Chapter: 5
Barefoot Revolution
- Revolution is not a Dinner Party
- The Tao of George
- Getting Slippery with Bob McTavish
- Bismarck with a Tan
- Plastic Machine
- Enlightenment at Honolua Bay
- Panic on the Showroom Floor
- Style Takes a Dive
- Everybody Must Get Stoned
- Surfer Goes Electrical Bananas
- No Contest
- There Will be Slaps
- Kook Straps, Cadillacs, and Sex Wax
- Blame it on the Boogie
- Country Soul
- Higher and Brighter with Alby Falzon
- Fresh Blood on the Newsstand
- Long Road to Bells Beach
- Speed Freaks
- Gods of Thunder
- The Impossible Wave
- Into the Vortex
- Gerry Lopez, Pipeline Firewalker
- The Rubberman Cometh
Getting Slippery with Bob McTavish
Bob McTavish. Photo: John Witzig
Bob McTavish. Photo: John Witzig
Bob McTavish, 1966. Photo: David Silver
1965 world champion Felipe Pomar (right) and Nat Young.
Bob McTavish was an arm-waving storyteller with a rubbery voice and a big laugh. He'd shave his head for kicks, or eat a bug if someone picked up next round, and he had the best record collection around, filled with Detroit soul, Chicago blues, and the latest from the British Invasion.
In Australia, George Greenough’s biggest admirer was a barrel-chested 22-year-old Queenslander named Bob McTavish. Introduced by a mutual friend, Greenough stayed with McTavish for a few weeks during his 1964 visit to Australia, and they’d surfed together almost daily at Noosa and Point Cartwright, among other gorgeous, uncrowded Sunshine Coast breaks. Still on his original balsa spoon, Greenough ...
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