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[AM_Glass]

(An amateurs opinion)

I think it's the sharpness of the rails. A 1' piece of wood is going to have very sharp rails no matter what you do to it. I envision (not know, but envision) those sharp edges cuting into the wave face to hold a line. I also imagine the water flowing over the back edge of the deck not experienceing much resistance, kinda like an Arobie verses a typical frisbie. Anyone who has thrown an arobie knows they go faster and farther by an order of magnitude. The thinness of the board lacks the bouyancy of other surf craft but is a nessasary tradeoff to obtain the sharp rail.

[tumak]

AM - Just yesterday we were at the beach with a van full of boards, but I had forgotten my paipo. My wife had brought hers, and a friend who was there threw me their sponge board to ride. I said, "okay," and proceeded to work it. Bleahh! It stunk...all bendy and completely devoid of drive...just a boring drag. Then my wife switched with me and, hokey smokes! what a much better ride the little 4'6" paipo is! I was banking of the lips with drive, coming off the bottom with drive, and it was altogether just a better feeling float than the sponge-thing too. Speed? No comparison. I know people like things differently than one another, some are real technical, and others, like me, just go for the feeling and look at things more intuitively, but I have to say that a paipo is better because they are BOARDS, and they have FINS. Not everyone on here digs fins, but I think that they are essential. Don't get me wrong; I'd like to try a paipo designed to get drive off the bottom and speed down the line without a fin or fins - I like to think I have an open mind. But right now, I think that it was the greatest mystery of the 70's (next to disco) that people got off of paipos and went into sponge. PAIPO is THE TICKET! I think my next project is to work with plywood and go back in time...paint it up, varnish it, the whole thing. Luckily, this forum is full of great advice from paipo luminaries who are presently engaged in full-on exploration, and we have them to guide us! Yay!

[Nels]

Having been around since Before the Boogie, I can tell you that when Morey invented "the sponge" (a term I still dislike but have come to accept) the material innovation which took place was astounding. There was nothing that felt like it. Laying down on a boogie for the first time was like laying down on a fish...unfathomable!

The surfmats of the time were heavy canvas rasps, inflated as much as possible - nothing like what Dale makes today. The plywood paipos were, in my opinion, big and cumbersome and not much fun. Foam/fiberglass bellyboards were cool and like what you ride now.

Since there has been something of an alternative surfcraft revival in recent years as more and more fringe dwellers have been finding each other via the internet, you will notice that most of the homegrown wood paipos don't have the old school paipo design. Many have fins, some hydrofoils. The prime source of old style paipos is Hawaiian Paipo Design and from what I read and hear they are pretty advanced in materials.

Sadly, the bodyboard has not advanced radically in design or materials in recent years. Stringers for stiffness and slick skin bottoms have seemed to be about it (actually a lot of other things have happened over 30 years but they are representative). Concaves on the bottom. Shape has hardly varied...but maybe that just means Morey was light years advanced back when he invented it.

These days for me it's the sponge for safety, basically for STOLT...short take off and landing tubes. I have my paipo and some handboards and a mat, which cover most other circumstances including STOLT situations. I even still have surfboards. Just walked into the fin of one in a guestroom the other night...been wondering where it was.

[Birdie]

I use my sponge when it is a shorepoundy day...or...I may want to simply lounge around and relax on the board...

The paipo comes out every single time we have a good sized swell!!!

Oh yeah!

Birdie

[Poobah]

Last week it was big enough to take out my waiters tray. Some little girl asked me why I was riding a trash can lid. Jerp! It was nice to be able to dive deep and far under the whitewater. So Birdie...how was that swell up your way?