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| NEWPORT PAIPO CONCAVE VECTOR A WOODEN REPLICA |
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| When another surfer loaned Roger Wayland a vintage Newport Paipo Concave Vector model to photograph and get dimensions from, he got pretty excited about the whole design. The actual boards are now over 30 years old, so actually riding one belonging to someone else (in that case the original owner) is an iffy thing. Roger is blessed with a lot of energy, so he took the measurements and some plywood he had and made his own replica. Given the thinness of the original, these designs have fairly neutral bouyancy to begin with. Wood floats slightly less than the thin foam, but the design can validly be tested. Roger built this board as you see it here and had it in the water on the same weekend. Think about that cycle time... |
| Many readers will see this and other Wayland creations and ask "Why?". Wood isn't a high tech material. The thing here isn't so much the materials - Roger said upfront that if he liked the design he would build one out of conventional materials - it's about instant action. Imagine having an idea, going to a local hardware store and buying the materials for less than a tank of gas, making it, finishing it, and getting it in the water...all in a day or two. With full pride of creation, too. Obviously you wouldn't be free to do it this way with standup equipment. But this isn't standup equipment... |
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| Copyright (C) 2004. All rights reserved. Photos and board (C) by Roger Wayland. ***** |