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pods for primates : a catalogue of surfboards in australia since 1900

Click for catalogue entries by date - start 1914 with Duke's 8ft 8''

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paipo* catalogue : images

*Prone and Kneeling Craft - Paipo, Lamaroo, Bellyboard, Surf-o-plane, Coolite, Kneeboard, Spoon, Slab, Mat, Boogie, etc

	1920 Risby Bros. Solid wood Belly Board 3ft 6''
	1930 Solid Wood Belly Board 4ft 5 1/2"
	1930 Solid Wood Belly Board 4ft 3 "
	1933 Surf-o-plane, Dr Ernest Smithers
	1950 Lamaroo 5ft 1''
	1950 Lamaroo 5ft 6''
	1953 Plywood Bellyboard 2ft 11''
	1956 Paipo, Balsa 3ft 8"
	1960 Paipo Bellyboard 2 ft 8''
	1960 Plywood Bellyboard Twin fin 'Rocket' 3 ft 2''
	1960 Paipo by Farfor, 3 ft 5'' Tapa cloth laminated bottom
	1960 Bill Wallace Balsa Bellyboard 4 ft
	1963 Barry Bennett, Bellyboard Twin fin 5ft 1"
	1963 Bill Wallace, Kneeboard 5ft 3"
	1963 Skimboard by Blue Pacific 24'' (Diameter)
	1964 McDonagh Twin Fin Kneeboard 4 ft 9''
	1966 Bay Area Belly/Knee Board 5 ft 5"
	1967 Barry Bennett Kneeboard 5 ft 7''
	1969 Surf-o-plane Marlin model, surfer Nick Carroll
	1970 The Shoe by Shane. Spoon decked Knee Board 4 ft 11"
	1970 Zippy Board Small 'Hunters Toyline' 16''
	1972 Midget Farrelly, Coolite 4 ft 10" Rubber fin
	1973Jackson, Greenough Spoon 5 ft 10"
	1973 Ron Wade Spoon 4ft 8''
	1973 Barry Taylor, Flextail Kneeboard 5 ft 6" Hand made fin box
	1973 Zippy Board Large 'Super Surfer' 3ft
	1975? Backyard, Spoon deck Kneeboard 5ft 6"
	1975 Ron Wade Molded Spoon, 4ft 10''
	1975 Belly Bogger 3ft 7''
	1975 Rod Ball Design Ski tail Kneeboard 5ft 8''
	1976 Molded plastic handboard, 15 1/2''
	1976 Merrin, Air mat twin fin 5 ft 4"
	1976 Crozier, Kneeboard Slab 5 ft 4" Tri boxes
	1978 Sky Kneeboard 5 ft 8 1/2" George Greenough Design Shaped by Chris Brock
	1979 George Greenough Design Kneeboard 5 ft 6 1/2" Shaped by Chris Brock
	1980 Coolite Twin fin adaptation
	1980 Morey Boogie, Mach 7
	1980 Crozier Tri fin Kneeboard, 5ft 7'', Shaped by Peter Crawford.
	1985 Express Four fin Kneeboard 5 ft 7''
	1989 The Pod - Molded Handboard 12''
	1990 Zero Utra Light (Thruster Coolite) 5 ft

Paipo Catalogue for...
Rod Rogers, Baltimore, Maryland : My Paipo Boards and ...More

Before bodyboards there was plywood.
Paipo rider Sean Ross, Pipeline, Hawaii.
Photo: Alan (Bud) McCray,
Photo courtesy Rod Rogers

David Swanson and his and Val Valentine's
Paipo Collection, Haleiwa, 2000.
Photo and article by David Pu'u
The Surfer's Journal,
Vol 9 No 3, 2000 Pages 122-123

Paipo, Lamaroo, Bellyboard, Surf-o-plane, Coolite, Kneeboard, Spoon, Slab, Mat, Boogie board. The description "paipo" appears in the literature both as a generic term for "prone or belly board" and as a specific dished nose, wide tailed finless design circa 1960.
Illustrated (but identified as a "Skim board") in Kelly (1965) page 63.

There no use of the term "paipo" before about 1960, about the time the specific design noted above was developed.
It does not appear to be a traditional Hawaiian surboard term and does not appear as such in
Pukui, Mary Kawena and Elbert, Samuel H.: Hawaiian Dictionary : Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian.
Revised and Enlarged Edition.
University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1986.

There is the term "pa ipu" (the a has an overmark) meaning "Calabash, wooden dish in general cooking utensil, bowl", page 303, which perhaps was adapted circa 1960 as a description of the dished nose design.

Often denegrated, usually ignored, prone surfboards play an integral part in surfboard design and riding performance.
Note..
1. The art of Hawaiian surfriding as evidenced by Captain Cook in 1770 must have developed in the Pacific islands over centuries. Obviously the initial ventures would have been on small boards in small surf, close to shore. Only with a vast increase in skill and experience over a long time and the availability of suitable materials (for example wili wili, an Hawaiian equivalent of balsa wood) would stand up surfing be possible.
2. Most surfers begin their surfing on prone boards - for example Mark Richards on a Surf-o-plane and Tom Carroll on a Coolite.
3. Many surfboard design features have either been initially developed or taken to their extremes by non-standup surfers, for example George Greenough.
4. In many cases, performance levels have been set by prone/kneel boards. This was partically the case up to 1974, before the introduction of the legrope. Prone or knee boarders, by virtue of their proximity, have more control of the board during wipe outs and this enabled them to ride deeper in the wave with confidence and to dominate at breaks were wipeouts were board destroying, for example Little Avalon, Sydney.
5. Subequent to the general adoption of the legrope, prone craft still establish some performance levels. Photographic evidence appears to confirm that Boogie riders ride deer and longer in the tube.
6. In other performance areas, such as "getting air", the manourves were established by Boogie riders ten years before being adapte by standup surfers.

"A Hawiian surfer cuts a fast right slide
in standing crouch on the zippy skim or
belly board at Kuhio pier, Waikiki.
Photo by Val Valentine."

Kelly (1965), facing page 192.

For movie footage, see http://vids.myspace.com:80/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6228857

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