Hey John…yeah I really like deck concave on belly boards. Good for rider comfort and helps keep the rider centered on the board. I didn’t put concave on the deck in the drawing because I hadn’t figured out how to do it in Aku at the time. I think a tapered stringer, with no stringer in the last 9"-12" would give it some nice flex in the tail, too.
Thanks TP I’ve already been running the paipo idea past Pridmore (shaper & Swaylockian local to me) and sent him the link to your video and referred him to this thread.
Thanks for the Aku file.
Once he gets started we’ll do a build thread.
Just got to re-shuffle the meagre quiver to finance the build.
Paipos ainʻt rocket science; just about every design works; itʻs mostly what appeals to your eye as to shape and size and how good a water man you are; riding paipo you do a lot of kickpaddling and duckdiving and you sort of become more “fishlike”; in waves of consequence, meaning head high juice, strength and conditioning fully come into play; plus you become more of the “food chain” being half submerged most of the time; I guess my point is that over intellectualizing about shape, rocker,fins and bottoms on paipos isnʻt THAT critical; most everything works pretty well when you ride em!!
If you need/want the Aku BRD file, I can email it to you. Just PM me with your address. I do recommend reading all of Larry Goddard’s work. He meticulously documented his paipo design experiments. The outline and foil of my Tbelly was heavily influenced by his work.
…but that’s what we do here. Otherwise, just buy a boogie board…
yeah exactley TP, I think if you get into the mind set that pretty much anything works, then your setting you wave riding goals as pretty average, I have had about 20 bodyboards in the last 18 years and they all do things better or worse than each other.
So I started this thread to get input on a design that will hopfully let medo what my mind can imagine while riding a wave and not just allow me to get from the start to the end.
Its been funny to me how many stand up surfers that I have met along my travels that have been amazed by the fact that you can get infinite designs of bodyboard and it makes a differance, I find it funy to belive that they think just because I am lying down all the rules of hydrodynamics are out the window and any old shape will do.
After making that card template you can see in my first post it been interesting to compare it to Goddard’s work and my bodyboard inspired and tweaked has similaritys with his rincon rocket, so I feel thats close enough to give it a go and have fiath its going to work.
Main pity is the quality of waves here in wales where i live, i would love to cruise a paipo down a long point break, but that not an option most of the year.
keith
Cuttlefish,
Have a look at this board - Warren is from around Noosa way. He had the board built in the US.
Keith,
I think the comment that most everything works isn’t a call for average surfing, but to keep it simple. A piece of wood can give you a lot of fun. A surfboard is all nice & shiny when new, but can still be surfed well with dinged rails, busted nose, after taking on a bit of water etc.
Bob
Thanks Bob.
The “Turtle” will become a reality very soon.
Hi Cuttlefish,
loving that board very nice, it has a clipped cresent just like my fav bodyboard tails. Is that what inspived the tail?
https://picasaweb.google.com/109734923193823634485/Paipo?authkey=Gv1sRgC…
Its interesting that in most of the designs I have seen so far
A: the lengths have been in the 48/52" ish area.
B: the wide points and closer to the tail than the nose.
In my years of body boarding I have been riding a 41/42" board and in my card template with just extending the rail curve to a point to get rid of the bosyboard square nose I only ended up with 44"
I once tried a larger body board of 43" and hated it fell far to long (guess it would have been 45" taken to point) So I am going to stay short on my board as an experiment
In the bodyboard world for the most part prone riders prefer a wide point closer to the nose that the tail from centre and its the drop knee riders (who sit more on the tail) who prefer the wide point more toward the tail than the nose.
So I will have a go with the wide point forward as on my fav bodyboard as an experiment.
Thanks again for all your input, fantastic forum.
keith
I'm pretty old school and in agreement with Mr Mellor regarding the semantics; a paipo and a bellyboard are different beasts.
Paipo/Alaia = wood or minimal foam and glass and thin.
Bellyboard = glassed wood or foam, finned mini surfboard.
Bodyboard = "Boogie"
The uninformed find it hard to believe, but each type rides completely differently and each has it's pro's and con's.
For my money, in waves under head high, a long slender alaia is really hard to beat.
You can tinker. tweek and modify til the cows come home and it,s great fun and the creative genes come into play; I do it all the time; and just when you think you are at the top of your game and are riding the latest and greatest surf toy with all the latest bells and whistles…out pops some nobody on a piece of ugly shaped plywood and proceeds to put on a paipo riding clinic that leaves jaws hanging; Iʻve seen it happen and it made me humble again…just add a little more water!!!
Hi Uncle Grumpy,
Re the Alaia, how long? how slender?
Appreciate the clarification of the branches on the gut sliding tree.
I will be swinging off the bellyboard branch for now.
I say “gut sliding tree” as the board will be called the “Turtle” or “GST” short for gut sliding tool and/or green sea turtle.
Excuse my fooling around with word play. It’s all serious here!
I believe I am regressing back to my youth and the pursuit of fun here though.
The board in the photo is my daily ride and it's 16" X 65" X < 3/4".
Here's a dandy I picked up from 'Paipo Mike.' It's thin... <1". Too bad Paipo Mike doesn't hang out here on Swaylocks, he has a ton of ideas.
I've often thought this design by ACE might make a nice bellyboard with the nose and tail reversed...
Paipo might work; but that is one cool looking mini sim quad; might copy that one myself; love the curvy outline!!!
So what do you guys think of a template design of this shape. To much curve and lack of tail width will slow it down?
Personally I like more parallel rails but it is going to depend on the sort of waves you ride. A wide tail is also suited to cleaner conditions.
Regarding the paipo vs bellybard distinction - John Clark, the author of 'Hawaiian Surfing', has written that 'pae po`o is “ride [a wave] head-first” ....... and a papa pae po`o was a bodysurfing board'. Hence my inclusive use of the term paipo for bellyboard and vice versa.
Bob
That little fish will work but then again when it comes to surfing and especially kipapa (prone) surfing , everything works to a point.
It all comes down to what kind of waves will you surf and what you want to do (and/or) feel on the waves.
Do you want to haul ass in trim or do you want to "shred" ?
Do you want flotation or easy duck diving?
Will you ride it like a boogie or a true paipo?
Every board is a compromise.
If you want to do 360's, finless is better.
Unclegrumpy, you done summed up the paipo issue so nice when you said “everything works to a point”; so true; prone riding is sooo different from standing up; gone is the balance issue; you can be rusty as shit and still rip and have a good time; and great fotos to drive the point home that even the most simple craft can be ridden well in prone position; every different template,bottom shape, thickness and length will perform well prone; figure out your personal combo, build it and ride report to us how it goes; fotos are a must!!!