Aipa Indo

Ben at Waimea circa 1970…no leash…no vest…just pure conviction…

📸 Jeff Divine
at Waimea circa 1970…no leash…no vest…just pure conviction…

📸 Jeff Divine

following in his dads footsteps, building on the amazing foundation he laid. And you can see the legacy in every board he shapes!

From birds flying through the air to machines racing through the water, Ben had an amazing ability to take what he observed in the world around him, and adapt what he saw to surfboard design, influencing a whole new direction for surfboards!

“Observation creates inspiration” - Ben Aipa

From birds flying in the air to machines racing thru the water….Our dad had an amazing ability to take what he observed in the natural world around him and adapt what he saw to surfboard design.

In 1974 he went to a boat race on Oahu. He noticed there was a particular boat that was outperforming them all. The hydro-plane speed boat…

He noticed how quickly the boat accelerated thru turns and was astonished at the massive release of water that exploded thru the cut out section (wing) of the boats hull.

He instantly went straight to his shaping room. Grabbed a fresh blank and templated out a standard swallow tail short board 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...
Inspired by what he saw, he worked around the clock building this first Sting. When Larry Bertlemann paddled out at a spot called Lighthouse in Diamond Head to test it out, Ben was walking back up the hill to watch him and saw how Larry was turning harder,sharper and faster than ever before. Ben remarked aloud to himself “Man..Larry is Stinging the waves!”. The STING was born. Our dad had no idea he was on the path to disrupt the current standard of performance surfing in a manner that had never been seen before with it’s influence seen in every winged board today.


🦂 🐝

Our very own .bishopp checking out what’s coming to life here in Bali - mixing our classic roots with next-level innovation!

Bloodline💪🏽
Hawaiian culture was severely undermined by the missionaries in the early 1800’s, a period in time where Hawaiians were discouraged from surfing and hula.

Surfing made a resurgence in 1890’s, which is when this photograph of our great,great, great grandfather was taken in Waikiki.
Commonly referred to as first ever photograph of a surfer, this timeless image depicts a proud Hawaiian man..proclaiming his ancestral right to surf. A revolution against the missionary machine.

To us, we see this photo of our ancestor as a statement: “Surfing and board building is in our Bloodline and no one can take that away.”

We are proud to build boards that represent our authentic heritage with modern progression.🤙🏽

in his element 🔥

It’s been 50 years since the birth of the STING and pictures like this still blow us away on how far ahead of the curve Ben was in surfboard design and how symbiotic the talent of the OG Team Aipa surfers , like Larry Bertlemann, blended into the explosive creation of high performance surfing.

A moment in time that will never happen again but we‘re still growing from today!

The B.A.D. Fish - check out these sick exclusive colours 🔥

Ben Aipa - Power and grace!