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the catalogue #76 
1973   Jackson Spoon  Knee Board       5 ft 5"
#76
#76 Greenough/Jackson Spoon
MANUFACTURE
MANUFACTURER:Jackson Surfboards, 57 Captain Cook Drive Caringbah Sydney 
SHAPER:  Unkown, possibly Laurie Byrne.
DESIGN:  Greenough Flex Spoon 
DESIGNER: George Greenough 
SPECIFICATIONS
CONSTRUCTION
Stringerless blank, Volan glassed with pigment laminate on bottom 
DIMENSIONS
Length:
5
 feet 5 inches

Width: 
19 3/4
 inches
Wide Point: 
+5 
 inches
Nose : 
16 1/2
 inches
Tail:
15
 inches
Thickness:
2 1/4
 inches
Pod:
 8 1/2
 inches
Nose/L:
inches
Tail/L:
inches
Weight:
inches
Volume:
inches
Other





FEATURES
Nose: rounded 
Tail:  rounded square 
Deck:   flat 
Bottom:  flat, with chine rail 
Rails:
Rocker:
FIN
8 1/4" x 6 1/2  " base Greenough Stage II
Red laminate, 
Non original, .
Recycled from # 37
DECOR
DECALS
Deck: 'Jackson' script, green on nose 
Bottom:
MARKINGS
Deck: 
Bottom:
COLOUR
Deck: clear 
Bottom: green pigment/tint 
NOTES
BOARD HISTORY
Purchased Nowra Tip, March 1999.
Badly stained, extensive damage and no fin but  position and the base length was indicated by remnant rovings.
The severe rail damage was foam blocked and  repairs in Volan glass.
The fin was replaced by the fin removed from # 37. 
Sanded, glossed and polished by Jackson Surfboards, December 1999. 
DESIGN HISTORY
Originally based on a spooned deck balsa wood kneeboard, the Greenough Flex Spoon (Velo 1) was molded off the bottom and then had foam block rails added.
This construction method was not followed by other manufacturers - a full blank was shaped with a thin foam base that was removed after laminating the bottom.
First used in Australia in 1965, George Greenough's performance had a huge impact on many Australian designers.

The design was given exposure in the surf media as was George Greenough's surfing and surf photography.
Many manufacturers made copies of the design and the intensive glassing requirements required a premium price. 
The most recognised models were produced by at Hayden Surfboards Caloundra Queensland, featuring Greenough's dramatic Fighter Plane decal, see below.

The design peaked in popularity around 1970 with the release of George Greenough's The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun  -  featuring some his surfing on Spoon and inflatable mat (see #66) but most famously included on-board footage of radical performance surfing and serious tube rides.
Because the high performance capabilities of the design were only achievable in quality waves and the low floatation meant that only the most fit riders were able to catch waves, by 1973 the design was largely supplanted by Peter Crawford's Slab design, circa 1969, see # 83. 

Initially Peter Crawford simply filled in the spooned deck to greatly increase floatation and expand the wave range, but over a long life the Slab was apadpted with a range of rail shapes and fin configerations, see # 58.
In the USA the Fish was a notable alternative in kneeboard design.

Greenough's extreme design was attempted to be recreated in stand up boards, most infamously by Nat Young at Gordon Woods Surfboards in 1965, see The Nautilas.
Although this board was a failure, George Greenough's fin design was to have a huge impact on Australian surfboards and by 1968 almost every fin bore some relationship to Greenough's high apsect template.

In 1967 Midget Farrelly, Bob McTavish and other shapers in Sydney developed a short deep vee bottomed board that had strong elements of George Greenough's influence, see # 26.
COMMENTS:Length probably indicates made for Cronulla Point - John McInnes
REFERENCES
See Paipo Catalogue for other Kneeboards
Magazines
Popular Science magazine
"Far Out Flexible Surfboard... the wave of the future" by Eric Blum as told to Al Lees
August 1969 pages 92 to 95.

The Australian Surfer's Journal
''Moving Forward - A Greenough Scrapbook 1960 - 1970'' 
Vol.2  No.2 1999 Pages 76-77, 84, 86-87 
Film: 
1. The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun    George Greenough 1970 
2.Crystal Voyager     David Elfick   1973
CONDITION: 6
Deck
#76 Jackson/Greenough Spoon, bottom   Used condition February 1999
#76 Jackson/Greenough Spoon, bottom    Foam block repairs June 1999, larger image below.
#76 Jackson/Greenough Spoon, bottom    Restored condition  December 1999
Bottom
#76 Jackson/Greenough Spoon, bottom    Used condition, no fin, February 1999
#76 Jackson/Greenough Spoon, bottom       Restored condition, December 1999
#76 Jackson/Greenough Spoon, bottom  Foam block repairs June 1999
George Greenough - North coast freefall 1965
Photograph by Tanya Binning
First published Surfing World Vol No 196
This cropped version from Margan and Finney , page 310
The most outstanding photograph of committed high performance surfing up to this date, this level of performance was probably not achieved by stand up surfers for another ten years..
Image, right
George Greenough and Spoon Caloundra, Queensland 1966
Photo by Hayden Kenny

"Far Out Flexible Surfboard... 
the wave of the future"
by Eric Blum as told to Al Lees
Popular Science magazine 
August 1969, page 92.

surfresearch.com.au
home catalogue history references appendix
Geoff Cater (2005-2014) : Jackson Spoon, 5ft 5''
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