Jeff McCallum Paipo Hauler

When it comes to paipo's of the foam variety, there are 3 guys I have found that can put together a screaming fun machine. I have ridden kneeboards for 45 years and when I started paipo riding full time (7 years ago) I wanted a paipo to take me where my kneeboard would. It was a long journey with a lot of shapers (over 35 boards in 7 years). They all claimed they could make me what I asked for but, it was only these 3 that could translate my ideas into foam. I found that others could only shape within their small thinking parameters, not to say their aren't others, i just aint found 'em yet. They knew how to make a rail, a bottom, a rocker etc, "that would work." What I found is, that you need to find a guy who's building boards with features that you want.

I stumbled across displacement hulls as I was scouring through everything I could find that would help me "lay a board over on edge, at will" just like I could on my kneeboards. I could get a lot more leverage on my knees and I needed some kind of design that would make it really easy to "lay it up on edge" (for quick turning) to ride up and down a face of the wave with the aggressive fluidity I could on a kneeboard.

Hence, I went first to Jeff McCallum. He's a local shaper here in San Diego who will shape me anything. This board is 4' long (my fifth of his). I challenge you to find a guy that will shape you a board 4' long let alone 1" thick down the center like this board is (its a semi-spoon deck). These hull bottoms are his versions of the Simmons hulls bottoms, only a lot more intricate. These boards are "small." No one wants to shape a board this small let alone with all the little nuances that are in a board like this. 4' long, displacement hull, stinger, semi-spoon, flexi-quad fin (fins shortened) rocket! You can find Jeff at www.mccallumsurfboards.com