George's original kneeboard. Solid balsa with flex fin and a S-deck. Board built in 1958. First Greenough flex fin, added in 1961. Camera mount added in 1964.
George's most refined balsa kneeboard...with a scooped out spoon deck. Built in 1962.
The same balsa board with a removable fin system added to tune the fin. That balsa board then became the mold from which the first glass spoon, at the right, was built in 1965.
George's second glass spoon (the most famous of his Velo models) was an inch wider and an inch longer than the first glass spoon. Deeper hull under the nose as well. 1966.
The first edge board, built in 1970, was the same template as the first two glass spoons...but narrower, and rotated so the nose was wider and the tail was narrower.
The next-gen edge board, on the right, had the original rounded arc tail straightened into a square tail. After a few surfs, a 'swallow' was cut in the squaretail to loosen the corners in turns. A short time later, fabric was bonded across the tail to keep it from cavitating. Below is the finished tail configuration...
George added small wooden runners at the mid-point of the bottom to stop the edges from sliding around on full faced waves. (In effect, his edgeboards ended up being tri-fins.) This photo also documents the transition from fiberglass and polyester resin (yellow board) to epoxy and carbon fiber.
From left to right: Original solid balsa kneeboard with full deck, 1958. Solid balsa scooped deck spoon, 1962. Original glass spoon, 1965. Carbon fiber edgeboard with split tail and wood runners, 1982. Most famous Velo model, sans paint, 1966.
1 comment:
Always enjoy reading your blog PG!
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