What is a Belly Board? History and Hawaiian Roots Explained
1930s “Paipo board” (image: Smithsonian)
Author: Marcus M | SMH Chief Curator
Laguna Beach CA’s South Coast Highway is loaded with all sorts of eclectic shops and galleries. Vibrant displays invite visiting wave-riders to peer through their respective windows while en route to/from Thalia, Rockpile, or another break. On more than one pass I had spied a vintage belly board with clean yellow rails and an unmistakable Hansen Surfboards logo propped-up within the corner of a nameless (because I can’t remember the name) skate and clothing shop. Tired of the tease, I wandered in one day with $400 burning a hole in my board shorts. That’s what I was prepared to pay when I approached the shopkeep to ask if he would sell “that little board” in the corner in a tone that meant to downplay its significance. “I could let it go for like $40” he replied, I pretended to think about it, then shook his paw and left with an extra $360 to play with (girl math, I’m told). The very next day I boarded the Pacific Surfliner from San Clemente to Encinitas with the board in tow and took it to show the gang at Hansen Surfboards. Heiress to the throne, Heidi, was on deck that afternoon. She beamed at my telling of its liberation from Laguna, then promptly marched me up to the storage attic of the over 20,000 square foot establishment. From the rafters she pulled down two vessels that looked like big bars of soap; a pair of belly boards that were shaped by her father. I caressed each while chatting with Heidi about their backgrounds. Satisfied, despite longing for more, I handed them back because I knew it would be crass to make an offer on family relics.
Escorting a Hansen belly board to Encinitas
I admittedly have developed a bit of a fetish for alternative craft of the prone persuasion. Since that fateful day in Laguna Beach I have managed to secure another Hansen belly board which I found in a shop near Chinatown, Honolulu, in addition to an early 1960s Jack’s Surfboards model that was hidden in a garage in the Pacific Northwest. I also have a number of old ones that have no label, indicating they were built for personal use. I have my feelers out there for a few more. Desirable versions have been shaped under the labels of Dextra, Newport Paipo, Challenger, and House of Paipo in addition to a Duke Kahanamoku model that will be added to the Surf Museum Hawaii (SMH) collection. And while these are certainly nice-to-have, holy grail acquisitions include one bearing the Velzy-Jacobs logo and any model from the man who exerted the most influence on the concept, Wally Froiseth. More on them below.
Despite the fact that a large number of these unique wave-riding vehicles were shaped through the early 1960s, they remain an oddity. This makes them particularity fetching to vintage surfboard collectors. Meanwhile, those not-in-the-know are fascinated every time they spot a belly board in the wild. When I take mine down from display and out for a spin, I’m invariably asked if I sawed my longboard down in some sadistic frustration after having sustained an irreparable fracture on the nose. The curiosity has inspired the creation of this very feature on the history of the belly board. More importantly, it explores the Hawaiian Islands’ unsurprising influence in its development.
Brief History and Hawaiian Influence on the Development of Belly Board
In the Beginning, Was the Pae Po’o
There were four types of ancient Hawaiian wave-riding craft. In order of length, these included the Olo (between 12 and 18 feet), Kiko`o (between 10 and 14 feet), Alaia (between 6 and 10 feet) and the Pae Po’o (between 4 and 5 feet). It’s the latter that signifies the ancestral beginnings of the belly board. The literal translation is “to surf head first” as in the prone position. Given that swim fins weren’t developed until the 1940s, Pae Po’o surfing mostly occurred near the shoreline. As the native language was gradually phased out by savior (ahem) mormon missionaries in the late 1800s, Hawaiians and other beachgoers began to refer to the Pae Po’o less eloquently as belly boards. Considering the mormon influence, perhaps the form of riding should be referred to as the missionary position in place of prone. But I digress.
Belly board was the ubiquitous term used to describe the craft used to surf prone in Hawaii and Southern California until a big-wave pioneer from Honolulu (born in Los Angeles) named Wally Froiseth crashed onto the scene. Froiseth is best known as the co-inventor of the “hot curl” surfboard, which would eventually lead to the invention of the surfboard fin. However, in the mid-to-late 1950s Wally’s world expanded to include the development of foam and fiberglass belly boards that he branded as “Pai po” to honor the original Hawaiian Pae Po’o. Froiseth’s misspelling was the result of only hearing the Hawaiian term spoken, and not seen in written form. Lazy english being lazy english, the word quickly morphed into the singular “paipo” which maintained throughout the latter half of the 20th century and through to this very day.
Around the same time Froiseth developed his scalable model of the belly board, other trailblazing shapers produced prototypes, including Dave Sweet. Dale Velzy and Harold “Hap” Jacobs also made a small number of their own, but out of balsa wood. It should be noted that Velzy went into partnership with fellow Hermosa Beach surfer Jacobs in 1953. Given that they used balsa, which predated the use foam, it is reasonable to suggest that the Velzy-Jacobs belly board came before Froiseth’s paipos. In either case, a Velzy-Jacobs belly board is the most sought after on the collector market, second only to ancient Hawaiian predecessors (Pae Po’o boards).
Pae Po’o replica (image: photographed from Surf Craft)
Blackball Forces Rapid Development of the Belly Board
Surfers love to complain about how the crowds in the water have gotten out of control over the last few years. However, if you comb through old LeRoy Grannis photos from the 1960s you’ll find that mobs come in waves (pun intended). The period post-Gidget from 1959 was no different than what followed the governmental clusterfuck of 2020.
According to surf historian Guy Motil in an article titled “Riding Prone” in his SURF WC publication (Oct 2024) the crowds of the Gidget era instigated a blackball on surfing by city officials for certain beaches in Southern California. Anything resembling a standard longboard of the time was not permitted during blackball hours. To skirt the new restrictions local board builders took a page from Froiseth and Velzy-Jacobs, then took a hacksaw to their foam blanks, carved out, and glassed boards less than half the size of traditional surfboards. Some, such as Don Hansen, took great care in adding stringers, skegs, decals, and paint to resin, creating fully functional and aesthetically beautiful works of wave riding art.
As the years passed to deliver the psychedelic period of the 60s and 70s, variations of belly boards popped up all over the SoCal coast, most of them carrying Froiseth’s paipo sobriquet.
From the Hansen Family collection
So What Exactly is a Belly Board?
There is a lot of confusion as to what constitutes a belly board. The numerous semantics used to identify craft that enables a surfer to ride prone have made it endlessly debatable. So let’s whittle it down by process of elimination.
For one, a boogie board is not a belly board. While clearly influenced by the aforementioned half-boards of the mid-20th century, the foam boogie board was invented by Tom Morey in Hawaii in 1971. And what about the those old wooden planks that resemble flattened vintage toboggans or fattened snowboards of present day? They are bodyboards. Typically longer to accommodate space for the upper thighs, bodyboards were proportionately more popular in Cornwall, England, in the early 1900s more than they were in coastal communities of the mainland USA. Perhaps it had something to do with the freezing waters of the UK, as the lesser one’s body immerses in the cold ocean, the better. Ultimately, a sundry of aged, distressed, and weathered planks used to play in the shore break have been referred to as belly boards, but the time has come to lock-in a definition. In doing so we avoid future ambiguity.
So what is a belly board? Contrary to the Hawaiian Pae Po’o, a belly board is a foam and fiberglass wave-riding craft in the 5-foot-and-under range that has been hand-shaped in the same manner as surfboards of the same period. They generally have a fin (or two) or a deep channel between bottom protruding rails, but can be without as long as the other conditions are met. Aside from unmistakable mid-1960s George Greenough models, select kneeboards (also made of foam and fiberglass w/fins) are often confused with belly boards. However, the former has a slight concave running from the midsection to the tail to accommodate the rider’s knees. Lastly, a balsa wood paipo counts as a belly board if a fin is affixed to it, such as the case with the 1930s Smithsonian paipo (featured image at the top) that had a skeg added to its bottom in the 1950s. I’ll be sure to send Secretary to the Smithsonian Institute, Lonnie G. Bunch III, a DM to update their website archives accordingly.
House of Paipo in Del Mar CA (@marcus_ocean)
Another Hansen (late 1960s considering removable fin system)
Jack’s Surfboards belly board w/glass-on fin (early 1960s)
Prototypes of the 50s (Surf Craft)
If you find an old belly board under a shed or in a barn be sure to add it to your quiver, ride it, and treasure it. And if you come across a Velzy-Jacobs or early Froiseth be sure to let SMH know so we can make an offer. Donations are also accepted 😉
