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ancient polynesian surfboards: tables

polynesian surfboard design and construction
Appendix A: Comparative tables 1778 to 1900

The specifications collated from the detailed reports above are summarized in the following tables.

Table 1.
Tahiti and New Zealand

2.10a *'Paddling'*	Clerke Jan/Feb 1778	Ellis January 1778	Gilbert February 1779	Webber January 1779
Location	Kauai/Ni'ihau	Kauai	Hawai'i	Hawai'i
Description	piece of Board	sharkboards	blade of an oar	x
Length	6 to 8 feet	x	6 feet	plus 6 feeta
Width	24 inches	x	16 inches	20 inches
Thickness	Thin	x	4 to 5 inches	x
Weight	x	Very light	x	x
Template	Paper Cutter	x	Foiled	x
Nose	Round	Shark	Round ? b	Square?
Tail	Round	x	9 inches	x
Rails	Bevelled ?c	flat	bevelled to1 inch	x

a. Estimated from Webber's illustration.
b. nearly in the form of a blade of an oar.
c. exactly in the Shape of one of our bone paper cutters

2.10b *'Surfriding'*	Samwell January 1779	King February 1779	King (ed) a March 1779
Location	Hawai'i	Hawai'i	Hawai'i
Description	piece of Board	oval piece of plank	long narrow board
Length	6 to 7 feet	6 feet	Long
Width	24 inches	20 inches	Narrow
Thickness	Thin	x	x
Weight	x	x	x
Template	x	Oval	x
Nose	x	Round	Round
Tail	x	Round	Round
Rails	x	x	x

a. King as edited by Douglas, 1784.

3.12a	Whitman 1815	Arago 1819 a	Bingham 1821	Stewart 1824	Ellis 1825
Location	Waikiki e	Hawai'i	Maui	Maui	Kauai
Description	surfboard	x	surf-board	surf-board.	papa hi naru f
Length	x	15 feet	3 to 14 feet	8 to 10 feet	5 to 6 feet
Width	x	20 inches	6 to 20 inches	24 inches	16 inches b
Thickness	x	Thin	Considerable	3 to 4 inches	Flat/Convex
Weight	x	x	buoyant	Light	x
Nose	x	Round	x	Round	x
Tail	x	Square	x	Round	x
Rails	x	Square	Bevelled c	Chine d	Flat/Convex
Timber	x	x		x	Willi willi
Finish	preserved	x	Smooth	Polished	Stained
Oiling	x	x			Cocoa-nut oil

a. Dimensions and design features are an approximation from Arago's illustration.
b. " rather more than a foot wide".
c. "thin at the edges and ends, but of considerable thickness in the middle"
d. "decreasing to a sharp edge at the sides and ends"
e. Reported as Honolulu.
f. Properly translated as Papa he'e nalu

3.12b	Byron 1825	Barrot 1836	Malo	1838
Location	x	Kealaleakua Bay Hawai'i	x	x
Description	Float-board	a plank	surf-boards	narrow
Length	plus six feet a	six or eight feet	six to 24	feet b
Width	x	x	broad	narrow
Thickness	x	x	flat	x
Weight	x	x	x	x
Nose	x	Pointed	x	x
Tail	x	x	x	x
Rails	feathered	x		x
Timber	x	x	koa	wili willi
Finish	well kept and dried	x	x	x
Oiling	x	x	x	x

a. "a little longer than the human body"
b. "one to four fathoms" - a fathom is approxinmately six feet

4.12a	Coulton 1846	Lyman 1846	Parker 1852	Stoddard 1866
Location	Waikiki?	Waikiki	Waikiki	Maui
Description	smooth board	Surfboard	long pointed board	Surf-board
Length	8 feet	12 to 20 feet	Long	6 to 7 feet c
Width	x	12 inches a	x	18 inches c
Thickness	x	5 or 6 inches	x	x
Weight	x	x	x	light as cork
Template	x	x	x	Foiled c
Nose	x	x	Pointed	x
Tail	x	x	x	x
Rails	x	Bevelled b	x	x
Timber	x	x	x	x
Finish	x	x	x	smooth as glass
Oiling	x	x	x	x

a. 1ft wide
b. thinning towards the sides & ends so as to form an edge.
c. Dimensions and template indicated by a good lid to his coffin.

4.12b		John Ii 1868-1870		Bird 1873	Knox 1888
Location	Waikiki a	Waikiki	Waikiki	Hilo	Hilo
Design	Alaia	Kiko'o'	Olo	surf-board	Surf-board
Length	9 feet	12 to 18 feet	x	6 to 9 feet	6 to 20 feet
Width	x	x	x	22 inches d	x
Thickness	Thin	x	Thick	x	x
Weight	x	x	x	x	x
Template	Foiled b	x	x	Foiled e	x
Nose	x	x	x	x	x
Tail	x	x	x	x	x
Rails	x	x	Bevelled c	x	x
Timber	x	x	x	Breadfruit	Breadfruit
Finish	x	x	x	x	x
Oiling	x	x	x	Well oiled	x

a. I'i certainly observed surfriding at Waikiki, but his report is probably the sum of a number of observations and reports from various locations.
b. wide in front, tapering toward the back
c. thick in the middle and grows thinner toward the edge
d. about two feet broad
e. shaped like a coffin lid

4.12c	Nordhoff 1873	Caton 1878	Wood 1880	Ellis #3 a pre-1885	Knox 1888
Location	Hilo	Hilo, Hawai'i	x	Fare (?) b	Hilo, Hawai'i
Description	surf-board	bathing-board	boards	Papa faahee c	surf-board
Length	6 to 20 feet	7 feet	6 feet	Short	12 to 15 feet
Width	2 feet	15 inches	x	x	30 inches d
Thickness		1 1/2 inches	Convex	Flat	Thick
Weight		x	x	x	x
Template		Foiled	x	x	x
Nose		Round	x	Pointed	x
Tail		Round,11 inches	x	x	x
Rails		Chamfered	Convex	x	x
Timber	bread-fruit-tree	x	x	x	Breadfruit
Finish		x	Polished	x	x
Oiling		x	Cocoa-nut oil	x	x

a. Ellis (unspecified) as quoted by Greenwood (1885).
b. Fare - I am unable to determine the location, see below.
c. Papa faahee - a mis-translation, there is no letter f in Hawaiian, usually transcribed as p.
b. As maximum board width is essentially determined by the width of the paddler's shoulders (2.10, above), the boards were probably somewhat narrower.

5.10	Brigham	1892	Thrum	1896 c
Location	Generic	a	Kona coast	of Hawai'i
Description	'pa-pa'	o-lo	a-la-ia (omo)	olo
Length	3 to 18	feet	18	feet d
Width	8 to 10	inches	2 to 3	feet
Thickness	flat		2.5 inches	6 to 8 inches
Weight	x	heavy b	x	very light
Template	slightly narrowing	x	x	x
Nose	rounded	x	x	x
Tail	square	x	x	x
Rails	slightly convex	x		Convexe
Timber	koa	wi-Ii wi-Ii	koa or ulu	wiliwili
Finish	x	x	x	x
Oiling	x	x	x	x

a. Possibly from several sources and/or locations.
b. the largest in the museum are so heavy that they require two men to move them
These examples are koa, not willi willi.
c. Reputedly the recollections of a native boardrider from Kona coast of Hawai'i, translated by another experienced rider, N. K. Nakuina, and edited by Thomas Thrum.
d. some three fathoms long - a fathom is approximately six feet.
e. rounding toward the edges on both upper and lower sides

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