The bowl cut and the fin, two things that separated Mr. Greenough. Photo: John Witzig
The Alcazar Theatre in Carpinteria recently showed a six-pack of George Greenough films. The sold-out event included a showing of Echoes with the soundtrack by Pink Floyd. The screening also featured a special question and answer session with some of George’s close confidants to celebrate his contributions to surfing.
This event, to me, begged the question: does it feel like events featuring Greenough in some way, shape, or form happen often? More often than events featuring any other surfer from history? Whether you live in California, Australia, or even Hawaii, it probably does.
George Greenough, for my money, is the most influential surfer in the history of the sport. From cultural significance to equipment design, to even his attitude, his legacy still carries so much weight. As a shaper, his creations paved the road for the shortboard revolution (see the Spoon) and his ideas can still be seen in boards today. He’s responsible for the first images from inside the tube (a bigger deal than anyone probably thought about at the time given today’s hand-held action cam industry). But his allure was about his well-roundedness and embracing change – he rode anything and everything, longboards, shortboards, kneeboards, even surf mats – just to find out what was next.
I began reflecting on this while working for Matt Warshaw, which I’ve done for several years. I’ve been able to take deep dives on figures that are part of surf history, even though many came before my time.
So, I asked myself: is there a figure in surf history more influential than Greenough? Names rattled through my head: Dick Brewer, Bob McTavish, Kelly Slater, Pat Curren. There’s been many influential figures in surfing – but I couldn’t think of one greater than Greenough.
This is partially due to Greenough scoring high across the board in categories of surfing influence. Greenough prevails with his influence on style, radical maneuvers, board designs, and cultural, as opposed to scoring high in just one category.
I say this because it’s easy to argue that there are better, more stylish surfers than Greenough, like Joel Tudor or Torren Martyn (although style is subjective). Respectfully, despite surfing beautifully, neither Tudor or Martyn pushed the limits of wave-riding quite the same way as Greenough (both certainly pushed the culture forward and contributed much to surfing, but they did not usher in a new era of wave riding to the degree that Greenough did).
Furthermore, in What Is Stylish Surfing? Sam George argued that, looking back on decades prior, many winning surfers of the day would not be considered stylish now. George points to Corky Carroll and Mark Richards, explaining that while they were considered cutting edge for the decade, they would no longer lead the pack. Greenough, on the other hand, continues to inspire modern-day surfers, and his turns and lines on waves even decades later still matter. This could be said of Gerry Lopez, Phil Edwards, and a handful of others, but again, Greenough stands out for his style as well as his influence in other areas of surfing.
Sam George also implies that style tends to have a certain, definable visual appeal (Torren Martyn and Mikey February are some of the most stylish surfers of our generation, and they do have a similar outlook on wave riding). Greenough, during his time, was doing things no one else dreamed of. He didn’t look at a page in SURFER magazine and find someone turning vertically on a wave… he experimented his way to help define progressive surf function.
Greenough’s mindset and general openness to wave-riding continues to inspire innovation today. Watching dolphins to mimic their flow through the water, and then applying it to wave-riding, for example, is a tactic still useful today. Humankind will never outgrow observing nature. The ability to set one’s pride aside and experiment with alternative craft is just as respectable now as it was half a century before. At the end of the day, though, even if there does exist a more stylish surfer than Greenough, Greenough still stands as the most influential figure in surfing due to his other achievements outside of style.
As far as sheer entertainment value, Greenough may not score quite as highly as, say, the rapid rise and fall of the Bronzed Aussies or the tale of the surfers who streaked right in front of Richard Nixon, but Greenough has his share of interesting lore. He was nicknamed “the barefoot genius” for a reason (he detested shoes). Darren Delmore spells the rest of his personality out pretty clearly in his profile, The George Greenough Experience. I won’t spoil it for you.
Media influence, which is related to cultural influence, is another category where Greenough’s genius was felt. Besides allowing us to film inside the tube (and producing the first barrel water shot), Greenough created the Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, a film that stands the test of time against even modern surf movies today. Plus, filmmakers John Severson and Greg MacGillivray utilized Greenough’s inventions for their own films.
It wasn’t just surf media that Greenough impacted. The 1978 Hollywood phenomenon Big Wednesday? Greenough was on the camera crew. Years before, none other than Pink Floyd had given Greenough the rights to “Echoes” in Crystal Voyager. Greenough had appeal to stars outside of surfing as well.
Last but not least, is his innovation. There have been many influential designers throughout surf history: Tom Blake, Bob Simmons, Dale Velzy, Pat Curren, Bob McTavish, and the list goes on. While every name here deserves recognition and attention, I still believe Greenough is the most influential inventor of all. Besides Tom Blake, these names have all paid respect to Greenough for inspiring them in some way.
The film SPOONS explores Bob McTavish, Nat Young, and George Greenough’s influence on the shortboard revolution, and also highlights how Greenough is largely behind it. McTavish, who also plays a huge role in the revolution and would be another of the most influential surf figures of all time, describes Greenough as “inventive.” Although both McTavish and Greenough worked together in the mid ‘60s to change surfing’s style, initially it was Greenough’s kneeboarding turns that inspired McTavish to design shorter, more maneuverable boards.
Shortboarding isn’t the only aspect of surfing that owes a lot to Greenough. If you longboard, you most likely recognize his name on modern logging fins: the 4-A, 4-C, and paddle-like Stage 6 come to mind. You have Greenough to thank for having flexible (pun intended) options for your log: without him, we’d all be on D fins.
The last point worth mentioning is the certain je ne sais quoi Greenough possesses. The ultimate mysto-surfer, kids today emulate his bowl cut to evoke feelings of surfing’s golden era, but no one does it quite as intensely, and as memorably, as Greenough. Better yet, his hairstyle really wasn’t a phase: Greenough never switched over to a buzz cut or a combover. Greenough is rocking that same scarecrow-like bowl cut today, as far as any of us know.
I’m probably leaving things out. There’s always more to learn about Greenough and the distinct — and subtle – effects he’s had on surfing. Greenough, to me, is the mystery that keeps on giving: informative, compelling, a ball of yarn that weaves itself through the blanket of surf culture. George Greenough was born in 1941. In 2024, over eight decades later, his influence on surfing’s style, technology, and culture can be felt as strongly as ever.
