surfresearch.com.au  the catalogue #310

FIN 10" x 6" base x 10''span @ 6 1/2''  Laminated fiberglass

DECOR DECALS Deck 1. GEORGE GREENOUGH DESIGN and Plane graphic. Blue, on nose. Greenough's famous  Curtis P-40 Warhawk  fighter/bomber (May 1940) Image left. 2. Shaped by Chris Brock in box. Black at pod. No image. Bottom: 1. SKY Red and black on the nose.  Image below.. 2. GEORGE GREENOUGH DESIGN and Plane graphic - blue, forward of fin. MARKINGS Deck: Bottom:  COLOUR Deck: Clear Bottom: Clear

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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.

Image, above left George Greenough and Spoon. Photo by Caloundra, Queensland 1966 "Far Out Flexible Surfboard...  the wave of the future" by Eric Blum as told to Al Lees Popular Science magazine  August 1969, page 92.	Image above George Greenough/North coast freefall, circa 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

1973 Jackson, Greenough Spoon 5 ft 10"

1975? Backyard,  Spoon deck Kneeboard 5ft 6"

1975 Belly Bogger 3ft 7''

Other Sky Surfboards
#23  Sky Mini Mal

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: 8

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