What is this? Approx. 45" long. Obviously shaped with two handle holes. Appears to be quite old. Thanks in advance for your input!
Looks like a home made body board called a paipo.they are used to lay on your belly and boogie on the waves . Funky set up for the handles,almost like it was made for a left so you can dig in on one side and pull from the lower handle on the right. .where did ya find it?
Might be an old life guard board. I recall some small boards like that from the 1950’s That might explain the off set hand holds.
Good insight. I think you’re probably right. May even be earlier, from the 30’s or 40’s.
Bill
By the looks of it it’s about 10"-12" wide.
for the offset hand holds… someone rode this “switchbelly”.
something I never got the hang of… ha ha.
If the board surface is the same shape (e.g. flat) on both sides, you could flip it for lefts or rights, assuming that is what the handles are for.
It’s certainly a bellyboard. Wood handled boards were ridden in the US and in Brazil, perhaps in Europe as well. Whether it was a lifeguard board I don’t know.
Some questions. It looks like there might be a small amount of lift in the nose or is this an optical illusion? Looks like it is made of two pieces of wood - if glued and it has held over the years, someone knew what they were doing. Does it have any remnants of a finish and is the finish reasonably smooth? The rear cut-out also suggests soem sophistication or at least wanting to avoid a board in the stomach.
The offset handles are interesting. If they were held when riding, the board was ridden way back.
Some mor ephotos would be of interest.
Either way, you don’t see many of these. Might be worth asking one of the surf museums.
Bob
“Switchbelly”
LMAO!
Good one Keith.