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George Greenough




George Greenough, Angourie/Lennox Head (?), circa 1969.
Photograph by Tanya Binning

First published Surfing World Vol No 196??
This cropped version from Margan and Finney: Pictorial History (1970) page 310.

Introduction
 


Home: Santa Barbara, California
Beach : Rincon
Competitive Record
Nil,
Surfing
surfer, shaper, designer, writer, photographer, film maker, windsurfer,
Shaping
George Greenough never shaped boards for commercial sale to the general public and only produced a small number of craft for friends and associates.
Some boards, based on his designs were produced by:
Hayden Surfboards, Qld
Wilderness Surfboards, California and Australia
Sky  Surfboards, Byron Bay.

1970 George Greenough : The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun.
Surf Internationa
l
Volume 2 Number 6, 1970, featuring The most outstanding surfing photograph ever shot.
 
Also see: Paul Gross: Surfmatters
http://surfmatters.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/


George Greenough and Spoon, Caloundra, Queensland, 1966.
Photo by Hayden Kenny.
Eric Blum (as told to Al Lees): 
Far Out Flexible Surfboard... the wave of the future"
Popular Science, August 1969, page 92.
In a phone call (2010?), George noted that his decal was based on a WW2 fighter plane, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.
See below.

Russell Hughes, Pt. Cartwright, 1967.
Photo by George Greenough
Surfer magazine mural:
# 27. Greenough Tube



George displaying one of his flexible-hull spoons (without high-aspect fin).
Threshold tinkering made made him the fastest man on water.
 
[Santa Barbara, 1976.]

 
.
Grissim: Pure Stoke
 New York, 1982, page 33.




Tracks, January 1976, page 11.


Photos: John Grissim

REFERENCES
Catalogue Entries:
1973  Jackson Spoon    5 ft 10"
1973   Ron Wade Spoon  Knee Board       4 ft 8"
1973   Farrelly Spoon  Knee Board       4 ft 8"

Web Pages
Santa Barbara Surfing
- Tim Maddux's site centred on Santa Barbara, California.Featuring Rincon. George Greenough territory.

Snake's Surfing Page
-personal page by Bruce Gabrielson on surfboard template history, coaching, surfboard repair, links, and wave pools. US. Alternative version of the Shortboard Revolution/development.

www.flexspoon.com - page of Spoon enthusiasts with surfing and board photographs and design forums.



Books
Nat Young : History, pages
Nat Young : Nat's Nat  , pages

Magazine Articles

Film (Appearances)
Endless Summer 1964-1966
Hot Generation
1968

The Fantastic Plastic Machine 1969
The Inner Limits of Pure Fun 
1970

Crystal Voyager
From  Thoms :Surf Movies

George, camera and Converse-Hodgman Mat
La Libertad El Salvador
Filming for Big Wednesday in1977.
The film was released May 26, 1978.
www.facebook.com/realsurfingmagazine/videos/1894332887257646

Also see:
George mat surfing in Maui, Winter 1967 from Paul Witzig's Hot Generation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL4QX-bOZAQ

George Greenough discusses the 4th Gear Flyer surf mat, Santa Barbara, 1985.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igN3FqwC29E




George Greenough - Deep Tube Riding | Inner(lost) Limits of Pure Fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgOblhJHzP4

Crystal Voyager 1973 (Full Length)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho0zoWQ53fw
Pink Floyd - Echoes | Crystal Voyager version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtyOisjwvD8

The Canberra Times
2 April 1971, page 12.



the innermost Limits of Pure fun
A SURFING EXPERIENCE!

-a George Greenough-film...
These arc sights you never expect to see on film —The Sun

GRIFFIN CENTRE, CIVIC
TONIGHT 8 p.m.


Trove
1971 'Advertising', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 2 April, p. 12. , viewed 14 Sep 2016,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110346401



.the fins of george greenough

1960
Greenough Number 2
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
George Greenough's second fin circa 1960,
on a balsa kneeboard built 1959...
 "wood shop at school...the first flexible, 
high aspect ratio fin I tried."
Originally the board had a 
conventional fin of the period. 
Photograph & Quotes: : George Greenough :
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 pages 82-84.

1962
Greenough Twin Fin 
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Photograph : George Greenough.      Crockett : Switch-foot (2005) page 175.
The board was built in 1962, originally as "a twin fin, but as time went on, I moved the fins closer together, and it kept working better and better. Eventually, it turned into a single fin!"
- George Greenough,
Moving Forward - A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 pages 84, 86 and 87
1964
Greenough
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Velo Balsa Spoon  Fin  circa 1964. 
The board was built in 1962, originally as "a twin fin, but as time went on, I moved the fins closer together, and it kept working better and better. Eventually, it turned into a single fin!" 
Photograph & Quotes
George Greenough, 
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 
pages 84, 86 and 87.

1965
Greenough Stage I 
Laminated fibreglass
10 x 7 b @  2 inches (approximation)
First  fin (left) by George Greenough fitted to a conventional surfboard, early 1965. 
The board (approximately 9 ft, probably a Hayden) was shaped and/or ridden by Algie Grud.
The fin on the right is common for the period.
Photograph & Notes: George Greenough, 
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 page 105.

1966
Greenough
Laminated fibreglass
10'' x 8" base
Velo SS MKII fin 1966. 10'' x 8" base 
Photograph? and Notes:Paul Gross: 
"Far-out Flexible Surfboard - Wave of the Future ?
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 1 No 4 Spring1998 page 18.

1967
Greenough
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Surfboard flex fin 1967.
Board shaped?/ridden by Danny Hazard. 
Photographs : Al Lees,
Notes : George Greenough.
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 page 73.
1967
Greenough
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Surfboard flex fin 1967.
Board shaped?/ridden by Danny Hazard.
Flex of fin above illustrated, image right. 
Photographs : Al Lees,
Notes : George Greenough
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 page 73.

1968
Greenough
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Surfboard flex fin 1968. 
Board shaped by George Greenough,
ridden by Terry Keys. 
Probably Wilderness Surfboards. 
Photograph and Notes : George Greenough, 
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 page 72.

1969
Greenough  Stage III  - Wave Set 
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Molded. Tapered wedge base, fixed by two screws, into nuts set in the molded box. 
Greenough Stage IV by Wave Set Fins, circa 1970. 
Photograph : George Greenough, 
Notes : Paul Gross
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 page 73.

1970
Greenough  Stage IV  - Wave Set 
Molded.
Dimensions?
Segmented base that slotted into a molded box and fixed by clips. 
See Twin fin I 1971, below..
Greenough Stage IV by Wave Set Fins, circa 1970. 
Photograph : George Greenough, 
Notes : Paul Gross
Moving Forward
A Greenough Scrapbook : 1960 - 1970
The Australian Surfer's Journal
Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 page 73.


1999
Greenough
Laminated fibreglass
Dimensions?
Greenough Stage V? 1999. Available 7" to 10" 
by 
Fluid Foils Lot 42 Clark Street Ballina NSW 2478. Phone: 02 6686 7858.  email: suonirari@interbusiness.it

Advertising for Wave Set/Greenough Fins circa 1966.
The magazine page has been cropped and split to give a better image.
Image 1 , top...

Illustrates :
Stage I (white), 
Stage III (red)  and 
Stage IV (yellow tint).

Image 2  below...

The photograph is George Greenough 
and a spoon built in 1967 at Hayden Kenny Surfboards, Queensland

Re-printed in ... 
Longboard Magazine 
Volume 6 No 7 January/February  1999 page 96. 




Paul D.Gross notes, with thanks...:
1. "The Stage II was a short, very fat molded fin, and was made in limited production.
It was so short because Tom Morey, who made the fin, was limited in the depth he could mold at the time."

2."The Stage III was a very large--11 1/4" deep - somewhat stocky fin, but with a cut out back area.
Not a whole lot of rake, either. Made for maneuverability and tube riding, not nose riding.
By this time Morey could mold bigger fins, so the Stage III was what the Stage II was meant to be."

("Morey" is Tom Morey, partner with Karl Pope in Wave Set fins and Morey-Pope Surfboards.)

Note the narrow base of the Stage IV, probably  for a adjustable box.

George Greenough, Upper Drakes, circa 1962.
Photograph : Richard Vincent 
Stern and Cleary: Surfing Sth. California (1963) page 32.


George Greenough, Honolua Bay, Maui, circa 1967.
Photograph : John Witzig
Surfing March 1984 
Volume 20 Number 3 page 93.

Originally published accompanying John Witzig's article

The Australians in Hawaii, Part 2 - Maui.
Surf International 
Vol. 1. No. 5  May 1968  pages 23.

George Greenough, 1967.
 Still from The Fantastic Plastic Machine.
Surf International
Volume 1 Number 11.
See.


Chis Brock, George Greenough, Dog, Garry Keyes and
Bob McTavish.
Wilderness factory, 
Angourie - Byron Bay ?, 1969.
Surfing World Magazine, 
Volume 12, Number 5, 1969.



Noosa Points from the Air.                                                                                                                                   Bob McTavish
Photos by George Greenough  - International Surfing v5n4 September 1969
SURFER Volume 10 Number 4 September 1969
Photography article by (and of) George Greenough, page 42.

George Greenough

George Greenough and Nat Young

Crystal Voyager Stills
Tracks
, September, 1973.

George Greenough, Rincon, circa 1978.
Photograph : Henry Huglin
Surfer Magazine, June 1981, 
Volume 22 Number 6 page 42.


George and Hayden Spoon (1967-1968),
Byron Bay, circa 1990.


George and Spoons, circa 1990.


In a phone call (2010?), George noted that his decal was based on a WW2 fighter plane, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.

The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps, recruited under presidential authority and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault.
The shark-faced nose art of the Flying Tigers remains among the most recognizable image of any individual combat aircraft or combat unit of World War II.
...
AVG fighter aircraft were painted with a large shark face on the front of the aircraft.
This was done after pilots saw a photograph of a P-40 of No. 112 Squadron RAF in North Africa, which in turn had adopted the shark face from German pilots of the Luftwaffe's ZG 76 heavy fighter wing, flying Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters in Crete.
(The AVG nose-art is variously credited to Charles Bond and Erik Shilling.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers



George Greenough and Spoon Quiver
, circa 2000.



George Greenough and Nat Young
Crystal Voyager Still
Tracks
, September, 1973.

References
1. Kelly: Surf and Sea  (1965) pages 120-124.
2. Uncredited: Malibu Fin Appendix, in SURFER Magazine, Vol 17 No 2. 1976 June/July
3. Uncredited: Time Machines, in SURFING Magazine, Vol 25  No 2. 1989 February
4. Paul Holmes: The fin - that which drives us, in LONGBOARD Magazine, Vol 4 No 5.  1996
    November/December
5. Mark Fragale: The Morey-Pope Thought Factory, in
    Longboard Magazine Volume 6 No 7 January/February  1999 pages 92 - 99.
6. Paul Gross: Moving Forward - A George Greenough Scrapbook: 1960-19670,
            in The Australian Surfer's Journal  Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 1999 pages 68- 121.
7. Paul Gross: Inventions: Tom Morey, in The Australian Surfer's Journal  Volume 3 No 1 Summer
2000 pages 80 - 89.

The Coming of the Dawn (1970)
http://www.grindtv.com/action-sports/surf/post/george-greenough/

Surfer, Volume 11 Number 2 page 134
 
May 1970



Obscure Information
The role and importance of George Greenough's surfboard designs and theories is often discussed by commentators.
The following Swaylocks.com posts are credited to one "George Greenough (Status: deleted)".
While they are totally devoid of any technical information and is clearly by an impersonator, there is an humorous element to the selections.
Aug 17, 2003:
"Well, I can't take the guilt anymore.
I never invented anything.
Long ago I helped Ricky Grigg in from a huge day at Waimea Bay.
Everyone thought he drowned because they never saw him again.
Fact is, I tied him up, threw him into the hull of my boat, sailed back to CA and have had him locked up in my basement ever since.
He is the one who came up with every idea I ever had.
I feed him well, let him watch cable TV, hire a few girls once in a while (a man has his needs), and then I let the creativity flow.
I had to get that off my chest."
Following further technical posts, "G.G." posted:

"Aug 18, 2003:
Have you heard nothing of what I said?
I can't take the guilt.
Call the authorities already before I kidnap the shaper formerly known as Tom Morey and make him divulge all his secrets.
I need help."

"Lee V" commented:
"Aug 18, 2003:
Hey George: You sure that isn't Dickie Cross in your basement.
I see Ricky Grigg all the time and he's never mentioned your name..."

"G. G." replied:
"Aug 18, 2003:
Dikie (sic) Cross is in my basement?
I just knew he was lying to me.
Why would he give me a fake name for the last sixty years?
That doesn't make sense.
Well, looks like I tied up the wrong guy.
I'll have to let him go.
No hard feelings I hope."


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Geoff Cater (2009-2021) : Surfer : George Greenough
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