It’s head high today.
is that head high in the prone position???(that’s what it’s been like around here anyway…)but even so, that’s the beauty of El Paipo Grande-cranks in the smallest of surf!
Paipos are not just quick. Real paipos are highly maneuverable. In and around the tube! That thing is just a glorified log. What`s your definition of El Paipo Grande “cranks in the smallest surf” ?
I have no interset in a debate about what a "Real Paipo"is! I am however very interested in riding fine point surf with equiptment that works.The EPG was born of a desire to ride prone in small point surf on a board that would be not be at a disavantage in a crowd of 10’ boards. It more than fit the bill! In fact it works just fine in bigger surf, laying or standing(faster on belly), and it is the one I prefer to ride in 3-5 ’ beach break. I am sure a “Real Paipo” is great to ride, although I doubt it would have half a chance at Malibu or Rincon with the crowds etc. If Malibu is breaking, I am there early in the AM. The EPG is available to test drive!! Roger(huddled down in Humboldt awaiting favorable winds)
I hear you. No personal criticism intended. I guess longer equipment can viewed as more of a concession to surfing overcrowded breaks than the waves themselves. For sure anyone belly riding a longboard will go faster than if they were standing. I just can`t imagine George Greenough making the same choice.
I was tandem surfing with my step daughter recently on the 12’6" and while paddling back out for another one, got caught inside by a head high set, scratched for the shoulder, nearly made it, only to be nailed by the foam and inadvertently caught the wave prone, tandem style. Anyway by the time we cleared the foam we were screaming across the face with so much velocity it was outrageous. Because we were both laughing and hooting so much (and cause the wave was still pretty steep) we didn’t even try to get to our feet, just rode it prone, EPG style. It was definatly the most fun wave of the session, and I immediatly thought of Proneman and how ludicrus it is for someone to question the laydown style of waveriding, or any other waveriding approach for that matter.
hey Proneman! alex and I just surfed fun little waves at rincon-perfect for EPG!Later…
Its ludicrus for someone NOT to question the laydown style of waveriding, or any other waveriding approach for that matter. Surfing is full of sacred cows that think theyre somehow immune from criticism. Its high time for a barbeque!
That was you on the Paul Gross? Goofyfoot? Pretty small, but we were all hopeful for a ride or two. Still head high for the Pronestir.
It seemed to me that El Paipo Grande itself was one of the more blatant questionings of authority, prone or standup, that we’ve seen in many moons. The simplicity of the Greenough logic - roughly that smaller should be more manueverable, is along the same line of thinking that longer hulls go faster, so why not try that. Boat people, true enough? One sacrifices speed for manueverability? While I can easily grasp the notion of EPG for blazing down the line, my challenge is now visualizing it in 5 foot beachbreak. I seem to keep going back to near-genetic memory of getting pitched on a longboard or getting sucked over the falls. But those semi-archaic memories are what constitute my own personal “authority”…
“The simplicity of the Greenough logic - roughly that smaller should be more manueverable, is along the same line of thinking that longer hulls go faster, so why not try that. Boat people, true enough? One sacrifices speed for manueverability?” The shortboard revolution was not founded upon the concept of shorter boards maneuvering better at the expense of speed. Or that longer was faster. Instead Greenough proved the opposite. Thoughtfully reduced surface area, lighter weight and tuned flexibility could generate much MORE speed and maneuverability, greatly improved handling and enhanced sensation. Different strokes for different folks, but there are good reasons why Greenough does not spend his time belly boarding on longboards.
One thing that might help advance the sport of prone riding boards, would be to make the lower half of the riders body more hydrodynamic. Something like a merman tail wetsuit (a mermaid wetsuit for a guy.) I think the combined length of a merman tail wetsuit and a 45 inch paipo would make for easy takeoffs (length being more important than flotation in some situations.) But first we have to get past the Madison Avenue stigma that a fish tail suit is a “girlie” thing.
uh- there was a younger lad out on a PG that is a goofy foot.i was out just a short time on a PG-about 6 or 8 waves worth…
check out the “monofin” it’s pretty much what you are talking about(“i’m a MerMAN, not a memaid…” from zoolander)
what’s your style or approach to riding waves??
I just try to choose a good one, catch it in the right spot and not fall off. Everything else is gravy. http://www.fine-tools.com/G303771.htm
“The shortboard revolution was not founded upon the concept of shorter boards maneuvering better at the expense of speed. Or that longer was faster. Instead Greenough proved the opposite. Thoughtfully reduced surface area, lighter weight and tuned flexibility could generate much MORE speed and maneuverability, greatly improved handling and enhanced sensation. Different strokes for different folks, but there are good reasons why Greenough does not spend his time belly boarding on longboards.” It wasn’t my intention to write or rewrite history, and maybe I could have put it better, and certainly the longboards of that era in my memory weren’t faster than the new boards. BUT - in boats like canoes or kayaks there seems to be some theory that longer boats will over the long run go faster than shorter boats, but shorter boats will have more manueverability. Maybe it was just with less effort. Perhaps it doesn’t even matter when the wave generates the power, perhaps the whole EPG notion is looney, but I’ve seen small Malibu peeling flawlessly down the line…this is a case of seeking and trying something different. Why not?
Long boats can go faster than shorter boats… as displacement hulls, which are defined as hulls that go no more than about 1.34 x square root of the waterline length in feet x statute miles per hour. Statute, land miles versus nautical miles or knots. Some extremely slippery and narrow hulls, like rowing shells, can do a little better than that, but they are around 25’ long and 12" wide. In most displacement hulls, after you get past that 1.34 ratio you start climbing up the bow wave and the additional power you need to use makes life kinda interesting. However, all surf craft are planing hulls ( 2 or more multiplied by the square root , etc) so it doesn’t really apply excerpt possibly to some of those enormous outrigger canoes. Consider a 6’ board, or for that matter a 12’ paddleboard - you are looking at a maximum displacement hull speed of something on the close order of 5 statute miles per hour. A fast walk, in other words. All surf craft go faster than that, just to keep up with the wave if nothing else. This also makes the misused term ‘displacement hull surfboard’ kind of silly, though it was definitely used by some in the '70s. What those were is round bottomed planing hulls… doc…
I rode “EPG” in Big Sur last summer and I still get jazzed telling my friends what fun it was. I’ve been riding my 9-8 regular-issue performance single-fin prone in small waves as a result of that fine experience- no backside-frontside, lots of speed, and it’s refreshingly different.
Breaking pre-concieved conclusions was, for me, one ot the highlights of the Swaylock Big Sur Gathering… My time on EPG was educational… First wave was a stand-up,less than momentous ride…Next, was a committed to the horizontal speed breaker…It was flat out, a giggling, mind warp of sensational overload at the wave to face interface…Sections that I thought un-makeable were made, and the length of ride down the beach was unbelievable…The speed that EPG had on a 4" wave was astounding… My hat is off to Paul Gross for his interpretation of the Simmons classic… And I now have a newfound appreciation of alternative ways to ride seemingly standard surfcraft…Keep your mind open…Or you might miss a life-changing experience… http://www.hollowsurfboards.com