George Greenough

Doc Turbo · Post by **Doc Turbo** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:47 pm

Repost from Switch foot

Surfing Australia is celebrating their 50th anniversary in Jan 2013....as part of that they are running a contest looking for the 'ten most influential surfers in Australian Surfing from 1963-today'.

There are 38 people on the list and Greenough is not on it.

We are compiling a list of quotes from people, including several famous surfers from the 60s and we are going to send the quotes to Surfing Australia as a peaceful protest....and if he is not included on the final list we are going to physically protest, with bowl haircuts, at the event!

Please take 1 minute to email andrew@switch-foot.com and answer this question.

thankyou

Do you think George Greenough should have been inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall Of Fame (by now) and in your opinion where would he rank in the list of top ten most influential surfers in the history of Australian surfing?

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:19 pm

Maybe I am not getting the parameters of the voting. I'm pretty sure Greenough is American. Is this a by Australian's, for Australian's poll or what?
Don't feel bad, Rolling Stone once had a list of the 100 greatest guitarists and Andres Segovia wasn't on it.

krustyknee · Post by **krustyknee** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:34 pm

Its not George's fault he was born in the US!!!
Doesn't he now reside in the lucky country!!

wolruss · Post by **wolruss** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:40 am

Doesn't matter where he came from. could be Tasmanian for all I care, he had a major impact on Australian surfing, maybe not the same way that Mike Fernandez & Tom Baker had on the south coast of New South Wales (never be the same...especially Woonie ):oops:, like it or not, he changed the surfing world globally, sorry for the rant that's the Rabbi Tug coming out in me. Cheers Wolruss

....pass that last stubbie of beer over Waka.

Doc Turbo · Post by **Doc Turbo** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 5:04 am

Further update from switch foot

Repost

G'day folks,

I am writing to you all collectively,

Wish I had time to reply to all the emails, there was some classic stuff in there!!!!

You are ALL legends.

thankyou.

Generally i can let you know, George Greenough doesnt give a s*&^ about all this and is busy working
away on his rescue boat…you can see more of that here http://rapidresponsetechnology.net
(YES, the boat that the US Military are using.)

It was me, Andrew crockett, who got a bee in his bonnet about this.
Not sure why and I dont have the time…silly me.

Surfing Australia, to me, they represent the people of Australia…the public.
LIke Cricket Australia, or Golf Australia…its not airy fairy s*&^.

The fact that George Greenough is not on their 'list' is in one word, a TRAVESTY.

So, i set out to try and change it and get his name on a list
of 38 people that Surfing Australia have decided are worthy for their list
of 'most influential surfers in Australias history from 1963 - today'

THE FACT that you can only vote on it if you are on facebook
and if you LIKE their facebook page is ALSO amateur hour
and reeks of commercial intentions.

other obvious ommissions from their list of 38 surfers are;
Bill Wallace
Joe Larkin
Geoff McCoy
Peter Crawford

Be that as it may, leaving Greenough out is just taking the piss really.

Not sure why I care, but I sent the CEO, Andrew Stark a condensed version of
what people said and it is below for you to read if you like…i have already heard
back from the CEO who said 'Thanks for the feedback. We have a system that is in place that is well researched.'

So, it appears all my effort is in vain.

Again, THANKYOU for knowing what is real.

Andrew Crockett

Crystal Voyager is one of the greatest original surf films ever made focusing on the beauty of the wave more than the surfer which is the reason why most of us surf. Dale Mackie

For me he should be mentioned in any role call of influential surfers worldwide not just Oz, certainly in the top 3.

Regards michael nash

He should be ranked (in my opinion) number 1 for the following reasons

1. Design: Contribution to the advancement of surfboard design via observation, experimentation and intuitive knowledge.

2. Performance: Watch him surf a spoon at Lennox back in the day, and think what others were doing on stand up boards at the time....

3. Lifestyle: The guy breathes surfing

4. The best haircut ever!

Cheers John

Who is on the selection committee? George should be in the top 5. Movies, spoons, fins , water photography and development. And just being George. How many higher profile surfers and shapers did he help over the late 60’s and 70’s? He also helped all the average punters! Chris Maconachie

His influence is evident in every piece of the modern surfboard from it's shape to it's fins. John Broomfield

His ideas of flex, reverse rocker, and bending the board into the face of the wave are just now being understood and put into practice. George Greenough’s influence cannot be underestimated and is second to none.Tom Wegener

As the pioneer of water photography, George single handedly shared the view from inside of a wave from a selected few good surfers to the imagination of a million kids. He fast tracked the learning curve for surf photography for his generation and captured images that we wouldn't have seen for possibly another 10 years.

He did the same with the modern fin. Surfing has been the beneficiary of his insight, the modern fin and water photography. Without him surfing wouldn't be where it is today.

Nigel Arnison

George Greenough changed the way we look at surfing craft design in both hull & fin design, how could he not be in the top 10 most influential surfers in Australian history, if not for George we could all still be riding the behemoths of yesteryear, c’mon.

Russell Smith

I would place George Greenough definitely in the top 3 most influential surfers in Australian Surfing since 1963.

K

Of course he is in the top ten of influential Australian surfers, probably the top ten world surfers. Of course if you ask George, he'll tell you he doesn't care if he is included in the list because it's all about the surfers who made it the huge commercial enterprise it is today. Not about surfing itself.

Wardie

Yes I do indeed. Sure he may not be a true blue, born out beyond the black stump Aussie, but if we're talking 'influence', then Greenough could be considered the root to vast canopy of Australian Surfers and a forest of board designers/shapers. Get him on the list, Surfing Australia! Murray Fraser

George was probably the most influential surfer from 65 to 70 because he influenced all of the best and most influential Aussie surfers. Should be in the surfing hall of fame in OZ and everywhere else.

Garth Murphy

It just seems sooooo obvious the contributions that George Greenough has made to surfing world, from his fins, his flexspoon kneeboards, his hulls, his filming in the tube, his visions............my goodness...........his surfing in the pocket. Has anyone else contributed as much??? .........Should be the question

Steen Barnes

Ryan Heywood George either didnt get the email invite or twin towns dont allow bare feet

Adam Ferrari bloody oath he should be inducted, without him we would have watched the Americans kick start the shortboard revolution instead of us Aussies.

Paul Diamond There is no need for this recognition. We all know that George is THE innovator of modern surfing equipment.

Stephenie Blakemore Top two in the history of anyone's surfing..in my book...The Duke, then GG

I believe George Greenough should be elected to the global as well as the australian hall of fame of surfing for all his contributions --- fin design, surf films, water housings, his classic surfing style and exploration of countless surf breaks.

Sincerely, federico bolivar

George Greenough would have to one the most influential surfers in the history of the short board. He rightly deserves to be inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame. Byron Watkins

To omit GG from the Australian Hall of Fame is ludicrous! His contributions to the physical design of craft we ride today is immense. His fins, rails and exploration of short flexible craft such as the Velo triggered the short board revolution that propelled Nat, McTavish & other Australian surfers into the limelight. Jon May

Every current hotshot surfer owes their moves to the Great GG!!!

Brendan Donohoe

Yes George Greenough should have been inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall Of Fame (by now) and in all influential surfers opinions he would rank in the list of top ten most influential surfers in the history of Australian surfing.

Rodney Rocket Smith

I cannot believe George Greenough hasnt made THe OZ Surfing Hall of Fame. Its a travesty. Have to be in my top 5 ever Oz surfers. Being a filmmaker and surfer i may be a bit bias but he made the kneeboard cool for a while for christ's sake. Justin Brown

I think there should be a surfing hall of fame built around George Greenough. I'm surprised there isn't already?? As for the man himself I wonder if he would even care, but for the 99% who function in the mainstream twisted reality, I'm sure most would be pretty shocked to think George doesn't have his name somewhere for the future and present grommets to know where so much of their joy comes from. Keith Hamlyn

His movies inspired hard core serious surfers to adventure to the world beyond. Myself was brought to Indonesia partly by this spirit of adventure and exploration of Greenough, and I have been here for nearly 30 years…..

Yours truly, Stephen Booth FST

Having seen him surf at overhead Nationals, at Noosa, in 1966, the things he was doing on the wave were far in advance of anything we had seen in Sydney at the time, it was mind-blowing. George should be right next to, if not in front of, Bob McTavish. Ian Smith

Yes there no question about it. He is one of the greats his creative genius and its influence on the evolution of Australian surfing is monumental In the top 5. He made us think about surfing in a completely different artistic and innovative way.

Brett Monticone

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:42 pm

Wolrus, yep, I even had some 20 something's dad looking for me at Oilman's party.

Pretty sure Huskisson was running low on cappuccino and meatpies by the time Tom and I left.
Doc, make sure you post a photo of you boys with the bowl haircuts.

stevea · Post by **stevea** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 6:34 pm

I think it just goes to prove that surfing australia ,has had their Head up their Arse for 50 years
Or am i wrong ? can anyone list 10 things that surfing australia has done for kneeboard surfing ,umm ,errr , arrrh damn

wolruss · Post by **wolruss** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:54 pm

Can't comment on the past Steve, you'd know more about that than I, but they seem to be actively getting kneeboarding up in the professional status this year, we had a reasonable field turn up to the kneeboard section of the Tradies comp last weekend, the last two kneeboard Australia event at Coff's & Kiama were handled reasonable well - still a couple of glitch's to work out but on the whole a veru successful collaberation - I don't know who was running things previously but Will, Luke, Ethan & Terry & Co. whom I have dealt with are very pro kneeboarding and it's circuit comps with promise of more involvement in Surfin Australia's events coming up inn 2013.
Cheers Wolruss

stevea · Post by **stevea** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 7:02 pm

Hey Russ thanks for post , after checking the Surfing Australia website i have to admit some effort is being made to embrace kneeboard surfing ,and i wasnt meaning to disrespect those guys from S A who are contributing .

I basically got fired up over the omission of the most influential surfer I.M.O. for all the reasons already covered

As for the past, S.A under its previous name Surfriders Australia was much more proactive in including kneeboard surfing at contests such as the Mattara Newcastle event ,Point Leo Victoria where we shared the stage with the pros of the day
In fact or maybe i'm wrong but i think Nov and Simon plus many others competed in scholastic events .

Lets hope things keep progressing ,the glitches get ironed out and the standard of kneeboard surfing continues and Surfing Australia 's future involvement continues to expand .

Thanks again Russ for getting my brain back into to gear

analbirth · Post by **analbirth** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 2:42 pm

womble · Post by **womble** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:39 am

Interesting article in SW this month ... GG and his windsurfers ... really unusual ... interesting ... rather intense and strange ... yet that pretty much sums up the enigma and quiet genius of George.

His voice may have been lost to the mainstream ... but his legacy will never be forgotten by the true students who study the art of surfing ... in that fact you may rest assured.

HALFMANRIPS/MIKE GARRETT · Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:00 pm

JUST MY OPINION AS A 100% KNEEBOARDER OF SOME 35YRS.
PUT GEORGE ON EVERY LIST, FOR WHAT HE CONTRIBUTED TO
ALL THE SURFING WORLD !

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