rodndtube.com's (OLD) MyPaipoBoards Forums. Reading but no posting on the OLD forums.

[Nels]

Holy cow, a surf shop with a sand floor? Ay, how far have we sunk...

Barring an e-mail arrival from a mystery benefactor, I will offer to make a pass through some old surf magazines. What I looked at last night had some El Paipo knee machine ads touting 54" boards, not 48". Pure speculation on my part here, but I would think their models went up in size from 40" bellyboards as they mutated into kneeboards. Figure 1970 as a base year, I'll look earlier first, later if I don't come up with anything. Might take me a couple of day to get enough time though.

[doc]

The sand floor is a win. No vaccuming - somebody comes in with sand on 'em, they don't get dirty looks. More like a cold beer and 'thanks, we were running low'. And when there's too many bottlecaps and miscellaeous stuff in it, well, take a dozen nickels and chuck 'em in, then tell some grommet 'Hey, kid, you wanna rake it out? All the change you find is all yours'.

Yeah, I think the 54" were a little later than the 48" flavor. Don't have any old magazines from that era I can lay my hands on just now. Take your time....

[Solo]

I`m looking at the April 1970 issue of Surfing Magazine... there`s a full page ad for Newport Paipo featuring their "Knee Vector". It was 5'-0" long x 21" wide, 7 1/2 lbs., w/ a glassed fin, spoon deck w/knee patch, flat bottom/rocker... "long enough to stand up on".

The other board (for prone or knees) in the same ad was the "Rick Newcomb Design". it was 44" long x 21" wide x 2" thick, no scooped deck, completely flat bottom, weighed 7 pounds, w/ large "Vari-set" fin by Fins Unlimited. Both boards were hand-shaped with Walker foam.

Anyone have this issue or earlier?

[Nels]

Well, I think I found our answer at the same time the phone finally rang...nothing like an enforced lockdown to give a person a chance to read the exact freakin thing I read last night but apparently didn't comprehend.

From an El Paipo ad July 1969, full-page featuring an action shot of Art Brewer

"Ultimate artillery - the knee machine"

The Baby Gun 54 (54")

The Baby Gun 48 for lighter weight riders

Box fin was by Fins Unlimited..

No sign of swallowtails prior to 1970, popped out all over by 73. Gotta go, so my gues for fish/swallows is71-72.

[Solo]

Here`s some more about the "Fish" pedigree... from www.swaylocks.com/

Fishy History
Posted By: Tom Dunham
Date: Wednesday, 28 January 2004, at 12:38 p.m.

I`m wonderng when exactly the first Lis Fish was made? Was it the first board design of that type? What were the main things which separated it from older swallow tails and twin fins? Thanks! Great site!

***

"The first Lis fish was a knee board that ended up getting stood on. I think around '69. Tabeling brought one back to FL from the Cliffs in about 1970 and the surfing he was doing at the time was pretty incredible. Lis was inspired by a surfboard design called the Superboard made by Surfboards LaJolla (the Mirandon Bros.), who in turn was inspired by designs by always cutting edge Bob Simmons back in the 50's, who got his inspiration from a US navy project circa WW2."

"And while were at it, By 1972 the fish design had found quite broad approval and that years World Championship in San Diego found the fish topping the mens division, capturing first (Jim Blears) and second (David Nuuhiva) in the finals. By the 1974 US championships, Clyde Beatty had designed a pointed nose version called the Rocket fish. The rocket fish then found its way to Hawaii where Reno Abilera was shaping some which he then brought to Japan for an early pro event. In Japan, Mark Richards got a peek at Reno's board and the following winter, 1976, MR was seen flying across the smooth faces of the North Shores, Off the Wall, directly in front of Dan Merkles 600mm century lens. This sparked the twin fin craze of the late 70's and early 80's. In 1981, Simon Anderson added a third fin and the rest is history." (Greg Loehr)

***

Posted By: Magic Man
Date: Wednesday, 28 January 2004, at 6:17 p.m.
In Response To: Re: Fishy history (Greg Loehr)

"Dear Mr. Loehr, the truth is! The (rocketfish) was designed by Steve Brom, in 76' for David Nuuhiwa in the first stall next to the alley in the new factory off of Dyer Rd. in Santa Ana. The first rocketfish was originally sold in the Dyno showroom, on main street, in Huntington, Beach, and was called a gunfish and sometimes refered to as a winterfish. It was sold "exclusively" at Dyno Surfboards, until one morning it showed up in the showroom window of the famous surfer of the month's store, directly across the street from the Dyno Showroom on Main St.. Mr. Nuuhiwa was soon, no longer under contract at Dyno Surfboards. Clyde Beatty Jr. was introduced to the design which we all know and love, shortly thereafter. Since the owner of Dyno was fazing out of the surfboard business, and his sons had lost their facination with all of the stars of surfing and found real jobs about then, my rocketfish design grew new teeth under the tigerhead. Thanks to Clyde's investment of time and money over all of these years, the rocketfish has morfed into what it is today, like it or not. And yes, he is still ordering your epoxy almost exclucively for all of the rocketfish that he is still manufacturing. And no, I am not shaping the latest morfed version of the original rocketfish. It sure is a kick, though, to read all about the history of surfing. Keep up the good work SB"

[Nels]

[rodndtube]

My collection of pre-1971 surf magazines (1967-71) is full of holes (some in the mags themselves from termintes and general usage), but Doc knows of an excellent encyclopediac source that lives in his great NorthEast. This amigo of his probably has one of the most complete surfing magazine collections around from the early years. Too bad we can't get some loaners.
_________________
rodNDtube
"Prone to ride"
I love my papa li`ili`i

[doc]

Kinda shows that Greg Loehr reads the same BBs articles.

My pal, yeah, though I think he's chasing some Norwegian chicas just now.

[Poobah]

While I've seen plenty of swallow tail kneeboards over the years, I only know of one swallow tail bellyboard. My buddy Dave made one in the summer of 1972. He also scooped out the deck for a comfortable beer belly ride.

http://www.lamaroos.org/splendid.html

He may have arrived at the swallow tail on his own. He was that kind of guy. He made a 5'10" tri fin surfboard in the summer of 1971 when the rest of us were making twin fins.

[Nels]

[Birdie]

I do believe the reason why swallow tail kneeboards from the late 60's/early 70's are a rare find, these days, must be, as Doc pointed out, as a result of the tail corners getting trashed....

Dean Cleary has 2 swallow's and a fish kneeboard

http://www.deanclearysurfboards.com/kneeboards.html

He started with those in the early 70's and is still at it....

I have a Quest on order with him.

Here's a El Paipo Knee Machine logo from the 80's - with metallic paint!

[Poobah]

Ahoy Nels,
you're right. I forgot about Gary's swallow tail paipo. It wasn't intended to be a kneeboard as I recall. I would like to ride that board someday. Have you or Rod invited Gary to join this forum.

Well, I contacted the guy selling the pintail El Paipo on ebay. He didn't know when the board was made. I gave him the address for this forum. And I suggested he add some info to his Ebay page about the fin being set in resin...not a removable box sort of fin. He said he might add some clearer photos.

[doc]

[rodndtube]

[Nels]