MyPaipoBoards Forums

3 September 2023
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Gaylord Campbell
22 March 2024
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Larry O'Brien
I once saw an old belly that had small boards on the rails that held the rocker curve in place. There were also a few kerf cuts on the deck to help with the bending. Of course the strips also served as handles.

It looks like one handle was used to carry the board, but the other slot may have been made for passing a chain to lock up rental boards.
Hal Gant

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8 October 2023
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Mike Jax

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Harvey McClendon
20 December, 2022
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There were 2 boards.My cousins lived in Cottage Grove in the 70's and rode them in the creek. One was beat so bad it went in the trash. This one needs to be made water tight, and reattach the handle. I should had tried to pick it up when I was in San Diego. I remember riding one of them in Mexico as a kid...

actually he made two and they both looked the same. Before these two, he made two out of foam and fiberglass. Back then they would cover the shaped foam board with marine wood glue, then glass because the resin would melt the foam. They were and awful color. One was 3M glue yellow, the other was brown. Those must have been made around 60-62. They would give you the worst rash. No hot coat on those babies.

He was an aviation engineer back then and was quite the inventor

California Surf Museum
2 September 2023

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A few weeks ago we posted about our El Paipo and House of Paipo kneeboards. Well, we have a lot more brands representing the “Golden Age of Kneeboards and Bellyboards” from the late 1960s into the 1980s. Take a look at our collection in the photos below.

British Museum of Surfing

24 October 2023

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Evidence of surfing in the early years of the 20th century is scarce but we do find references in some publications from the era which points towards the growing popularity of surf-riding.
In the summer of 1914, Punch (or The London Charivari as it was first known) playfully delved into the emerging trend of surf-riding and "planking," shedding light on the adventurous spirit of the British public as they were beginning to embrace the joys of riding the waves and engaging in other water sports.
Regrettably, the outbreak of the First World War cast a dark shadow over the progress and growth of these sports, causing a significant interruption in development for the next 5 years.

Ray Henderson
29 May 2024
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Dean Mitchell Kallsen
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Culled a pristine wedge special from a friend’s private collection! Stoked to score one again!
Rosario Montano
10 October 2023
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Steve Petty
13 March 2024

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Edwin Salem
23 August 2023
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Rod Rodgers
15 March 2024
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10 ... n__=%2CO*F My Hansen paipo board:
https://mypaipoboards.org/.../Paipo-specs_HansenRed_Rod...
Of note are the twin fins, not common in surfriding boards at the time, and the fins are parallel to the stringer, which I think is fine for prone riding craft. The board also has a concave bottom running from the end of the nose rocker to the tail.

Michael Shea

30 October 2023

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John Mandybur
Sic slide man!

John DeVivo
BEAUTIFUL

Frank Cavins
Cool board!

Michael Shea
There it is! This helps.Thanks

Michael Shea
love the wagon in front.

Frank Cavins
This is the logo on my belly board. Michael Shea
That is so cool! what year is that one?

Frank Cavins
I believe late 60’s

Rod Rodgers
Bob "The Greek" Bolen was the owner. Also Surfboards by the Greek.

Michael Shea
I've tried reaching out to Bob with no luck. I didnt know that he was the owner just that he knew alot about Huntington

Rod Rodgers
that doesn't surprise me. I stopped by the real estate office he works at about ten years ago. There was very little I could engage him on. He did offer to sell an overpriced sticker. Some of the SoCal gang just want to be monitized it seems.


15 September 2023

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Rainer Stegemann
1 February 2024

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My friend Rich Guerling shaped this balsa Paipo in the 50s we call it tumestone.

Rod Rodgers
The skeg certainly gives it a '50s feel.

Rainer Stegemann
Plus its free standing

Rod Rodgers
A common trait of that vintage!

Bob Green
How did it ride?

Rainer Stegemann
Didn’t ride it but Rich said it was a fun Paipo


Alex Williams

30 Oct 2023
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12 October 2203

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Bill Godwin

22 July 2023 https://www.facebook.com/groups/paipobe ... 532370080/

Ken Cullings
is that the front end of a longboard turned piapo? I've had a couple of those.

Rod Rodgers
that was a brand produced in Newport Beach/Costa Mesa. Probably had two skegs as well just as the Newport Paipo brand did on all their various models. My guess is that some early Wally Froiseth models influenced paipo builds in the Laguna Beach-Newport Beach area, Wardy Surfboards, and Candy Calhoun. Twin fins on surfing boards back in the 1960s were not common. Gordon Theisz built paipos modeled after the Froiseth Pai Po.
See:
Scroll down a little below https://mypaipoboards.org/#WHAT_IS_A_PAIPO
https://mypaipoboards.org/.../RobertMoynier_2010-0705...
http://mypaipoboards.org/.../Robert.../ ... 0922.shtml

Also see
Surfer Magazine, vol 6, no 5, pg 20 (1965) from MyPaipoBoards.org

Bob Green
I can see a rabbit hole coming up. I don't think we ever managed to track down the elusive Newport guys. But there are some clues from the old interviews. Ron Romanosky says the first BB he rode at Wedge was a cut down long board and the first manufacturer was Mouse. The one Mouse ad I've seen shows a very different style of board - wider at the nose, than the tail. Then Mark Richards from Val Surf said "First foam ones were being made for us by Jeffrey Dale in Orange County and were simply a miniature single fin". Skip Briggs said his first Newport board was the late 50s and that Joe Quigg was around then. I've read Joe Quigg first went to Hawaii in 1947 so he had plenty of time to meet Wally Froiseth. Larry Goddard saw a Froiseth BB at Redondo Beach in 1963, so they were in the US. Jack Coberly said his first board was a Quigg around 1961 (photo below) - its quite different to the Froiseth boards but not so different from some Newport boards and looks like one in the Ron Romanosky interview. Robert Moynier says Thiesz was shaping his boards in the 70s, but Candy Calhoun was riding BBs in the 60s and brought one to Australia. The Calhouns would have known Wally Froiseth. Robert said Thiesz was connected to Wardy. Froiseth would be the likely twin fin influence, and then there was Simmons but John Elwell said he never made BBs. Simmons had also been to Hawaii early on.

Rod Rodgers
Candy Calhoun had an exchange in one of the surfing magazines about the paipo board she was riding in Peru and cited it as a Froiseth board.
International Surfing Magazine, vol 1, no 8, pg 51

And in International Surfing Magazine, vol 2, no 1, pg 71

Bob Green
I was trying to find when this magazine was first published. Surprisingly it's not listed (or I couldn't find it) in Al Hunt's encyclopedic collection index. As Candy wrote, it wasn't a Paipo Nui but a Pai Po. I've had to look at a map but Laguna is pretty close to Newport as well.

Ken Cullings
Great info guys, thanks! I only asked because it looks a lot like boards we'd cut down and taper from a broken longboard back in the day. Glass in a fin and bingo, paipo with the right rocker built in.

Rod Rodgers
Newport Beach has the Wedge; Laguna Beach had the innovation, creativity, artist colony, etc. No surprise that it is also a center of skimboarding. Yup, I implied the proximity of Newport and Laguna... one keep actually find very distinct beach communities back in the 50s/60s (now just a continuing development). Huntington Beach is right up the coast very close by.
Re: the magazine.
"International Surfing (ISM). (Dick Graham) In 1974, Lopez Publications dropped "International" from their name to create Surfing Magazine. The publishers noted, "When we, Richard Graham and Leroy Grannis, received word that Petersen's Surfing magazine was no longer being published as a monthly, we began looking around for backers to enable us to continue the magazine." This quote from the editorial herewith sums up how the present-day Surfing Magazine started so many years ago. Vol 1 (1964) through Vol. 9 (1973). Correction: Vol. 10, No.1 (Feb/Mar 1974), was still labeled International Surfing on the cover and in the masthead "fine print." Source: MyPaipoBoards.org

Bob Green
Maybe a location timeline of the US west coast, would fit in with the builders spreadsheet?

Rod Rodgers
Many of the magazines known by the title "Surfing" from the 1960s/1970s were often misfiled in collections and libraries. I did a fair amount of "refiling" during the research and data collection period.

Charles Berkowitz
here’s mine

two fins

Larry O'Brien
This is a Newport Concave Vector, notice the same green stringer and the template shape of the fins, and they're not foiled. I would guess that the Hawaiian logo was made by Newport Paipo.

Keith Usher
Watch the fish documentary, it was a forerunner/inspiration of the modern steve lis twinfin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GJ2vg4NVkc...
Fish: Surfboard Documentary (FULL MOVIE) Surfboard Design, Fish Surfboard, Surfing, Surf

Bill Wurts
Keith Usher, Thanks for the link. Almost rented it on Prime several times. Done lots of reading about the original Fish over the years. Story goes that Steve Lis made the original from the front half of a LB he and a friend found. (Just saw in the first 16 min of the video that Steve confirms that.)

Elijah Baley
I like this design, simple yet functional. Basically half a shortboard, assuming the lower part is replaced by the legs and the flippers.



Keith Usher

27 May 2022

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5 June 2024

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John Morris
Has anyone ever seen a photo or movie that showed Hawaiian islanders pre-statehood riding an unbroken wave prone? If only royalty rode the very big boards then most surfing was probably conducted lying down, head first. The earliest illustrations don't appear to be well observed. Were the later photographs also remiss in capturing the variety of wave riding styles?

https://www.surfresearch.com.au/1896_Th ... nac_Riding...

Rod Rodgers
In the pre-1900 writings one needs to read carefully to determine if the riders were standing, sitting, kneeing, laying. That is true for not just Hawaii, but around the world even into the pre-WWII period. Of course, pre-Hawaiian statehood (also known as pre-Gidget) would include the winter of 1958-59, and there is a ton of such footage. Long lense cameras or waterproof just were not widely available in the 19th century and before.
The Royalty had the very largest boards in part due to the logistics and cost of felling a tree inland and transporting the sizable piece of wood to the beach and the time it would take for form a large board. The alaia boards ranged in size from 5 to 10 ft, maybe larger.
To answer your question, in part, in the 19th century and earlier there was a ton of prone riding. And a lot more surfriding breaks were available to the non-royalty folks than is implied in many writings.
Finney, Ben R., and James D. Houston. (1966). Surfing, the Sport of Hawaiian Kings. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle Co., as shown in MyPaipoBoards Annotated Bibliography.
May be a black-and-white image of blueprint and text that says "Shown here are two figures, ,a diagram and a display, of ancient Hawaiian surfboards (click on pic or larger image) ANG #oET-BoAлИR COLLECTTION ALAIR dinplay กัอ Of interest these two figures the typology for describing the boards. The figure the left describes three types of boards, bodyboard, alaia and olo. The figure on the right describes only two types boards, alaia and olo. However, the figure on the right displays one olo, many alaia and least two bodyboards the larger boards lined up on the right could be ridden as stand-up style alaia or or prone style bodyboards (kioe)."

John Morris
the sitting part is curious, don't you think? How do you take off while sitting on a low flotation short wooden board? Even with a paddle it would be tough, I think.

Rod Rodgers
A lot of those boards were alaias, 5 to 7 ft. Different waves behave differently. Along the East Coast USA it would be a challenge for me, more doable along the South Shore Waikiki. My guess it that the artists drew the best they could remember.

One myth is that paipos were only ridden by kids. I suspect that was mostly an extrapolation of a mindset rather than based on empiracal information.

Jarrett Liu
Rod Rodgers, none…. These all came after…

Larry O'Brien
Not a deep-water photo, but this old postcard, about 110 years ago, does give us a good look at the template of one of the kid's boards, because he's holding it up and out of the water.
John Morris
Yep, and they look pretty thin. The photos I've seen all appear to show riders in water knee or waist deep at most and sometimes right up on wet sand. Take offs would likely be jumping into the oncoming wave, not paddling or kicking. That's much like what appears in photos taken in England and South Africa, where advanced ocean skills were much less prevalent. So, I have to wonder, is that how paipos were traditionally ridden in Hawaii?
Larry O'Brien
I once read that the swim club guys in South Africa, would swim way outside to the breakers, and ride half-size boards (2 feet long?) It was in a mid century booklet about riding four foot British boards.

Jarrett Liu
these are later during American whaler ships arrived.. all others countries about the same time ocean villages rode small wood planks that were thrown down by wood carvers. Here in Hawai’i, it came from Kamehameha the first during battles.

John Morris
I'd be interested to hear more about that.

Bob Green
whats the booklet?

Larry O'Brien
You and Your Surfboard by Bartlett. I just checked, and it was a brief mention, "Some of the best and boldest surfing I have ever seen was by men in Durban who either used no boards at all or had boards about half the size of yours." So it must have paraphrased in my memory, or I read an earlier edition? Years ago when I first read that, it inspired me to make a 24 inch poplar board.



Bob Green
The South African surfing story is an interesting one. As for small boards, I've seen reference to them in a few Australian newspaper articles from the early 20th century and there is a photo of Duke Kahanamoku from 1915, where there are several young boys with small wood boards. I also saw some photos of what appeared to be paipos, but when told the length (30-40" and 14" wide), they were obviously a smaller style board, often used like a skim board.
Bob Green
This article from 1911 also refers to boards under 2'
May be an image of surfboard and text that says "THE SURF BOARD. The uHe of surf boarda is forbidden in Sydney but where there are not 80 many people bathing vo1 Gan do some fine shoot- ing with it. The board ន8 light 8s you get should be 2it or slightly under length, and not more than 18in. I width. Time the wave as alreadv suggested. The hoard is gripped in the at each end, further edge inelining upward from the water at an angle οί lexs than 45 degrees. held at arm's length. Try it only where there are not many people bathing together at one time."

John Morris There aren't too many photos of boards or surfing, 1900 to the 1950s. This photo from 1906, was taken from Edison's film, excerpt here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz32fG3Y2dY Wally Froiseth told John Clark, that before his Pai Po boards, boards were shorter, narrower and thinner.

Jarrett Liu
this is way later…

Bob Green
if you mean the photo is later, i can send a link to the full film from 1906.

Jarrett Liu
it’s .. genealogy shows back in mid 1700’s…



Bob Green

Jarrett Liu Thanks. That's a long way back. What does it say about surfing? Here is the full film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKNZZZHQpo The excerpt I showed starts about 29:56 though there is surfing from 28:32.
Hawaiian Islands | A Film by Thomas A. Edison Shot in 1906

Jarrett Liu
it tells the story of young Ali’i keiki’s playing along the shoreline with small wood planks that was found around the Wa’a builders…


Bob Green
One of the earliest surfing photos - Taken at NiIhau, it featured in an issue of the Journal of American Folklore date 1894. For more details -https://surfresearch.com.au/z1800_Photos.html
John Morris
one knee rider and two prone riders? A couple of surfers waiting out the back. Cool.

Craig Douglass
Al ways good to see historical photos and drawings from most of what I've seen kneeboarding seems common

Jarrett Liu
I have a copy of my mother’s genealogy of how wood plank were used n where it came from….

Bob Green
Jarrett Liu, how far back does your mothers genealogy go?

Jarrett Liu
It was before the year of 1789…

Gareth Jones
If a mal rider hangs ten does a Paolo drag one?

John Morris
gender dependent

Gareth Jones
sorry

Rod Rodgers
Drags three.


Menno van Schagen
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Rod Rodgers
I met Menno van Schagen over a decade ago. He has a place in South Cocoa Beach, FL, and began collecting paipo/bellyboards in the early-2000s. He and Roy Scaffidi, owner of Oceansports World, are waveski riders and longboarders. Roy directed to me to Menno after seeing some paipos on display at Roy's store. FYI on waveski surfriding:
https://www.waveskiadventurers.com/hist ... aveski.../

BTW, Menno is a surfer who lives in the Netherlands


Jim Cain

7 August 2023

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8 August 23
Charlie Harris
Casey bellyboard

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