Rod's "Checkered RPM" Paipo-11D

This is my Christmas 2011 present to myself since my original Checkered RPM is being relocated to Puerto Rico (luggage fees have been getting out of control. This RPM will become my new travel board until the day a bisect paipo can be engineered and build. Differences from by Blue & Black RPM: thinner yet, tail rails are sharper on the turn downed edge, and the top and bottom each have a layer of 8oz and 6oz glass (previously the bottom was single layered). The extra layer of glass should increase the board's resistence to travel dings and the marginal extra weight help through the cross chop/micro swell encountered on larger waves.

Update: Rode the board in Costa Rica during my March 2012 trip... TBD, along with the Orange Matter (the baseline Austin paipo), and the RPM passed with flying colors. The board is best in "performance waves" that have some energy throughout - the Orange Matter is better in waves with some flat, punchless spots. Having said that I would be pleased with either as a primary board and have now ridden both designs in a wide range of conditions (2 foot to 12 foot, punchy and hollow, fat and slow). I was pleasantly surprised with the RPM's wave catching capability given its reduced float. As expected, the reduced float means a slightly slower paddle out to the line-up, but on the other hand, easier duck diving - a reasonable tradeoff.

The forward third are soft egg rails slightly turned under and the rear two-thirds are increasingly hard turned under rails. The board has a 3-fin box set-up. These sidebites have little angle (toe-in), if any, more like a traditional fish. To borrow another person's words, "Faster, more lined up and bigger waves requiring longer turns and high speed trims tend to desire more parallel side fin positions." My small sidebites (~2") are used in tandem with a single center fin (4.0" to 5.0" range normally; Update: 4.0" to 4.5") that can be adjusted forward or aft depending upon wave conditions.