‘em. One of my best Buds had an older brother who owned a “Nifty Thrifty Honda Fifty”, when he was away at college we would liberate it and make the long haul down the old Waimanalo Road to Makapuu. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, or Cops, back then so we pulled it off without incident; well at least most of the time. We would go real early in the morning, spend all day at the beach and then sneak back when it got dark. Two kids, two paipo and our cherished Voit Vikings just putt-putting down the road on that little bike. Add a Pan Am bag stocked with Saloon Pilot Crackers and Deviled Ham and Oh Man, were we living large!

So like OG-AZN I would credit the unnamed legion of Paipo riders in whose shadow I grew up with leading the way for me. But more than that, I think it was the whole “culture” of a very special time and place that has instilled in my heart and mind what this whole Paipo thing is all about. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and there have been long boards, short boards, knee boards, boogie boards and even mats but I’ve always gravitated back to Paipo. Why? I think for me, they have always been the most fun and for me that’s what it has always been about.
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#8

Unread post by rodndtube »

kage wrote:It seems like I come across a new paipo builder on the net once every month or two. A little blurb with pics. "Discover ancient form of surfing, personal connection with wave," interesting logo, etc. Rarely if ever do I see credit given about how they found this form of surfing. I don't think there are that many Bob Greens out there digging through the old books and mags. I think many (some) aren't giving credit to who turned them on to paipo in the first place. That fries my bacon. It seems that everyone nowadays wants to have cred, or originality or something. But, many things fry, toast, and broil my bacon because I am a cranky old S.O.B.

Cranky but somewhat circumspect, so before I go casting aspersions on others I would like to credit:
My dad, who built me my first belly board.
Paul Lindbergh, who built me my first paipo and patiently answered many many questions.
Rod, who connected me to the contemporary world of paipo riders and builders.

Who do you give credit to?
LOL! Who stewed your chicken?

Yes, credit should be given where it should be. See very little of that these days on the "totally free and anything goes Internet." I am somewhat guilty at times but am rather vigilant in seeking out permissions before using others' content and at the minimum providing full sourcing and citations.

A good solid, interesting question in and of itself. My reply after returning from the dreaded dentist and some errands.
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#9

Unread post by mrmike »

I credit my dad. back in 1960 my brother and I asked my dad for money to buy a $25 surfboard he said no! so he gave us a sheet of 1/2" plywood and a jig saw and said make one. we made two 4'X2' boards and painted them with house paint. had the best summer of my childhood. THANKS DAD
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#10

Unread post by Uncle Grumpy »

Totally agree with Kage and know exactly who 'glider's referring too. My bacon's fried too! :lol:
Like many others my age, I had a couple shop class plywood paipo/skimboards when I first started surfing back in the 60's but I never realized their potential at the time, victims of peer pressure and Surfer magazine.
Over the years I usually had some sort of boogie in the quiver but when I had to go kipapa full time a few years ago, I quickly realized their limitations.
I'll give major props to Dale Solomonson, Paul Gross, Paul Lindbergh and especially Tom Wegener.
And while I'm at it I'll thank foremost our gracious host Rod and our Oz connection Bob Green and also MRMike, Soulglider,OgAzn, Kage, Poobah and BJ who can't seem to decide on a handle he wants to keep.
I've learned from all of you. I've been having so much fun riding these simple craft the past few years, it's truly a blessing.
Mahalo Nui Loa!
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#11

Unread post by rodndtube »

The path of the paipo for me has been a long and fulfilling journey. It started back in the late-1960s, when I was still a beginning surfrider in Western Puerto Rico. An older schoolmate, a very accomplished and stylish surfer, Leon Lowman, was the first to really turn me on to paipo boarding and give it the stamp of credibility. Not that it really needed such a stamp. We were rather open to all forms of surfriding and also a rather insular group at the time along the Island's west and northwest coast. At the time we paipo'd primarily in dangerous or large wave conditions since the leash had not been invented yet. The two primary breaks our gang paipo boarded were Tres Palmas and Gas Chambers. Tres Palmas is a large wave break about a quarter of a mile out. Gas Chambers is a top to bottom, inside out wave that is tucked inside the NW point of Puerto Rico and only breaks on large swells wrapping around inside the NW point, unless there is ton's of W in the swell. Riding out longboards at Gas Chambers was not an option -- it just wasn't very ridable on a longboard and not a wave that is easy to master on any board -- the wave tends to own the rider! At Gas Chambers it wasn't a question if you would wipe out and lose your board -- it is a given. The issue then was surviving a ride or session without the board washing up against the rock cliff on the inside or shore rocks and getting dinged or worse.

We jumped to the shortboards during the winter of 1967-68, ditching our longboards or stripping them down and attempting to reshape them into some short and maneuverable. During the Spring of 1968, while continuing to ride a shortboard, I increasingly rode a paipo board and bodysurf during the course of our weekend days at the beach. Eventually, I decided that really short was even more run than shortboarding. Not owning a shortboard at that point also helped! When a friend's longboard broke in half at Bridges on a nice 4 foot day, he and his brother made a paipo and gave it to me to keep me in the water full time -- the green board at http://mypaipoboards.org/MyCollectionPics.html.

Other influences at the time included the popular surfing magazines: Surfer, Surfing, International Surfing and a couple of others. George Greenough was an amazing innovator that stoked surfing's branching out.

Now to where I am today:
Neal "Sponge" Miyake -- HI Surf Advisory (http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/) -- author, creator, freelance photographer and writer, consummate contributor to the alt.surfing newsgroup, husband and father, and a stoked resident of Oahu, Hawaii. Much credit goes to Neal for encouraging me to create the MyPaipoBoards website in January 2000. The paipo/bellyboarding presence on the Internet was rather lean back then. Neal nudged me on. And the initial web page came together over a snowy couple of lock-in days at home... and continued to evolve. My earliest paipo contacts back then were Nels and poobah, both men with a paipo mission.

Since then it has been an ever growing community, a great bunch of people, who I have camped with and been hosted during various wandering trips and adventures. It has truly been a blessing and wonderful camaraderie.

Below is an incomplete list of acknowledgments to people and organizations that have supported the Paipo Research Project in many different ways. The list is incomplete and never ending. Thanks to all!
http://mypaipoboards.org/About_the_site ... wledgments
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#12

Unread post by PaipoRick »

Interesting thread.

For me, Rod in the 00s. I kept wondering WTF he was riding. Never borrowed one, just watched him use them at GP over the years. One year I got to ride one...wow, no flex. I bought red, the rest is history.

Credit has to go way back and follow through to today. Some of you get credit for passing on paipo to your friends. hell, I get a little karma for getting my daughter out on one. :) http://i.imgur.com/QiHkT.png
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#13

Unread post by soulglider »

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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#14

Unread post by rodndtube »

soulglider wrote:Whats stringy thing on the front? She seems tame.
You are a dirty old man... she is just a minor and barely a teen.

Rick, that board looks kinda big for her. She deserves a 44 inch RPM model aka The Ted RPM Paipo.
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#15

Unread post by PaipoRick »

Ya pervs!

That stringy thing is a kook cord. Azul had seen limited time in the water thus far and I didn't want it to get washed away. Hey, I got her to step away from the Morey 7-7, which was a feat.

She'll be using Red 90 paipo in FL this June. :) If I was closer to the coast (maybe next summer) and she was serious I'd consider it. If I was lighter I could ride a 44 but the chances of me getting lighter are the same I have of being president. None. :D
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#16

Unread post by Uncle Grumpy »

That's some infrasturcture! :o
QiHkT.png
QiHkT.png (94.56 KiB) Viewed 20568 times
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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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#17

Unread post by soulglider »

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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#18

Unread post by rodndtube »

Uncle Grumpy wrote:That's some infrasturcture! :o
QiHkT.png
Formerly the Frisco Pier on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Amazing it survived this year's storms that shut down Hatteras Island (Frisco is on the SE facing part of the Island). It was battered a few years back.
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#19

Unread post by PaipoRick »

The kid can swim. This spring I'll get her some new fins so she can paddle out a bit more.

I always use a leash on the paipo unless it's small or uncrowded. Save me a swim or keep someone from getting pelted. On my longboard I'll surf w/o so my leg isn't removed from the socket. :)

Good ol' Frisco pier. Such fond memories. Was out there in June and it fired like a machine one afternoon. Pretty amazing spot. It fell apart during (I think) Earl. New owner was going to fix it up and put an italian restaurant at the foot of it but I think the building is pretty trashed.

ps the kid likes the Orioles. :D
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Re: Credit where credit is due (rant).

#20

Unread post by OG-AZN »

RNT808 wrote: ...The shore break was happening, too. So all us kids had our homemade plywood “sand slider/ paipo” and just went to town on ‘em...

...Add a Pan Am bag stocked with Saloon Pilot Crackers and Deviled Ham and Oh Man, were we living large!
Great stories RNT808! I miss those Saloon Pilot crackers - hard to find in CA these days. We're like a generation + apart in age, but your experiences growing up on the Windward side are really similar to mine. I lived within walking distance of Kailua Shorebreak and made a skim board - paipo in school too ( that board still survives to this day). I remember Shorebreak used to serve up "head high to a grom" waves pretty consistently. It rarely does that these days. Probably the beach erosion over the years has a lot to do with that. If you were one of the guys that inspired me to ride paipo as a kid - Mahalo!!
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My school woodshop skim-paipo from the early 80's. Still rideable!
My school woodshop skim-paipo from the early 80's. Still rideable!
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