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| Join Your Paipo Riding Friends at The Great Big Honking Paipo Gathering, July 31-August 2, 2009 in Big Sur, California Camping Sites Have Been Reserved - More Info on the MyPaipoBoard Forums |
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| The League of Lamaroos | pods for primates:
the paipo catalogue pods for primates: the paipo pods for primates: the paipo images |
vagabondsurf.com |
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Stop Discriminatory Surfboard Baggage Fees!
Sign the Petition!!!!! Visit this link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/StopUnfairSurfboardFees/
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I was born on September 15, 1905, and I'm a cousin of Bill Sproat... I have two papa paepō in my artifact collection. They're two small concave boards about 1/4-inch by 1 foot by 3 feet made of wiliwili, and they were used for spying. The spies selected a night with rough seas and then surfed in to gather information about various activities. The boards were easily concealed. I heard this from the old people and they said that's why the boards were called paepō, "night landing."
- Alfred Solomon, June 25, 1982
Source: page 302 in Hawai'i Place Names: Shores, Beaches, and Surf Sites, By John R. K. Clark, published by University of Hawaii Press, 2002. See the image captured here from the book. Turns out that John Clark rides what appears to be a paipo board as pictured in a Q&A with him on the blog, Literary Lotus (author, Christine Thomas). He is also an avid bodysurfer and one of the founding fathers of the Sandy Beach Bodysurfing Championships in 1972, and was the head judge (and a competitor) until 1989.In John R. K. Clark's research he traced some of the possible transition to the modern day usage (at least sometime in the 1950s through the present) of the word, paipo, to describe the method of riding waves on a board prone style:
"In the days of old, Hawaiians referred to bodysurfing as kaha (or kaha nalu) and pae (or paepo'o). During the early 1900s, the term paepo'o was commonly used in Waikīkī, and it meant riding a wave with only the body. After World War II, this particular word took on an alternate definition, referring to bodysurfing with a small board. The pronunciation of the original word, paepo'o, was altered, and now even the spelling is changed to paipo. Today "to paipo" means to go bodysurfing with a "bellyboard." The board itself is called a paipo board."
Source: page 9 in The Beaches of O'ahu, By John R. K. Clark. Published by Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1977. [There is also a 2005 Rev. ed, Beaches of O'ahu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.]The Redwings Memorial Contest also uses the term paepo board. For the purposes of the contest it defines a paepo as "any wave riding device with a core of natural materials that is less than 55 inches (140 cm) long and is used without a leash or skegs."
Source: Legendary Surfers, "Surfing's Origins" by Malcolm Gault-Williams, Chapter 1 (continuously updated online)
| Early Period Paipo Riders Checking the Line-Up and Riding the Wave |
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"But a diversion the most common is upon the Water, where there is a very great Sea, and surf breaking on the Shore. The Men sometimes 20 or 30 go without the Swell of the Surf, & lay themselves flat upon an oval piece of plank about their size and breadth, they keep their legs close on top of it, & their arms are us'd to guide the plank, they wait the time for the greatest Swell that sets on Shore, & altogether push forward with their Arms to keep on its top, it sends them in with a most astonishing Velocity, & the great art is to guide the plank so as always to keep it in a proper direction on the top of the Swell, & as it alters its direction. If the Swell drives him close to the rocks before he is overtaken by its break, he is much praised."
Source: Lt. James King, 1778, Kealakekua Bay, Hawai`i, from King’s unedited log of 1778. Reprinted in "The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery," by John C. Beaglehole (1967); as quoted in "Surfing, a History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport," by Ben Finney and James D. Houston (1996, Pomgranate Artbooks, San Francisco).
Paipo rider named Sean Ross having fun at the Pipeline. He is riding one of Paul Lindbergh's Hawaii Paipo Designs boards. Sean was a life guard at the Ehukai Beach (Pipeline) for years in the 1970's. Photo: Alan McCray, Hawaii. |
John Galera riding his NOFIN paipo at Jocko's on Oahu's North Shore, January 2003. John's boards are make of surfboard foam or balsa. Dimensions: 56"X 21"x 5/8". The rails and bottom have a double layer, that creates a channel on the bottom 9" wide, 1/2" deep, no need for a skeg. Photo by: Jamie Ballenger |
In ancient Hawaiian times "the construction of the few remaining papa he'e nalu (pa-pa HAY-ay NA-lu) -- the wave sliding boards of ancient Hawaiians -- still show sophisticated parabolic contours, demonstrating a high degree of development. Four types of papa he'e nalu rode upon the waves of long ago. Listed in order of length, from longest to shortest, these surfboards were the: super-long olo (O-lo), kiko`o (key-CO-oo), alaia (ah-LAI-ah) and paipo (pipe-oh) bodyboard... . Like the other shorter boards the paipo boards were made from either koa wood or ulu (breadfruit)." [Legendary Surfers, Malcolm Gault-Williams]
... The Paipo Board
The Hawaiian paipo board was the ancient equivalent of today's bodyboard or "boogie board." Examples of the Hawaiian paipo exist as specimens L-120-373 and P5019 in the Oceanian Collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. L-120-373 is made of either breadfruit or wili wili. It measures 12 1/2" at the nose, 9 1/2" at the tail and is 56 1/2" long. Its bottom is convex, with shaped rails, nose rocker and slightly concave deck.
P5019 is constructed of California redwood, is 16 1/2" at the nose, 12" at the tail, and is 65 3/4" long. Its shape is similar to a board in the Bishop Museum photograph collection of a Hawaiian native in loin cloth, holding a shortboard horizontally. Waikiki and Diamond Head are in the background and the photo was taken in the late 1800s. It's possible it may even be the same board. [Legendary Surfers, Chapter Two, "Ancient Hawaiian Surfboards & Culture"]
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Jamie Durwood, New Zealand. The small board on the left is made of Hawaiian Koa wood. It was left in NZ in the 20's & has inscribed initials. The board on the right is made of Kaurie wood. |
1934
Adaptation of paipo design, solid wood with steamed advanced scooped nose.
Later models used laminated ply, fins (sometimes twin) and sometimes
a nose grip. X Surfworld #17 and #25 [pods
for primates: The Wood Age]
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circa 1920's Long Beach, redwood * |
circa 1930's pine, redwood rails, nose rocker * |
circa 1930's redwood, pine rails, nose rocker * |
* as shown for sale at Pacific Coast Vintage Surf Auction
Paipo Board Riding in Honolulu, ca. 1915
Post card image courtesy of Mr. Mike, Coronado, CA
Bodyboarding England, 1920s
Pete Robinson of the British Surfing Museum has unearthed some great shots of bodyboarders
surfing English waters in the 1920s. Source: http://www.thesurfingmuseum.co.uk/history.asp
Bodyboarding England, ca. 1920s
Post card image courtesy of Mr. Mike, Coronado, CA
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Some 1960s Era El Paipo Boards
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 The two boards on the left would probably be classified as kneeboards and the ones on the right as paipo boards. |
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| 1960s era Chuck Dent | 1960s era Newport Paipo | Fish paipo board shaped by Sean Rotella, North Shore, Oahu (ca. 2006) |
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The introduction of the Morey Boogie Board in the early 1970s set the sport of "boogieboarding" on a path to becoming one of the fastest growing sporting phenomena of modern times. The emergence of this "soft paipo" board led to a quick decline in the "hard" fiberglass and foam paipos. The benefits of the Boogie Boards were many: safe for grommets (and geezers), economic (cheap!), and they could be ridden at beaches where hard boards with skegs were prohibited. [multiple sources-to be corroborated]
In Australia from pods
for primates: (pod links need updating)
1970
Coolite - a coarse bubble foam molded juvinile/beginner board, usually
ridden prone, 4 ft 10" X 19" [pods
for primates: Johanna]
1971
Morey Boogie Flexible foam bellyboard invented by Tom Morey as an offshoot
of his experimentation leading to the Morey-Doyle flexible surfboard.
Based on the Hawaiian paipo and incorporating flex and ‘vacuum track
rails’ (Greenough / Brock hull design). Soft construction circumvents bodysurfing
area restrictions. Originally offered as a buyer assembled mail order product.
Extensively imitated. [pods
for primates: the Leg Rope] [redated from 1974 to 1971 by myself based
on correspondence with Tom Morey's son and other sources]
1974
Morey-Doyle a soft foam board designed by Tom Morey and Mike Doyle (both
USA) incorporating Greenough flex principles and circumventing
fibreglass boards beach restrictions. [pods
for primates: the Leg Rope]
* Since the 1950s, Tom Morey has also introduced to the surfing world professional surfing contests and in partnership with his University buddy Carl Pope, they owned the Morey-Pope Company in Ventura, California. From this venture they invented and developed removable fins (notably the W.A.V.E. Set Fin System), the Morey-Doyle soft surfboard (the soft surfboard was basically a dud but has gone on to make a perfect rental board for beginning surfers), down rails, concave under nose, turned down nose, and a three section breakdown travel board (today perfected by Carl Pope with Pope Bi-sect). Y continues to innovate and currently has a new design longboard called the "Swizzle." For additional information on Tom Morey, see Paul Gross' article: "Inventions: Tom Morey." The Surfer's Journal. Vol. 8, No. 3 (Fall 1999): 80-89. Also see Neal Miyake's interview with Tom Morey at http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/views/tommorey.html.
| from the BodyGun's Product
Summary: "The BodyGun is a body surfing system developed in South
Africa. The BodyGun harnesses to the user's chest and torso by means
of integrated waist and shoulder-toggle, harness subsystems. This gives
BodyGunners buoyancy, speed, maneuverability and freedom of movement. These
benefits combine to afford a longer, more versatile, enjoyable, exciting
and safer surf-riding experience.
The Cornish-made board consists of a Surlyn "slick" bottom, profiled Dow ethafoam 220 core and Softlon deck and HiSeal nose, rails and tail. The Multi-point 4-way adjustable harness is in hard-wearing nylon and polyester materials. The BodyGun derives its name from the Hawaiian Gun, a long surfboard with a narrow tail designed for riding large steep waves, and the handgun: a hand-held body surfing accessory. The BodyGun has true family appeal, especially among those who have difficulty penetrating the surf line with other forms of surf craft." [BodyGun tm UK] |
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| More Evolution:
The Handboard
"More maneuverable than body surfing. More portable than a Boogie Board... " The innovative promoters of the handboard say, "Designed and developed in Hawaii, these durable, wooden, twin finned handboards, over the years, have been to many of the breaks in the islands and also have been slipped into suitcases and backpacks to enjoy fun little waves all over the world... California, Mexico, Tahiti, New Zealand." For more info, read "A Brief History of the Handboard," by John Hazen, Jr. Also visit the French handboarding web/blog page. Shown to the left is the Woody Armstrong Signature
Model
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| More Evolution:
The Surf Mat
"This adventure began in the winter of 1982, when an Oregon surfer & inventor, Dale Solomonson, created the original 12 ounce nylon & polyurethane surfmat for two highly skilled, multi-talented surfers: Paul Gross & George Greenough. That first nylon mat was a success, & since then, the best airmats for fast, high-performance surfing have never been the same." [from Dale Solomonson's "Neumatic Surfcraft" webpage.] Read more here. Also see the informative article on surf mats in The Surfer's Journal, "Inflatable Dreams," Vol. 9, No. 2 (Late Spring 2000) and the surf film/documentary "Crystal Voyager" (with "Echoes" by Pink Floyd). Mat Mania on the Internet:Visit the SurfMatz web site and forums at: http://surfmatz.com/ SurfMatters from the NZ: http://surfmatters.blogspot.com/ |
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| Technology
Leap: The Hydrofoil Paipo Board
The hydrofoil represents a revolutionary jump in paipo boarding design. According to Terry Hendricks, the primary design goals of this board (the Super Slicer) are: (1) high maneuverability, (2) paddle-in (vs tow-in), and (3) flight elevation "autopilot." A secondary goal is to achieve at least as fast a speed as a state-of-the-art conventional board with a planing hull. Pictured to the right is a side view of the Super Slicer. For more info on this board and additional pictures, click here. Another hydrofoil paipo board innovator is Gilbert Lum, of Oahu. See the article written by Neal Miyake. |
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Who
Are The Paipo Riders' Closely Related Water Brothers?
Bodyboarding and Kneeboarding Links
There are numerous web pages on bodyboarding and kneeboarding, both
commercial and personal. Links to many can be found at my general
links page under the heading of "Kneeboarding,
Boogie, and Skimboarding!" Some other good sources include: Kneeboard
Surfing USA (KSUSA), Surfinfo.Australia,
Craig Ashdown's Kneelo
Site, Alan "Bud" McCray's Blast
Kneeboards Hawaii, Dean Cleary's Kneeboards,
the American Kneeriding
Club (AKC), and NetBodyBoarding.
See a succinct review on the anatomy
of a bodyboard (courtesy of eBodyboarding.com).
Skimboards are also used to ride a wave breaking upon the shore (check
out Skim Online).
Two of the better bodyboarding shops in the USA
are Turbo Surf (Honolulu, HI) and eBodyboarding.com, an excellent on-line shop owned by Jay Reale (formerly of Ocean City,
Maryland) and his wife Vicki. We sincerely miss the Shoreline
Board Shop (Ocean City, MD, ceased business operations summer of 2003). In Australia, you can check out http://www.bodyboarders.com.au.
Bodyboarding Links
Be sure to check the bodyboarding community's magazine A-Frame. (Option rip Oct. 20, 2004.) An East Coast USA bodyboarding forum: EastCoastBodyboarding.com.
Some bodyboard companies: BZ Bodyboards |
Wave Riders: Intimacy or Evolution -- It's All in the Eye of
the Beholder
Look and see for yourself: Is your wave riding vehicle a "step
forward in evolution" or is it a "step backward from intimacy with mother
ocean?"
Click here.
The Tool Essential to Paipoboarding, Bodyboarding, Kneeboarding,
and Bodysurfing -- The Surf/Swim Fin
Finding some flippers or swim fins for catching your waves can
sometimes be a real challenge. Depending upon your style of riding,
frequency and foot shape you may have some special requirements.
Personal preferences rule the day when it comes to swim fins. Visit
this page for some links and info.
Need a Board Bag? If you need a travel bag you'll know
they are hard to come by -- even day bags aren't easy to find. Visit
this page for some links and info.
MY
PAIPO BOARDS
I've acquired a paipo during each of the past four decades and used
it for any number of years before retiring the poor, beaten up
specimen.
Paipo-60 was made from a stripped down long board ca. 1969. I
called
it my Green Machine I, probably a blatant rip-off of something from the
period, but it was green and used in the emerald Caribbean waters of
Rincón
and vicinity. Paipo-70, plain white but called Green Machine II,
was made ca. 1978. My truly disgusting glassing abilities are
evident
in that board but it brought he great pleasure over the next 10 years
at
assorted breaks from DELMARVA to Puerto Rico to La Jolla and up to
Ventura.
Both boards were tear drop shapes with single fins. GM-I was
potato
chip thin with easy round rails, great on the crisp waves of PR and
when
I was a much lighter rail (5'9", 130#). GM-II was thicker and
transitions
from easy rails forward to has very hard rails from the
midsection.
My next two boards, Red Machine III and Red Machine IV have parallel
lines,
contemporary surfboard rails, 3-fins, and additional rocker in the nose
area. These boards are better suited to the waves on the U.S.
East
Coast but have performed well in surf up to 8-10 feet in Puerto Rico
and
Hawaii. My newest board, the Checkered RPM, moves me back to a thinner,
narrower and lighter board, and one more optimized for good surf rather
than a board optimized for all waveriding conditions.
See some quick pics of my Paipo Boards.
See a description, the vital statistics, and pictures (future
item) for each paipo at these links:
[Paipo-60
Green Machine I] [Paipo-70 Green Machine
II] [Paipo-80 Red Machine III]
[Paipo-90 Red Machine IV]
[Paipo-XP04
Green Disk V]
| [Paipo-El Chillito VI]
| [Paipo-XP07 Orange Disk VII]
| [Paipo-XP09 Checkered Disk RPM VIII]
| [Spec Sheet for your paipo]
The Newest Members of My Quiver
| El Chillito |
Orange Matter | RPM Checkered Disk |
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Random Pics, Scans, Interviews and Articles"Skinners Brewery World Bellyboard Championships in Cornwall" -- SIBA News Article: The surfing scene of yesteryear was re-created at Chapel Porth Beach near St Agnes, Cornwall, when the clock was turned back in style for the Skinners Brewery World Bellyboard Championships... Click here for the news article in PDF format.
"Rabbit Kekai: First Hotdogger, Last Beachboy -- 1930s Paipo Beginnings," Legendary Surfers, by Malcolm Gault-Williams.
The Wedge Story, an awesome story about paipoboarding the Wedge and Huntington Beach in the early-60s, written by David Richards and Tod Brown, as told by Mike McKerracher. Read more about the "Big Wednesday" at that site (hope you have a broadband connection - long loading).
"Gliding Gilbert" -- paipo boarding on a paipo with a hydrofoil, by Neal "Sponge" Miyake
Gaylord Miller's Hydrofoil Paipos of the 60's -- Info provided by Terry Hendricks
"Wooden Bellyboards-Cornwall 9/92" -- by Neal "Sponge" Miyake
"Homegrown Pocket Rocket" -- a story about a bodyboarder's finest creation -- by Foondoggy
Neal Miyake's InnerView of Russ Brown (aka "Captain Turbo") of Turbo Surf Designs Hawaii (4/13/98), innovator of the stiff bodyboard in 1983:
"We realized that bodyboards back then were just flexible piece of foam. Having ridden paipos (paipo boards) at The Wall, right away I knew the boards should be stiffer, and if it was stiff, then you could put skegs on them. So began the line of Turbos."Paul Lindbergh's (Hawaii Paipo Designs) "Paipo Boards Story" (an excerpt--go to the link for the complete story):"I remember in those days that Makapuu was the place to paipo. All kinds of home made paipos everywhere. Ehukai, on the North shore was another Paipo place. Very hip place too I should add. This all took place before Boogie boards were invented. When Boogie boards came out the Paipo almost disappeared. People were attracted to the new materials (i.e., polyethylene), and with peoples creative levels going down, it seemed easier (and, or, more decadent) to buy a Boogie board than to build your own Paipo.Surfer Magazine, Letters to the Ed - Post (1996), In the Water is Fun at Makaha!As far as I'm concerned, the surfboard, and later the boogie board, were modeled after the boat (or canoe, same context). The surfboard has evolved from boat designs and is really a scaled down, redesigned, and much improved version of the outrigger canoe and the Boogie board the same. Of course there have been many improvements in shapes and materials, Surfboards are designed for the rider to paddle around on and float around on, much like a small boat. The same with Boogie boards, a main factor is its ability to float, like all good boats. If it don't sink, it's good. People feel safe when it don't sink. Surfing the waves was very much like the old canoes did. Of course it's been around for many years now and a lot of things have changed, but not the basic boat origins.
My opinion is that surfboards and boogie boards are improvements on an old theme, not a design synthesized, after thought and observation. The paipo is just that. It was not designed to float; it was designed with hydraulic dynamics in mind only. Previously the comfort of the rider was not even considered. The rider laid on the hard surface of the board, and often took a pounding. This board will take off easier than surfboard, Bogie board or boat, go faster, and has the ability to dive under outside sets with great ease. It's a good feeling, I tell you."
"...I don't think the guys at Windansea have anything to complain about. Windansea guys have trouble with boogieboarders and kayakers? At Makaha we have bodysurfers, guys on surfboards, longboards, bodyboards, paipo boards, kayaks and canoes. We've got things in the water the Windansea guys have never heard of. At Makaha everybody shares and everybody has a good time. Yeah, we got some huge guys who will take action if somebody gets out of line, but nobody gets out of line and everything goes pretty smoothly." - Sunny Garcia, guest editor.Kiah Interviews His Dad, November 1997, by Kiah Imai (excerpts)How did you learn to surf?
We were in the water a lot from when we were young. First we just swam. Then we used a foam board and body surfed. They didn't have boogie boards then. The foam boards would fall apart and give us a rash on our stomachs. They we started using and making paipo boards. Paipo boards are pieces of plywood that we cut and shaped just like a surfboard. We sanded the edges and painted them with marine paint. The Paipo boards were about 4 feet long. This was in 1967.My dad came with us paipo boarding off of Port Lock. Then we got into surfboards. We started with used boards and then made our own boards. I surfed with my friends and my brother.Did surf boards change [from] when you were young?Sam Mokuahi, ‘Mayor of Waikiki,’ By Helen Altonn, Honolulu Star-Bulletin. [Excerpt from an obituary on Sammy "Steamboat" Mokuahi]
Yes they did. Now surf boards are shorter. They have leashes. There are also more fins. On our paipo boards we just had one big fin. Boards now are also lighter, they have less fiberglass so they are lighter and also weaker."In those days, Kevin Mokuahi said, his uncle would cut a piece of plywood and tell kids, "Here, take this out and catch some waves." The "piper board," as kids called it then, was the forerunner of the boogie board and much more difficult to use, he said."
from the Wedge Guestbook Entries [The Wedge] posting by mike, the mackman, Location: Seattle, WA. USA, September 27, 1997ache for the ocean,,,, in 1962 I had made a paipo board with 2 skegs out of wood. When we were kicked out at 11 for no surf times, I would go back in with fins and my original paipo. No one else had one. September of 62 we had a huge swell. closing out every where but the wedge. I went out with my paipo. Was I the first to boogie board the wedge. Morey's didn't come out till 63 or 64. Would love to know. I think I was. I would start on the left backwash and cut across the bowl,,, a little dangerous but you hit the bowl with enough speed to blow out over the top on the other side.,,,,,,,anyone know,,, the macman,,, ps still surfing,,,from the Mike Stewart Guestbook [mikestewart.com], posting by Don Andrade, on 08/24/99I can't tell you how stoked I'd be if there were a possibility of getting one of your boards in a custom length. I've been riding body boards and body surfed since I was a little kid in southern California, I remember the first "body board" I ever rode; it was a thing my brother had called a Paipo board, and it looked to have been the front end of a long board, cut off with two skegs attached to the bottom at the time. I realized later on that this thing was made that way, it was a lot of fun and needless to say totally lethal, I quit riding it after it whacked me for the fifth or sixth time & continued to mostly body surf the beach break between Bolona creek and Hermosa. I am thirty-one and still enjoy charging nice waves & currently live on the Central Coast near San Luis Obispo, in a little town called Los Osos. We get some pretty nice waves in here for body boarding, and surfing. I currently ride a 46" custom Turbo board and am pretty stoked on it, it's a lot different from an old Turbo I had in the early 80's, however it is a really good big wave board. I've gone through quite a few of our local Toobs boards and would like to try something with a little more snap to it, something that the Turbo has only in big swell. So let me know if it is at all possible to have one of your boards made special for me. Thank you, sincerely Don P.S. I really wish I knew where that 'ol Paipo board went, it would be a cool thing to hang on my wall and look at & remember the beginning of this sport.from the Mike Stewart Guestbook [mikestewart.com], posting by Allen "wrench" Pantaleon, on 12/28/99Aloha again Mike. Got cut off. I need some help from the "best". I'm seriously thinking of purchasing a new bodyboard but confused as to which one is best for me. No laugh now. I have surfed for over 35 years on paipo, shortboards, and longboards at mostly on the Westside of Oahu. I've also been an amateur competitor in the local HSA, HSF, and HASA surf meets. I was a member of the old Makaha Surfing Association and Makaha Surf Team along with Rell Sunn, Bird Mahelona, Johnny Boy Gomes, Sunny Garcia, etc. My trademark surfing maneuver was and is the "Allen Wrench" which uncle Buff named after he first saw me doing it back in the Eighty's. But now I'm fully into bodyboarding and having sooooo much fun. I'm 52 years old now and have been bodyboarding about a year now and still learning. Most of my surfing buddies think I'm crazy or I got hurt surfing. But really I know I'm getting an all around physical workout; every wave is overhead; almost every wave is potentially a barrel; and I don't have to worry too much about skegs and pointed noses of my own. I'm 5'6"; 140lbs; and have been using an original Lance Ronquillo Morey 42.5 x 12.5 x 22 x 18.5 board. It has a few wrinkles on the bottom and rails are separating a little where my hands are at. I still like it but I think I'm ready to go to the next levels of this sport. Please help me out with some of your best respected ideas. Allen "Wrench".from The Surf Connection, an excerpt from "One Step Beyond (Hanging Five in the Tube, on Short and Big, Loose Boards)" by John Orr"...I I was born and grew up in Hawaii (Oahu), started surfing or paipo boarding (like a Boogie Board, but made from, like a 1/2" plywood, usually with a single or twin fins) at the Wall, by the Zoo, in Waikiki. I remember paipo boarding with Eddie Aikau, his brothers (Sol and Clyde, etc.), Hawaiian, Palakiko and Val Ching, they were standing up on little plywood boards, and surfing good, at the Wall (before they surfed on regular Big surfboards). My brother Ron and I finally got into standing up and surfing our little paipos, too. About that time my brother talked my Dad into buying us a couple of new pop out Velzy's. ... ."from a alt.surfing autobiographical posting about when "Doc" saw the light, "Re: Selling Out To The Man (Long)" by Doc, on 1999/11/02<slice> Going back further...from "Surf's been up for 40 years," an article in The Florida Times-Union, 07/19/2000, by columnist Bill LongerneckerI learned waves back in about 1966...with one of those heavy single fin boards. A 9'6" or bigger, depending on what I could borrow. Anything smaller...didn't exist. For kids and girls, 9'6" was as small as it got. Real, full grown guys used bigger boards.
It wouldn't turn. Leash? We didn't have them, and I have El Roca to back me up on that. Takeoffs were...interesting...on hollow days, as early as we could make it into them because those %$#@&!! pigs wouldn't turn fast enough. Eat it and hanging onto your board was a dicey proposition, lose it and 40+ pounds of round railed thing loose and moving got respect from peers and elders all right, stark bleeding terror more like it 'cause that THING was coming with a wave behind it and if they didn't get the hell out of the way they were dead meat.
Elegance? Naah. Slow. Hell, an elephant looks elegant if it's slow enough...and they often are. Range of motion was point it and trim, that's all. No other choices.
You ever think about the old, double-glassed boards you see, with ding repairs in 'em? What it would take to ding one of those suckers that would only star a bit if you smashed a baseball bat into it? And what that would do to your gourd if it smacked you?
We thought about it a lot. The fixed dings you see on those things came from other boards. Meat isn't hard enough to make a ding in one. One of the first boards I used had an aluminum plate for a skeg...I won't attempt to call it a fin, it was a skeg, a not especially blunt instrument that would do a very nice job of slicing and dicing or just plain ax murder with that heavy, ugly, unmaneuverable bloody THING it was attached to.
Uh huh.... and that, my friend, was no golden age. That was the stone age. Getting munched by dinosaurs. The thrill of surfing wasn't from the waves, it was from coming out undamaged. But, we didn't have anything else. Until....
One day, I may have been thirteen or fourteen, 120 lbs, if I'm lucky, walking up a cliff with a 9'6" double glassed Spoiler under my arm...and on my back...and under my other arm...and..... I watched somebody coming down the cliff with a paipo.
Little bitty thing. How's he gonna paddle it? Fins...TWO fins? Whassat? Lemme siddown a minute and watch this. (and I can set down this GODDAMNED HEAVY TANK for a GODDAMNED MINUTE!).
The guy goes out....and I'm watching....and he goes for a wave ...and I'm watching.....and I wanna yell HEY BUDDY, TOO LATE........and he GOES LIKE HELL! He gets to the end of the wave where any good longboarder is gonna just head straight for a while and wait for the mush so he can do his poses for the beach crowd, what they called a 'cutback', then....WOW! He RIPPED that turn! He's headed BACK? INTO IT? And now he's gonna make ANOTHER GODDAMNED TURN! Just RIPPING IT UP!!!
I carried the GODDAMNED HEAVY TANK to the top, later. Much later. Never wasted my time with another one. Scored me a paipo, later a kneeboard. Nat had hit the scene, Greenough. It all changed. It came alive.
The Stone Age was dead.
"Forty years ago, a part of my growth was stunted. Finding surf became a consuming passion. In 1960, I strapped on a pair of swim fins and took a 5-foot slab of wood out into a northeaster and became a surfer. Wooden boards like that were called paipo boards. I still have my original board. Today, they are called belly boards and boogie boards, and are made of soft foam. My definition for a "surfer" is anyone who rides waves, not just one who stands up."
from "The Original Surfboard Company," sourced from book citations, on July 28, 2008:"Long before people started to stand up on ‘Malibu’ surf boards in Britain in the 1960s, they surfed the Atlantic rollers lying down on thin flat wooden boards - a design based on the ancient Hawaiin “paipo” boards (paipo - meaning short or small board).from the Team FLI Blog, "Wood is Good!," posted by Charl van Rensburg on February 18, 2009, excerpts:
They are more often called belly boards these days, but originally they were called surf boards or surf-riding boards. Until recently a number of surf historians claimed that this type of surfing began in Britain in 1918 when the first world war veterans returned home - but The British Surfing Museum has recently discovered the existence of a photograph of a man with a short board in 1904.
In "The Art of Surf-riding" (1934 edition) author Ronald S. Funnell writes ‘ A new and exhilerating sport is rapidly gaining many fans in England - surf-riding and deservedly so, for its health giving as well as invigorating relaxation and pastime. The 1953 ‘Coronation edition’ claims that “the keen interest in surf-riding has become intensified owing to excellent photographs” which had appeared in recent years in the national press."
"I have been bodyboarding for almost 20 years now, and I must admit, about 12 – 18 months ago, I just got so jaded with the sport… I’d find more reasons not to go Bodyboarding than to actually paddle out, you know that “been there done that” feeling. This prompted me to start looking around at what is currently going on in the Surfing World / Industry, and in so doing have found some inspiration, and with it have started exploring some alternative wave-riding craft... this inspiration has not come from line-ups packed with kids who have sun-bleached hair, industry Sponsorships and a lot of attitude. My lifeline for Bodyboarding came from the periphery, the edge, the place where Heretics, Hippies and Intelligentsia reside (or have been banished to).from Paipo Days: Paipoboarding, Bodysurfing and Brotherhood, by the brothers Malcolm & Frank Orrall, excerpts:
One of the most inspiring short-films I have seen recently is “The Life of Ply” by Ocean Motion Pictures. I just love the stoke of the person in the clip, it resonates with wave-riders all over the world. Dot, featured in the clip, lives in the UK and I recently met someone who knows her, named Sally Parkin. Sally owns a company called 'The Original Surfboard Company' ( http://www.originalsurfboards.co.uk ), a UK based business manufacturing traditional plywood boards. In the pic above, my Son Neo is holding an Original Surboard. Wow, they are amazing to ride. Not made for tricks, just down the line speed and pure joy. I now ride waves all the way to the beach." (read the PDF file of "Wood is Good!".)
"Our family grew up walking distance from the ocean in Hawai'i Kai in the 60's and 70's, back when there where still pig farms out there. The ocean was our playground, & my brother Malcolm taught me how to body surf at Sandys, Makapu'u and Waimea. I used to love to follow what he was up to 'cause he was always doing cool stuff in the ocean like; spear fish diving, cliff fishing, surfing, riding Paipo & paddling canoe. I asked Malcolm if he would write about this period, and specifically about body surfing and Paipo boarding, which are two of the most classic, mystical & soulful styles of surfing.
My love of wooden paipoboarding began like it did for many other kids in Hawaii, as a wave-riding sport you could engage in for little or no money. Surfboards were so expensive, and all you needed to paipo was a piece of exterior plywood, a borrowed jigsaw, and maybe a resin finish coat or some glass if you were patient enough to wait for it to dry. It is the perfect wave riding sport for the masses. And since it is one of the best kept secrets about surfing, there is a kind of mystique about it to me, and a connection with the real old style Hawaiian wave riding that you don’t see represented in surfing culture in general."
Random Citations of Paipo Riding Captured Live
On YouTube:
This segment has a thing about oldskool kneeboarding and has a nice bit about paipo-riding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S58kY5jsLTI
There's also this one about Tom wegeners alais (somewhere in the midle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7T1Io7_Cwk
Elsewhere:
The Hydrodynamica movie made by Richard Kenvin. There should be some paipo action in there as well. A preview can be found on:
http://www.hydrodynamica.com
A paipo ride in Bruce Brown's Surfing Hollow Days
A Sunshine Sea, by MacGillivray Freeman Films, features some paipo riding in the first couple of minutes taken at the Waikiki Wall. The movie was from 1970/1971 but the footage is probably a bit older. It was pre-boogie, pre-leash, smiling happy surfing... when surfing meant riding waves in any way, shape or form. There is mat surfing, bodysurfing, real traditional paipo surfing as well as the bulk of the show being what we now call "transition era" surfing. It ends (footage chronologically) with Lopez in ascendency at Pipeline. Pure paipo content is small Waikiki Wall...can't for the life of me remember if they show any paipo on the north shore. (Nels Norene)
UK Bellyboard Booklet, You and Your Surfboard, by Vernon Bartlett (with additional comment drawn by Maurice Bartlett) (Cornwall, UK: ca. 1950). An enjoyable read. The illustrations and writing are sure to bring a smile to your face as you browse through this book about one's joy in surf riding. The title may be a little misleading since the booklet is about waveriding with a bellyboard (paipo) and not the "surfboard" ridden in the erect style such as on a longboard or shortboard. This booklet may be the first documented riding of paipos in the far reaches of the world, including the shores of England, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), South Africa (Natal and Cape Town) and West Africa. This booklet was privately printed around 1950, with a couple of editions. Through much diligence over quite a few years a copy was finally acquired by Henry Marfleet (known as "bluey" on the paipo forums). Bluey says, "It was well worth the wait."
Music:
Surfing Magazines:
- Belly Board Beat by The Music Convention (1968). The Music Convention also recorded the soundtrack to one of New Zealand’s first surf movies, Children Of The Sun.
Other Magazines:
- Mothball Fleet: A Moment with David Swanson, Paipo Boarder, by David Pu'u, The Surfer’s Journal, “Undercurrents,” Volume 9, Number 3, Summer 2000, pp. 122-3. Courtesy of The Surfers Journal. [PDF, 1.6MB]
- More Paipo Magic at Waikiki, by Jim Growney, The Surfer’s Journal, “Surf Story: The Longest Ride,” Volume 17, Number 4, Summer 2008, p. 125. Courtesy of The Surfers Journal. [PDF, 75KB]
Books:
- Kelly, John M. Surf and Sea. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1965.
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Legendary Surfers,
by Malcolm Gault-Williams |
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| Hawaii Paipo Designs
by Paul Lindbergh |
pods for primates:
a catalogue of
surfboards in australia since 1900,
by Geoff |
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Austin Surfboards by Austin Saunders Austin stated making custom paipo boards during the Summer of 2007. He "cloned" my design and made a paipo for his father, and then proceeded to make paipos for himself and his glasser. More were built and orders continue to trickle in. More on Austin's paipos on MyPaipoBoards and More.... |
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 has picture of a number of old craft ranging from surf mats to paipos to kneeboards |
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| Hybridz
Kneeboard - Soft Surf
Designs
Soft kneeboards by Rob DiStefano. For more info click here. |
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 Gus Acosta makes a paipo in Hawaii that "is a mini trimaran or a triple hull outrigger. By defining the three hulls two channels were created and the three hulls appear." Learn much more about his board design and story at: http://www.wavearrow.com/ |
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vagabondsurf.com is an open forum for the entire surfing world, featuring articles and pics of alternative vehicles for wave riding and an alternative view of the surfing industry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The
League of Lamaroos - is a club for
paipos, bellyboards, surfmats and other alternative prone-riding craft that are shared at periodic paloozas. The League of Lamaroos is dedicated to promoting camraderie and a spirit of experimentation amongst prone riders. |
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Red Wings Memorial Website - The purpose of the Redwings Memorial World Championships Events is to promote the bodysurfing, handboarding and paipo sports among the people. |
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Swaylocks is the premier waveriding design forum on the Internet, covering anything and everything used for riding the waves. |
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J.Blair Professional Surfboards 365 N. Hwy 101 Solana Beach, CA 92075 858.755.6629, 760.809.9074 For inquiries contact: dave@jblairsurf.com Joe Blair crafts a Rocket Boogie Quad Fin. |
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 Since 2005, Bick Paipo Boards has been buidling hollow paipo, or bodyboards, using plywood, glass cloth and epoxy. These boards are lighter than the traditional solid wood boards. |
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 PaipoGlide. A user's site on what is great about paipos. Andy will also accept commissions. |
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Museums, Surf Shops and SuchBernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, The State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, 1525 Bernice Street Honolulu Hawai`i 96817-2704 USA
California Surf Museum, 308 North Pacific St., Oceanside, CA 92054 Phone: 619-721-6876
-- 10 AM to 4 PM, Five Days a Week, Closed Tuesday/Wednesday & Holidays; FREE Admission
-- The museum devotes a room to pay tribute to bodysurfing and paipo and kneeboarding California Surf Museum
Leucadia Surfboards, 1144 N. Highway 101, Leucadia, CA 92024, Phone: (760) 632-1010. The shop is located in Leucadia (near Encinitis). Geoff Myers is the owner and paipo collector.
"People who paipo"
Oldest known postings to newsgroups citing a paipo:
| 8/22/1996 | Re: H.B. Surf Contest - Slater ditches board... surfs barefoot! | alt.surfing | Rick Ciaccio (uncensored language) |
| 02/12/1997 | my board (was: Re: Custom X rules) | alt.surfing.bodyboard | Doug Frick |
| 07/07/1997 | SURFING'S ORIGINS_6 | alt.surfing | OOP (Malcolm Gault-Williams) |
| 08/28/1996 | Out of Focus -- sponge | alt.surfing | Neal Miyake |
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Where are the paipo boarders riding the crests?
Worldwide!!!
Where can you expect to find today's paipo boarders?
Where can you expect to find surfing competition for today's paipo boarders?
- Makaha-All of the traditional and fun loving waveriders are welcome here--within limits. Also you'll find tandem riders and outriggers.
- Makapuu Beach-This is an excellent beach, some call it a "paradise," for body surfing, paipo and body boarding.
- The Canary Islands: "Surf. Este deporte, de origen hawaiano y de difusión americana que se implantó en las Islas hace 20 años ha crecido espectacularmente desde hace tres años. En sus diferentes estilos (surf, boogie y paipo) cuenta con más de 4.000 practicantes."
- The 1977 edition of The Beaches of O'ahu, lists several beaches around the island that were popular paipo boarding spots, including Wāwāmalu Beach Park, Sandy Beach, Kūhiō Beach Park, Mākaha, Yokohama Bay, 'Ehukai (next to Pipeline), Turtle Bay (Wild Beach), 'Aukai Beach Park, and Makapu‘u.
The Canary Islands
Point Panic, O`ahu, most recently at the "1st Annual Royal Richard Memorial World Championships of Paipo Boarding" on Sunday June 25, 2000. See the June 29, 2000, Honolulu Advertiser article, "Local wave-riders bringing back paipo boarding."
- June 2009. Some Pictures of the Boards, the Riders and the Waves from th 8th Annual Royal Richard World Championships of Paepo Boarding (The Redwing contests)
Chapel Porth, Cornwall, UK, where the 6th World Bellyboard Championships are due to take place on Sunday 7th September 2008. Visit the Website at: http://www.bellyboarding.co.uk/
Many mahalos go out to the surfriders who made many of the contributions through original source material, sent suggestions, scanned articles, or assisted in some other way in helping me form this page for paipos. Please see the Bibliography for more information.
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