George Greenough: 1962 Balsa Spoon

1962 was a pivotal year for the Greenough design arc. For starters, he developed the first solid glass flex fin...after the 'D' fin on his S-Decked kneeboard led to a serious injury. The the board stuck in a track on big wave and swatted him when he wiped out.

 

That year, George procured a nice selection of balsa in order to build his "baby surfboard." That board was 7'8'' x 22" in an era where when petite women rode 9 footers...

 
 

There was enough leftover balsa for a new kneeboard...so he shaped a 4'11'' x 21'' board with a scooped out deck. The first spoon!

 

Named "Velo," the temple was based on the outline of an arc tailed power boat...


It was remarkably sophisticated from every perspective...



He rode it at Sandspit in the footage that appeared in the opening of The Endless Summer.


In 1965, George used that same board as a male mold to build the first flexible spoon kneeboard...a quantum leap in design that today, over 50 years later, is still ahead of even the most advanced stand up boards... 




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue: The first flexy Velo model was nearly lost when a scallywag from Santa Cruz tried to make off with it during a museum showing. (A card-carrying socialist, the culprit was overheard screaming, "Power to the people!" as he ran out the door...to the howls of laughter from the museum goers.) Fortunately, a surveillance cam caught the bugger in the act. He was identified and summarily placed in jail...resplendent in his 99 cent flip-flops, redneck trucker hat, and Magnum mustache. Not fake news. Sad! #notfakenewssad