In the beginning they were similar to those on the video. My father was a belly surfer in the 1940s, and there were no fins yet. According to him they were made of plywood by a bloke in his neighborhood, Leme (an extension of Copacabana Beach). Those first boards had a brand-name, Jacaré, (alligator in Portuguese). Pegar jacaré means to catch alligator. The expression came before the brand-name wooden board from the 1940s. Swim fins arrived in the late-1940s, and the Jacaré evolved to have a slightly curved upwards nose and hand slots on the sides. The latter were made by a factory, but I don't recall the name. They began to disappear in the late-1950s, when actual surfing arrived here and serious surfers migrated to it. In my very early teen years I was bodysurfing (just swim fins), then I had a fiberglass longboard, made by São Conrado Surfboards, the first Brazilian manufacturer of GRP surfboards.

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The photo caption states, "I smiled, remembering the pleasure of gliding over the waves, as in Hawaii." In the background a surfrider holds a curved nose board. It is not clear whether the board in the foreground is flat-rockered or has a rockered nose.
"O deslisador. Sorri, lembrando-se do prazer de deslisar sobre as ondas, como em Hawaii."

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Unknown photographer. (1939, October 28). Beira-Mar. n. 656, p.20, from Bibliotecha Nacional Digital Basil. Courtesy of Paulo Donadio Baptista.

What is your father's name and do you know the name of the neighbor who made the boards?

His name is Luiz Humberto Pereira. He was just a common boy from Rio who liked to go to the beach. He doesn't remember the name of board maker.

As fas as I know, the marine carpenter (not a factory) was Moacyr Silva. He made plywood surfboards in the early-1960s. But quit doing them soon after the establishment of a Clark Foam Brazilian distributor. Moacyr continued making spearfishing wooden boats until the early-1980s, when he retired and moved to another state, in NE Brazil. The city district where his shop was located is now a runaway of the international airport.

1967 onwards. I was born in 1956. I got a nice surfboard on my 13th birthday, but the bloody thing was so big I couldn't carry it alone to the beach, so I kept on bodysurfing. I took up spearfishing at 14, and gradually stopped surfing.

I suggest you contact Arduino Colasanti a surfing pioneer and former spearfishing champion. He was a famous movie star in the 1960s and 1970s. [Learn more about  Colasanti in Note 2.] Check this out, very interesting statement by Irencyr Beltrão, aka  Barriguinha ("Little Belly"), mentioned in this piece, is a friend of mine. Luiz Carlos Vital, aka Bisão ("Bison") was a friend of my father and former president of my club, Clube dos Marimbás. According to Irencyr, Bisão hired a carpenter to make the rectangular board you see in the picture with Arduino. [Also see Irencyr's comments on early waveriders in Note 3.]

(Below left) Arduino Colasanti with the rectangular board made for Luiz Carlos Vital. (Below right) Madeirite heading out.

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Photo sources: (Above left) Marcelo Kaneca's lendas do surf blog. (Above right) Caderno B. (1964, June 17). Jornal do Surf. Jornal do Brasil, 74(141), B3, Accessed on January 19, 2014, at memoria.bn.br.

I don't think so. Jacaré boards were never used in spearfishing. It was only after the 1990s that bodyboards started to used for spearfishing from shore.

I came across this interesting blog site, lendas do surf. There is mention of Peter Troy and "de madeirite no pontão." This site also has an old photo of a longer style board. A couple of other names are also mentioned, Francisco Brasileiro and Raimundo Castro Maia, under the blog heading, "Pré história do surf- Chicão Brasileiro."

I know this guy from the Lendas do Surfe blog, Marcelo Kaneca. I've almost bought a SUP board from him a couple of weeks ago. "Madeirite" was the brand name of the type of plywood used to make the first surfboards in Brazil. "No Pontão" refers to the break on Arpoador Beach, the original and most famous Brazilian surfing peak, AKA amongst the initiated "Arpex." It is the eastern end of Ipanema Beach. Nowadays very few refer to it as Pontão any longer. The guy on the BW picture with the wood board is Arduino Colasanti.

Raimundo Castro Maia was a rich guy who loved sea/beach sports. But he wasn't a thoroughbred surfer. He was involved in the beginning of spearfishing in Brazil and was a keen deep sea angler as well. I knew of Francisco Brasileiro, aka Chicão, as a writer/poet and explorer/bushwhacker. Not that he was a surfer. Perhaps no one knew about it too. Kaneca mentions that he was the father-in-law of a common acquaintance of ours, Patricia Young.

Madeirite was an eponym for surfboards, not bellyboards. The madeirites made in Brazil were solid, laminated plywood. They were devised by Irencyr in the late-1950s early-1960s, when in a visit to the marine carpenter, Moacyr Silva, he noticed the special marine plywood boards used to make boats (brand-name "Madeirite"), which were light and water-resistent when treated. The shop in Ilha do Governador (Gorvernor Island in Portuguese) is the same that made the spearfishing boats. Better yet, he saw how Moacyr could bend the boards. He then realized that it was what he needed to make a lighter board (in comparison to the "church doors") and have the nose bent upwards. The madeirites didn't float well, so they had to surf it standing up with their swim fins on, as mentioned by Peter Troy! By the way, Troy was the guy who revolutionized Brazilian surfing because he was the first to do maneuvers on the board instead of just stand-up and ride the wave straight.

(Below left) Edgard Fonseca with a madeirite at Arpoador. Note use of only one swim fin—typically two fins would be used— however, Edgard shared the pair of fins. Ca. 1966. (Below right) Irencyr Beltrão (right) with Ronaldo "Mentira" de Assis, Arpoador Beach, ca. 1959. "A foto no anexo sou eu e Ronaldo "Mentira" de Assis com madeirites, surfboard em madeira projetadas por mim 1959 local praia do Arpoador. eu sou quem está com a prancha de faixas claras."
Irencyr Beltrão: "I was the one who made the "Madeirite," it was a 2.5 cm thick marine-spec plywood, about 50 cm wide and 2.2 m long. It wasn't hollow, but a solid plywood board instead. It was made in 1959 and had a slight curving on the nose, as you can see at the top of the photo with Ronaldo "Mentira" de Assis. The bottom had white stripes and you can see the fin." Irencyr Beltrão: "Quem fez a madeirite fui eu, era de compensado naval 2,5cm de espessura mais ou menos 50cm de largura e 2,20m de comprimento. Não era oca era de compensado naval maciço, tinha na parte da frente no bico uma pequena curvatura, foi feita em 1959 como você pode ver na foto que mandei, aparece a parte de cima com Ronaldo "Mentira" de Assis e a parte de baixo prancha com fachas brancas que está comigo aparece a quilha."

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Portuguese captions courtesy of Irencyr Beltrão.
(Above left) Rosemberg, Tito. (1966). Surf Photo Archives. Accessed January 15, 2014, from https://www.facebook.com/.
(Above right) Photo courtesy of Irencyr Beltrão.

Exactly. The board has a curved-up nose and handles on both sides. The other characteristics are similar (length, width, thickness). [See Note 4 for more discussion on the jacaré surfriding board.]

A bellyboard similar to a jacaré board. The logo on this board reads "A Mediterranea."

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Photo courtesy of Mike Shrouds.

In Spanish, the word for an wooden surfboard was "madera una table de surf." If I wanted to search or ask about the jacaré boards, do I need to add a word to "pegar jacaré" so it is clearer that I am interested in surfing with a board and not just bodysurfing?

No, the correct phrase in Spanish is "tabla de surf de madera." In Portuguese is "prancha de surfe de madeira." In old publications you might use "pegar jacaré" (to body surf, but literally means "to catch alligator", the slang caught on because body surfing may look like a croc sliding on the surface). Or prancha de jacaré. Nowadays it it is called surfe de peito (breast surfing) or bodysurfing. Belly surfing as in the old times never caught on again, due to the bodyboarding craze.

Were the jacaré boards used much in conjunction with spearfishing? If so, how?

No. But wooden paddleboards were used by the American spearfishing pioneers in the 1930s, off San Diego. Since twenty years ago, bodyboards have been used for spearfishing from shore.

I started when I was 14-years-old (43 years ago) -- when I quit surfing -- but just messing around in the summer with a couple of buddies. At 16, I got more dedicated, and at 18, I became very serious, taking part in competitions and all. Ever since, most of my life, private and professional, has been intrinsically linked to spearfishing in some way.

The shallowest possible to find fish... I don't do any specific breath-holding work-out. My main focus is to be at ease in the water, "aquaticity," one calls it. The ability to adapt oneself to the marine environment. Nevertheless, one must stay fit to freedive spearfish for few hours; it's an endurance activity. The best training is spearfishing itself; and, I also do fin swimming, road biking and, more recently, stand-up paddling.

There is always a physical limit related to one's lung volume and the ability of one's body to withstand working in a low oxygen environment. The latter could be worked out with specific training (ALWAYS WITH SUPERVISION). That said, it's common sense nowadays that the mental attitude and aptitude is the most important factor for breath-holding, particularly in spearfishing.
It has come to my notice that at least one freediving training agency has set up a course tailored to big wave surfers.

Having dived all over the world, I've had many. There wasn't a single day when I've gone to sea that I haven't experienced something new. But my mindset is that the most memorable dive would be the next one.