George Greenough
Encyclopedia
George Greenough is an innovative surfer and cinematographer from Santa Barbara, California
who now resides in Byron Bay in New South Wales
, Australia
. He was born to a wealthy family but despised its trappings and spent most of his time in the ocean. Greenough is best known for creating the modern surfboard fin. He altered the design from a wide-based, cumbersome keel
to a more powerful and efficient dolphin fin-like foil.
In the 1960's Greenough's equipment was distinctly different from the longboard design of the day, and he rode short kneeboard
s under 5' 5" and air mattresses regularly. He is credited as being the best mat rider ever, and still surfs the unique waveriding craft. His most famous board was a fiberglass
spoon using only small amounts of buoyant foam, shaped kneeboard he christened "Velo". Greenough is also known as a genius level inventor and the master of fiberglass engineering, design, and construction, having used the material to build surfboards, camera housings, and boats.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Greenough released two feature films The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and Crystal Voyager. His footage above and below the water were personally selected by the members of Pink Floyd
as the imagery for their "Echoes
" film after the group saw Crystal Voyager, which used the Pink Floyd track as the music for the final sequence of the movie. Greenough is also featured in an early scene in Bruce Brown
's surf film The Endless Summer
.
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
who now resides in Byron Bay in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. He was born to a wealthy family but despised its trappings and spent most of his time in the ocean. Greenough is best known for creating the modern surfboard fin. He altered the design from a wide-based, cumbersome keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
to a more powerful and efficient dolphin fin-like foil.
In the 1960's Greenough's equipment was distinctly different from the longboard design of the day, and he rode short kneeboard
Kneeboard
A kneeboard is a board ridden in a kneeling stance. Kneeboards are ridden in ocean surf, or while being towed behind a boat on a lake or river....
s under 5' 5" and air mattresses regularly. He is credited as being the best mat rider ever, and still surfs the unique waveriding craft. His most famous board was a fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
spoon using only small amounts of buoyant foam, shaped kneeboard he christened "Velo". Greenough is also known as a genius level inventor and the master of fiberglass engineering, design, and construction, having used the material to build surfboards, camera housings, and boats.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Greenough released two feature films The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and Crystal Voyager. His footage above and below the water were personally selected by the members of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
as the imagery for their "Echoes
Echoes
Echoes or echos may refer to:* the plural of Echo -Songs:* "Echoes" , a 1971 Pink Floyd song* "Echoes" by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss...
" film after the group saw Crystal Voyager, which used the Pink Floyd track as the music for the final sequence of the movie. Greenough is also featured in an early scene in Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown is an American documentary film director, known as an early pioneer of the surf film...
's surf film The Endless Summer
The Endless Summer
The Endless Summer is a 1966 film in the surf movie genre.Director Bruce Brown follows two surfers, Mike Hynson and Robert August, on a surf trip around the world. Despite the balmy climate of their native California, cold ocean currents make local beaches inhospitable during the winter...
.