George Greenough

Who is George Greenough?

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 1960s Greenough's equipment was distinctly different from the longboard design of the day, and he rode short kneeboards 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 1960s and early 1970s, Greenough released two feature films The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and Crystal Voyager.