My first board was a Newport Paipo paipo, a model called the Concave Vector. Fast? Oh yes indeed. As this was in the day of $#@&% 9'6" #@^*&) ____ *&^%# longboards, fast was good, being able to turn was good, late drops were wonderful. And the thought of being able to make it up the dune without respiratory failure was a plus.tumak wrote:Hey surfhorn, ...just wanted you to be aware that Newport Paipo was a different company than El Paipo. There were many paipos being made back in the day, but I think these two companies were at the forefront, even though many regular surfboard comapanies also offered paipo/kneeboards on the side. I hope to find examples of these boards for sale sometime, somewhere...I think they'd be cool artifacts to own.
If I remember rightly, Ron Romanosky shaped for them for quite a while. They had a model called The Shoe, their attempt to break into the surfboard market with a 5' something, wide, all downrailed thing that was the first really floaty board I ever tried.
I wound up with a Gordon and Smith, 5' x 17", fast as hell, singlefin. Followed that with a Sunset, also 5' but wider - still have them and I'll have to shoot some pics one of these days.
catch ya in the water
doc