rodndtube.com's (OLD) MyPaipoBoards Forums. Reading but no posting on the OLD forums.

[Spudnut]

When I am out riding the HPD, I get asked a lot if it is a Greenough Spoon. I tell them what it is but I do not know which came first. Was it the Greenough Spoon or the guitar pick paipo design that I believe Jim Growney & John Waidelich came up with?

[bgreen]

Spudnut,

This site refers to the spoon as first being ridden in Australia in 1965 -
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000076.html

A 1998 profile on Greenough in the Surfers Journal (7#4) called 'Moving Forward' by Paul Gross, dates the first spoon to 1965, with a neat looking balsa board from 1962, This earlier board is not a spoon but you can see the outline and concave deck. The article refers to Greenough building a standup surfboard while in high school (he finished high school in 1960).

Jim Growney's interview describes experimentation beginning 1960/1961.
http://mypaipoboards.org/interviews/JimGrowney/Jim_Growney_2009-0810.shtml

Bob

[Spudnut]

Bob,

Thanks a lot for the quick reply. You are quite the historian.

[bgreen]

Knowing where to look and being at the computer, in the right time zone helped.

One thing that has interested me and that I don't know - is when Greenough started to ride on his knees and where he got the idea from. Hawaiians had ridden kneeling as had others - but I haven't read anything about this in related to George Greenough.

Regards

Bob

[Uncle Grumpy]

Greenough started surfing riding standup in the mid fifties and made himself a 6 foot surfboard in high school, several years before the shortboard revolution.
He says he always hated the way longboards felt.
By the early 60's he'd already abandoned standup at first riding the balsa "spoon" and his first Velo came around '65.
He later used the balsa spoon as a mold for the first Flexi's which were ridden in Innermost Limits....
His reason for kneeboards and mats is simple.
He says " I basically really like the feeling of being close to the water"
_________________
Prone to ride.

[SJB]

Greenough is a Santa Barbara native and we still claim him. He is 5 years older than me.....and although I was a surfing novice in the 60s I never had the pleasure of seeing him in action. One of his 1968 films is running at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum if you are in town on a Saturday.

http://www.sbmm.org/Munger-Theater/surf-film-saturdays.html

[rodndtube]

[Uncle Grumpy]

For those interested in Greenough's surf history, there is a fine photo article in TSJ Vol.7 #4.
"George Greenough's 1960's/70's Scrapbook" curated by his wingman PG.
_________________
Prone to ride.