Geoff McCoy on the origins of the Lazor Zap
On paper, it makes no sense at all. Short, thick, wide, with a beaked-out nose and peculiar tail. But man, those colours!
Exactly why Geoff McCoy’s Lazor Zap morphed into the icon it did is absolutely open for debate.
Surfing historian Matt Warshaw recently described the feeling of riding a Lazor Zap as “like riding an air mattress pumped up to 75psi.”
Say what you will, but a quick search on Gumtree/eBay/Vintage Surfboard Collectors tells a different story and the Zap remains the great white whale for the hapless board collector.
Not that those with a nose for Zaps need be told, but Geoff’s launching a limited run of the Lazor Zap on the Sunshine Coast this weekend and he spoke to Swellnet about the origin of the design.
Swellnet: What do you make of the continued, almost-hysteria that continues to surround the Lazor Zap?
Geoff McCoy: Since its inception, the Lazor Zap raised eyebrows and has been a hot topic for a very long time. Now people have recognised the important part the Zaps continue to play in the development of the surfing object. Without doubt, they were the turning point of surfboard evolution.
How did you hit upon the idea for them in the first place?
Without doubt it was Cheyne Horan and his style of surfing. His desire to stand on the back of the object without having to waste time moving up and down the board to perform his groundbreaking style of surfing was my motivation. I had for a very long time been researching my 'energy theory' and the Lazor Zap design was the culmination of that at the time.
What convinced you they would work as a design?
As I just said, I had already been working to understand an 'energy theory' and create an object that would work cohesively within its framework.
Who test rode the first model and what was the initial feedback?
Bruce Turner, who was an excellent surfer and one of my team riders at Avoca Beach was my test pilot. I have to admit, that until he paddled out and took off I wasn’t sure what the result would be. There was a bunch of us there at Avoca Point for the test run and when he took off on that first wave, it was a little how-you-going, but after half a dozen waves, and once he had adjusted to the board, I could see that that was it. This definitely had potential.
Geoff McCoy and the very first Lazor Zap in 1981
Did the production model differ from the original design?
Yes. After it being surfed, I immediately observed ways in which I could refine it so that good surfers as well as great surfers would be able to ride it. I rode it myself, as a good but not great surfer, and made the changes to make it more user friendly.
These days, people tell me that the Lazor Zap was the best board they’d ever surfed. At the time though they didn’t want to admit it due to my diminished favour with the Big Three and the need for people to follow current trends.
The Lazor Zap concept - now proven - was obviously 30 years ahead of its time and still accounts for 50 per cent of my current production.
Do you still have the original Zap?
No, my ex-wife disposed of them all in 1991 while I was on a trip to Hawaii. My godson David Boyce managed to buy it back about two years ago though and recently refused an offer in excess of $30,000 for it.
The spray job on those Zaps became part of their identity. How did that come to be?
Richard ‘Snow’ Mollard was spraying for McCoy back then and he developed the design from the checkered winning flags used in motor sports. Obviously he took that concept and with his great design capabilities, enlarged it. It was so cutting edge that when I started up in California, I took Snow over there to teach them how to do it. Snow was a master with both colour and technique.
Early 80s Zaps replete with zeitgeist capturing colour schemes
Do you get a sense of satisfaction and perhaps validation when you look at where board design is now? The shortness and thickness are hallmarks of the Lazor Zap.
I have always been a leader and innovator in surfboard design. I get a sense of satisfaction out of creating designs I know work. It’s been frustrating to me over the years to see surfers being sold dysfunctional and unsuitable equipment. So yes, I do get satisfaction out of seeing surfers riding objects now which they can actually surf on and enjoy.
Just because the best surfers in the world can overcome a handicap with their equipment, doesn’t mean that the average surfer can deal with it and that has been proven over many years.
Your boards and Cheyne Horan are inextricably linked, what did you see in his style that would ultimately lead to one of surfing’s most famed surfer/shaper relationships?
It was actually a response to Ray Richards calling me and telling me that the kid - Mark Richards - needed to break away and go on his own. By this time Mark had been a McCoy rider for many years and I would be lying to not admit that it shocked me as I knew that Mark was in line to be a world champion.
In response to this I contacted my partner in ‘The Junction Surf Shop’ in Bondi, Vic Ford. I told him what had happened and asked him to get the best young surfer on the beach on Friday - the day I delivered my boards to our shop - so that I could meet them.
It turned out there were two, Cheyne Horan and Joe Engel. They both became team riders. A couple of years later Joe, who was also a really good rider, moved to Queensland but Cheyne remained.
Obviously I was trying to fill the gap left by Mark leaving.
I put that poor kid, Cheyne, under immense pressure. Took him to contests and told people he was a great surfer. After training him, getting his diet and exercise program in motion, tutoring him through making videos of his surfing, analysing them and also those of other people, we came up with a winning program together.
To Cheyne’s credit, Cheyne became the greatest surfer of his time. I would have to say we were at the forefront of sports training and motivation programs. We were both breaking ground, me with my designer/shaping and Cheyne with his surfing.
You have to remember my father was a racehorse trainer, this had made me hyper aware of the need for training, diet, and trialling.
Conversely, Cheyne also copped a bit of flack over the years for sticking with your designs while the rest of the tour surfers moved on to more traditional equipment. How did you take that flack? Did it effect you personally, and if so, were you ever tempted into also going down the traditional path and perhaps advise Cheyne to do the same?
It is true that there was a lot of negative force against what we were doing. You have to realise that at that time, surfing was trying to clean up its image and Mark Richards suited that style. Cheyne, being more up front and outspoken, did not.
Anybody that knows Cheyne would have to know that he has always been his own person and was under no pressure from me to do anything that he did not want to do.
I did break away for a while and started making traditional equipment but I was never at ease with it because I knew it was wrong. Eventually I came back to myself and from that my Nugget Designs were born. Cheyne did not though, he stayed with what he believed in himself. However, if you care to review any footage of those years of Cheyne riding his McCoy single fins, you have to realise that there had to be other forces at play as his surfing was so superior to the other great surfers of that period. You would have to be a fool to say otherwise.
Click for more info about this weekend's celebration of the Lazor Zap
Comments
epic little interview.
Sorry guys, have to say that the current demand for vintage Lazor Zaps is obviously not being driven by an unfulfilled demand for performance surfboards.
I'd say it's more driven by the speculative investor , wouldn't you ?
Not casting any aspersions on the way the Zap rides as I've never tried one.
I do recall reverently staring at a Zap that belonged to Cheyne Horan on a rack at a surf shop when I was a full grommet....but that probably says more about my state of mind at the time than any outstanding design or aesthetics.
Regardless , cool interview.
"my ex-wife disposed of them all in 1991"
So you're driving through Avoca and see a bunch of bum tail, checker-spray zaps sticking out of a garbage pile. When was the last time you did a handbrake stop?
My thoughts on the thru-the-roof prices old Zaps fetch on the scond hand market. No doubt some of it is due to current performance attributes though it's a blurry line that links them. I think the greater reasons are:
1) They were made at the height of Australia's surfing dominance. Oz had the most pros on the tour, and all the design progression was coming from our corner of the world. That's no longer the case so it's a reminder of a golden period. Nostalgic? Hell yeah...
2) The colours. Most original Zaps were sprayed and the vintage market is a funny old place. A board that has unquestionable design features yet is cursed by a lack of colour will sell for way less than a coloured board. Superficial, yeah, but that's the way it is, and it's good for those who value design over asthetics. I recently bought a plain white Tri Zap for $120. The same board but sprayed would go for four times that, at least.
3) McCoy is the underdog who never got his due and you know how we feel about that.
4) The collectors currently with the most most disposable money are those who came of age in the early 80s. It's a matter of demographics and the pattern has maintained through boards from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
I only buy vintage boards with colour.
It's like two art works in one you get the board that is like an artwork that book marks a certain era, then you get the artwork of the spray design that screams a different era.
McCoy is the underdog who never got his due ?
As you said yourself , the Zap is perhaps the most maligned board ever produced. Utterly polarised opinions amongst its riders.
Then there is the Horan factor. Undisputed master according to consensus . Yet the same consensus holds that his equipment held him back and actively contributed to his lack of comprehensive competitive success .
So Cheyne great , McCoy maybe not so great.
But here we are discussing McCoy forty years later.
Still think he never received his due ?
As for point 2 - the colours.
I reckon that neatly sums up the vapidity of the collectors market regarding great surfboards.
Wait a minute......I like pretty things too.
Scratch that last comment.
A Lazorzap always reminds me of a Leyland P76
Harsh. But ... fuck, I just spit beer bubbles over the keyboard.
Nice analogy.
Lazor Zap the most NSW centric board in history ?
Extrapolated semi - relativity to imprint theories of faux importance ?
Think I just overthought that into another dimension.
Love the L Zap! Still ride them to this day! Sticking to thrusters though.
Cue the orchestra. " I did it my way!"
Roger Rogerson did it his way as well.
Surfed that Avoca stretch of coast extensively in that period, and I don't recall seeing punters on a LZ doing anything special. My recollection was the LZ guys strutting around in the line-up were having a head-surf, but for mine, they just did my head in looking at them.
Each to their own of course.
Hypto Krypto of the seventies ?
Don't think so.
Hypto didn't cost Ando a title.....unlike Horan from the accounts of his peers
Fuck. I'm torn ... I hate, really really hate the look of them. But, to be fair, I haven't ridden one, and funnily enough am sort of curious. Bloke rides one where I surf sometimes, might see if I can get a go ...
Also, my first board was a McCoy, so I have a nostalgic feeling toward the brand.
Great little bit of history. When is The Mccoy story/book coming ? McCoy has obviously played a major part in Australian surfing history with the Laser Zap and Cheyney Horan, not to mention so many other talented Aussie surfers. Those coloured Zaps look unreal, so good in fact I think I want one. Probably can't afford one of the old ones but a little bit of overtime and a new zap could be sitting in the corner of the bedroom. Sure the missus will love it ?
Don't look to bad!
Ripper surfing, thanks for posting that footage croca.
Cheyne what a name what a surfer! Sargers surfing scrapbook! Those were the days! Now it's all too pro! Too Pro! Get Loose! Zen!❤️
That video is epic Croca.
Simon Anderson credits McCoy on inspiration for the shape of the original Thruster I believe.
Lazer Zaps . Nice boards they take time to master.
How awesome was Cheyne? I used to idolise him as a grom and my mum used to think 'he was a dish' in her own words.
Speaking of the Zap colour schemes adding to their collectability, how about the plain blue board he won Bells on? Betcha that'd fetch a few dollars.
I find it hard to think of a surfer/shaper relationship more significant than the McCoy/Horan collaboration of that era, certainly as an Aussie anyway.
The pinnacle of directional surfing on a single fin. Geoff kindly made mine 3 years ago (imagine having your name on the board when it's a classic)
How to describe? In that vid you can see Cheyne standing forward to flow for down the line forehand speed - yes it does that and goes quick. You might note him place the back foot back for extreme turns, and the board being a single will pivot on a remarkably small piece of ocean. See if you can see the Cheyne vs Tom Bells video there, look closely and ask which board is going more vertical...
I enjoy backhand top to bottom surfing on it - especially when hollow. Compared to every other single I've ridden (and I've ridden lots, grew up on them) it goes vertical better than any.
Other features: Lots of foam in it. So it will be a floaty experience and if you are lighter, adjust your duckdiving or strategy for getting out the back. It is a child of Geoff's 'energy theory' and thus has soft, convex features rather than hard edges and concaves of a contemporary shortboard. So, paddling in, you are held, and held, and held - then released in the most critical, powerful part of the wave with great speed. Hope your reflexes are up to it! It seems almost counter-intuitive that this floaty board will love the hollowest part of the wave. But it does.
What else? The volume is definately at the back of the board, so being a back foot surfer really, really helps. If you surf off the front foot, you will need to adjust to it and this may be like rehab for some, and impossible for others. There is absolutely no need for the body mechanics of pumping to generate speed.
Oh yeah, have to say it, Cheyne surfed - paddle - Waimea on a 5'8 version! So theoretically, there's no limit to the size it can take off on.
Yo Johnno, not sure if you missed this but I'll throw it in for good measure. Cheyne and Geoff discuss the Waimea session:
https://www.swellnet.com/news/design-outline/2012/10/09/waimea-bay-58-two-surfers-rave-about-seemingly-impossible
It's from a few years ago and didn't survive the migration to the curent website intact, hence the funky grammar here and there. It's also missing a few photos. But still, it's a great tale.
Thanks Stu that was a good read again, definitely worth archiving.
Uplift's comments on his LZ's in heavy waves are worth a read as well.
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The board Cheyne won Bells on against Tom Carroll wasn't a McCoy, it was a Terry Fitzgerald Hot Buttered shape that incorporated some very different design concepts to the Lazor Zap apart from obvious similar outline. Here's a link you may find interesting: https://hotbuttered.com/blogs/hot-buttered-surfboards/16250087-cheyne-ho...
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This video is well worth watching .
How the Lazor zap came into being starts at 9.30 .
Onya croca ... that's well worth watching, hey?
Is it just my eyes, or is the lazor zap in the clip (one McCor holds and talks about) a different tail shape the ones in the pic's in the article above?
Geoff states "His desire to stand on the back of the object without having to waste time moving up and down the board "
and yet in the video posted by croca Cheyne is moving his feet up and down the board.
so the board didn't achieve that goal?
Well picked up. I can't speak directly for Geoff & Cheyne but at the time winning meant points per maneuvre and on the back of these boards the arcs are very small indeed. So it succeeded in that. I watch those pics of Cheyne positioned forward and really look closely to see if he's still back foot heavy, and how much the head/shoulders (weight) hovers over the front knee, or is it behind it?
In my own riding of the board, faced with down the line points that require speed, this behaviour just came naturally. When you begin, if you surf it on a fat shoulder and go front foot, or try to pump, the board responds by having the nose go under... the front of board positioning will only work if you have hollow sections ahead of you.
Edit: 'toward the front' might be a better description than just 'front'. I don't want to give the impression that anyone is nose-riding them, or visions of that kind. You will note watching the vids that Cheyne still remains over the middle of the board, just more forward than when positioning back foot for a radical turn.
With his nuggety style, Horan and McCoy made a great duo. Love his surfing. And as mentioned McCoy did it his way - what other way was there, heh.
"WSL: What's one thing you know now that you wish you'd known as a young competitor?
CH: It would have been smarter for me to ride what all other competitors were riding at the time in competitions and ride what I liked to ride (Future Designs) out of contests. I would have won way more competitions. Having a great coach, smart advisor and manager would have helped."
Ouch!
"Did it effect you personally, "
Affect, stunet, affect! :-) And so endeth the lesson.
"Ouch" - I reckon we could all have made a different call in what we do. Hind sight - is an interesting thought process but really irrelevant. Looking at the videos of Cheyne (above), he surfed well, bloody well, so you could say there were many other factors that would have impacted the final outcomes. Maybe just two very strong personalities.
cheyne, mccoy and the lazor zap were the last hurrah for bondi.
after that they pulled out the storm water drain, sent the poo pipe out to sea, closed the astra hotel and straightened the banks.
'Twas a great caption from Phil Jarratt in the Australian Surfers Journal many years ago. Story was on Cheyne Horan and featured a photo of Cheyne with the Bondi crew including Ant and Steve Corrigan, all long bleached hair, shirts off, looking young and zealous, the Astra Hotel is in the background as Jarratt riffs on the Eagles lyric:
"We haven't served that spirit here since 1981."
We're blessed to have guys like Geoff McCoy still making boards. I enjoy listening to him talk about his designs. He's a guy that always seems to be doing something different from the mainstream. Always pushing the boundaries of surfboard design. A great interview. 10/10.
Was it 4 World Title runner up ? Not bad. Would it have helped riding the sam equipment as all the other competitors? Maybe ask all the guys on tour who aren't going to re qualify for 2017 and the other 1000 sheep doing the WQS. The success both Cheyne and Geoff achieved was nothing short of amazing.
I met Geoff McCoy this afternoon...absolute Ledgend!!!!!!!!!!!
ugly as sin (sorry Geoff), but Cheyne made them look beautiful
Not a Lazor Zap but a McCoy with a nice spray, 70+ bids from 17 bidders , 12 hours to go and over $3K http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/surfboard-/291989096335
wow or should i say fucken unbelievable.
3K for a absolute piece of shit.
Cheyne was a great surfer but way back when it all went down on the Lazor Zaps I always thought the photos in the magazines of his cutbacks on it were not much on rail. They were a quick pivot with the board fairly flat in the water. I never thought "wow!" I want to do a cuttie like that. Going back looking at the footage on youtoob I still see the same thing. They were fast and Cheyne being such a great athlete made them work but the super wide tail, thickness etc made the board ride a bit flat in the water.
The move to more thickness and width back then and since was the right direction but went too far in the LZ to do full on rail turns.
By the way, I have a McCoy loaded dome 6 6" from 15 years ago that has gone great in Indo in 3ft and 6 foot waves. Super fast and accelerates through turns. It is pretty conventional looking board though.
It sold for $3250 after 73 bids. The seller added the following comments while the auction was in progress:
"I have just received an email return from Geoff McCoy, in his words he seems to think the board was made at Avoca Beach and probably made for Bruce Turner who was the test pilot for the first Lazor Zap and worked for McCoy during that time... He was unable to estimate the value of the board but stated it definitely does have some history..
We have had a lot of interest & questions in regards to the board ..
The board is approximately 1.85 Metres Long
No we are not surfers.
We have had the board sitting in our back shed for approx 10 years, it was in a friends back yard when Hubby was doing a clean up! "
Found in a back yard. A Lazor Zap that turned into a gold Nugget.
Those sort of things skew the second hand board market so badly. It happens every now and again, an exorbitant price is paid for a board with questionable provenance and a collective mania comes over people. Prices jack and it takes a while for them to come back to normal.
i just saw a backyard copy of a lazor zap in a hock shop at bondi junction. it even has a pretty passable copy of the art work.