AIPA Surfboards

Aipa Surfboards has been building revolutionary surf designs in Hawaii for over 50 years. Ben Aipa invented the swallow tail in 1971, and as time progressed, thru watching his team riders, he saw something was missing in their boards and was looking for that design ingredient that would allow them to push the performance limits further. In 1974 Ben went to hydro-plane speed boat races on Oahu, and got some inspiration from the hull design. He instantly went straight to his shaping room, grabbed a fresh blank and templated out a standard swallow tail shortboard with a slightly wider forward section. He then dropped the template inside of the outline and carved into the foam with his thumbnail the outline of the hydro plane.

Test piloted in the beginning, by Buttons Kaluhiokalani, Mark Liddell, Mark Richards, Larry Bertlemann and Dane Kealoha, the Sting surfboard design rapidly went thru a series of refinements. During this process these surfers were igniting the waves and pulling off maneuvers that weren’t even dreamt of, like Buttons carving 360 (You’re welcome Kelly..lol) ! The board made a hybrid of skate style antics and power surfing possible! THE STING is pivotal turning point and monumental shift in surf design..