Mitch Surman and the ghost of George Greenough
Every good surfboard needs a name and this board's name is Gwen. That's Gwen with a 'G'. The letter is important, auspicious even, and if you read on you'll find out why.
The other fellow in the photo is Mitch Surman. Mitch is the engine behind MS Surfboards on the Sunshine Coast and he's also a part owner of Maroochydore bean juice joint, Glass.
Mitch has long concerned himself with the Sunny Coast's rich design history and while pouring ristrettos his mind would often wander.
"We've got a George Greenough spoon hanging up on the wall here," says Mitch, "and I'd just look up and stare at it while making coffee."
Greenough's protean construction method percolated through to Mitch's mind and he took an idea into the shaping bay: "I'll shape a Greenough spoon as a stand up!"
The result was Gwen, the 7'0" x 22" single fin flex tail model you see here. Riding Gwen was a revelation says Mitch. "When you put your weight forward the water locks in over the rails, but when you step back..." Mitch takes a moment to think and articulate the feeling.
"The tail bends back under the load and when it's unweighted it just unloads." Literal descriptions aside, Mitch's voice carries feeling. It's hard not to try and conjure those same feelings of tension and release.
Not long after christening Gwen, Mitch had a chance meeting with George Greenough. Greenough's credentials are impeccable and his word, especially when it comes to board design, is gospel.
George sighted Gwen and to Mitch's relief he was an instant believer. "He gave me tips on layering the fibreglass," says Mitch excitedly. He even offered to assist on subsequent boards and his encouragement didn't end there.
"George observed that Chinese-made pushbikes get sold for $8,000," says Mitch, "so there must be room somewhere for boards of this caliber."
It was reason enough to push on with these boards that take two-and-a-half weeks each to build and contain nearly 100 metres of fibreglass.
And what price point is he looking at for Gwen and her future replicants?
"$8,500", says Mitch before explaining the labour and material costs. "Keep in mind these can be ridden or hung as works of art."
Indeed they are pieces of art, functional art, and they're also one of a kind...sort of. "I searched everywhere to see if anyone had made a stand up spoon and I could only find one other person. Some guy in France had made one!"
In a world of mass-production that's about as close as you get to unique.
"People have stood up on spoons before," says Mitch, "It doesn't really work, but this takes the spoon flex principles and applies them to a stand up board."
Yet Mitch isn't taking orders for Gwen just yet. "I could sell to the public but it's not fair. This is just a prototype. We've got a lot of work to do."
Come next March Mitch will have many of his team riders in town and they've all shown interest in riding and providing feedback. "I'll make a few for them to take home with them."
By then he's confident he'll have the design issues sorted out - with a bit of help from George - and Gwen will be ready to roll onto the market.
Stay tuned...
Ogle Gwen and Mitch's other beautiful creations on Instagram
Comments
For sure
This is great. I rode my first flex tail yesterday, a 6'5 Mitchell Rae that my Dad had at home. The flexy part was about 6-8 inches of the tail and you could really feel it. I don't think you'd want flex tails in normal shortboards (like 6 foot) as you can get speed from concaves and lift, and also the flex can do weird things when pumping or jamming the board....had a bizarro bounce thing happen during a tube stall yesterday. Likewise Im not sure youd want or really need flex in trad longboards as you're just not turning hard enough.
IMO best bet is transitional/tracker length where you can get enough G's off the bottom and top to make the flex move but without it doing weird things that interrupt your flow. Seems a huge area to experiment in.
I want to love this but the idea of the barista making one copy of a Greenough and then charging beyond premium for the idea makes me feel a bit nauseous.
Sure if it was George making it it'd be worth every cent of the 8g.
What do Dions sell cloth for, $5+/metre? That's a lot of material cost even before labour is added.
Must be a strange feeling with your back foot on sheer glass and front foot on foam.
My mate Mick Mackie just unloaded, right into his hemp shorts.
Thats funny as.
So Greenough observed that chinese made pushbikes sell for $8,000. Does that determine the price? Lucky he didn't say something like a ton of pineapples in outer mongolia costs $12,000.
Gday,bout 83-4 Tommie Peterson turned up in Bali with this crazy spoon inspired 6'4 gun.He'd made it as a gun for Ulu and soon found out it was too loooose for fast tubes. I was that impressed with its radical style he quickly offloaded it to me ,think it was 100bucks. It was a swallow tail with cacky blue foam bits an a tri fin an you could nearly see through the glass bit. Took it over to Java on a search for Red Island trip with Kasim an Newie blokes. The feedback on the board kept cracking me up. Every hard turn was wot the fuck where we going oh this is different never been here before. Back home at powerful Newie beach it was worse but a constant breathtaker if you could dig toes into glass. One magical moment backhand a frame bottom turn had me vert up above wave??an we landed on a drop ins back as he was getting to his feet,we rode his back an board into wave bottom an continued on to the next magical moment .Not a board for every day waves your body couldnt keep up with the mystery tours. Anyway some low life scum stole it and saved my body but i always miss the madness.Think it had Wintersun decal if its still around hope it brakes you legs bag of scum.
Wonder how much gwen weighs ?
Two and a half weeks of labour + material 8K probably not that bad. Get a contractor around your house for 2 and a half weeks you wouldn't be seeing much change of 8k.
Have seen some of mitch's logs they are beautiful boards functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Gotta love a free mind that is willing to try something different even if it's inspired by something similar. I reckon it looks like a bit of fun.
I've had a few Outer Island pintail flex's over the years & currently have a couple of Mick Mackie's with a swallowtail flex. I find that the swallowtail allows for a smoother transition between turns as you're not having to load up the entire tail through each turn. But as Dewhurst mentioned, you can't stall for the tube as you just get spat forward when you unweight off the tail. But I do love the speed & the feeling of getting progressively faster as you load up on a roundhouse cutty. Flex is functional, fast & fun & is worth the extra dollars for the time & effort shapers & glassers put into them.
Gents, if wish to try something like this flex stand up then suggest (as above) to contact Mitchell Ray - Outerisland surfboards. Pure craft. Importantly won't be $8k.
Mitch, you awesome bloke! This guy uses (combines and enhances) the principles of our forefathers to create the most beautiful unique equipment. The work that I've seen him produce is near perfect in form and for the intended application. If Mitch keeps this kind of livelihood up, the boards will become collectors items and Mitch will become a God. Keep up the excellent work MS!
Rode a Crozier/Crawford flextail 5'8" slab in '77. A great board for carving turns, toes and ropes. If anyone has any Peter Crawford surf footage, (eg. 360's in the barrel) please post.
that looks a bit ugly. maybe it works ok.
bbbird...have a search/look at http://legless.tv/ for peter crawford material. they have the best collection of kneelo images and footage. but there isn't much PC footage out there.
michael novakov was known for doing barrel rolls. don't think i've ever seen any footage of PC doing a 360...must have been quite hard on a single fin slab. ..but if anybody could its PC
i have a crozier slab flextial. planning on getting a new fin for it and taking it out. it weighs so much it'll probalby sink, taking me down with it.
mctavish made a batch of spoons about two years back.
Some bloody good pics on legless tv insta.