Monday, June 3, 2013

George Greenough...way ahead of the curve.

Over the weekend, I sold a Greenough 4a fin to a customer...this lead to a conversation about George's influence on the 'Shortboard Revolution'.  Growing up surfing the endless point breaks of Santa Barbara County, he began experimenting with kneeboards...this lead to some of the most modern, in the pocket surfing of his era.  If you've ever seen George's segment in the original Endless Summer, you'll see what I mean.

 

George explains "My first flexible spoon kneeboard started taking shape in 1965. I'd ridden the solid balsa spoon for three years, and I'd been using flexible fins for longer than that so I decided to make an entire board that flexed like my fin. Fish moved when they swam so why not make a whole board that moved when it rode waves?"  George, along with Bob McTavish, designed Nat Young's 'Magic Sam' board and the rest is history.

a serious turn for the mid 1960s...