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Poobah · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 8:20 pm Post subject: El Paipo #5229

Here's the El Paipo that was so inspirational to John Galera 15 years ago. John, I'd like to hear about the first wave, or the first good wave you rode with this board. What can you remember about it?

http://www.lamaroos.org/sitebuilder/images/5229EP01-593x446.jpg

John Galera · Joined: 01 Feb 2004 Posts: Location: Mililani, Hawaii

The guy in the picture is my best friend Bert Rickard. He got this board for his birthday present in April 1969. About six months later, I made my first foam paipo, we called it the 45 caliber(short of shaped like that).
Bert rode this board through 1975, than he got of put it away.

I took it out about 1984 to 6-8' Laniakea. The board is really fast, the bottom is perfectly flat, the top is dugout, and creates a nice pocket to lean into bottom turns. Bert knows my fear of skegged boards, so I never really rode it but that once. I don't remember him ever letting me ride it when we were kids. I had a habit of destroying boards.

I plan on copying it, and making a thruster same basic design, maybe I can get him back in the water. He was wondering if anyone saw a El Paipo like his before, and about how much it might be worth now.
Thanks Poobah for posting it! Aloha John

Poobah · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 1:09 am Post subject: El Paipo #5229

There was a thread a while back about what's on your walls, and Kneeridin listed a 5' El Paipo Spoon. John, you said the fin hummed. Was it a glassed on fin? As for what's the board worth...I'd find it hard to put a price on a time machine that can take you back to 1969. Especially a birthday present. I could see some ebayer paying $250 or more for the board. Maybe Kneeridin will chime in sometime soon, and tell us how much he paid for his spoon.

John Galera · Joined: 01 Feb 2004 Posts: Location: Mililani, Hawaii

This particular board has a box skeg. The skeg has two screws both for and aft that secure the skeg to the box. I asked Bert to post his comments on the board.

doc · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 4:19 pm Post subject: Re: El Paipo

Nels · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 7:20 pm Post subject:

Blessed, or cursed, as I am with a pretty good memory for locating things I've stashed away...I researched the El Paipo Foam Spoon. Have in the archives a couple of good ads for the foam spoon from summerish 1969, none of which have much more detail than 60" length. In the text ad which I first have mentioning the Foam Spoon, somewhere in there it says El Paipo was using Fins Unlimited fin systems.

Got some photos of the Newport Paipo Concave Vector online...another fairly pristine vintage classic.

http://vagabondsurf.com/PaipoNewportConcaveVector.html

doc · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 8:57 pm Post subject: Concave Vector.....

Lordy lordy - give it red fins and that's my first board.....

As to the fin system on the El Paipo - http://vagabondsurf.com/PaipoGrabs.html shows the long-box version, I think.

Poobah · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 9:19 pm Post subject: El Paipo #5229

Yes! Yes! Doc is right about the windsurfer fins fitting in Bert's El Paipo. The two screw Fins Unlimited was used only for a couple of years on surfboards and kneeboards, but they were still glassing those boxes and using the two screw FU fins on windsurfers for at least 15 years (in my neck of the woods.) In fact up until about ten years ago you could still buy brand new fins in windsurfer shops, and Mitch's surf shop in La Jolla still sold the long slider boxes. A couple years back Kneeridin wanted a fin for one of his El Paipos, and I couldn't find any new ones at the windsurfer shop. I eventually found a used red fin in the tall grass of Barnacle Bob's Surf Emporium. Shorter than the surfboard fin, but very stiff plastic. Could be just the thing to solve the fin humming problem of Bert's El Paipo. I'll keep my eye out for one, and please do the same. Keep an out out for old winsurfers that might have a two screw FU fin in them. Some folks might sell you the whole thing for $35, or even pay YOU to haul the windsurfer to the dump. Those fins usaully add about a $100 to the value of a transitonal surf or kneeboard. Better still...those windsurfer fins allow us to get some old paipos back into the water.

Kneeridin · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 5:19 pm Post subject: Re: El Paipo #5229

Kneeridin · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: El Paipo #5229

[/quote]The shorter "Blue Flame" El Paipo spoon in the pics was the recipient of the red fin from Barnacle Bob's Camp for Homeless Boards.[/quote]

oops...
http://www.rodndtube.com/asc/reports/2003/0516guys/2003_0516guys.shtml