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 was already riding circles—almost literally—around everybody else. “The first wave I saw Greenoug...
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 Rubberman Cometh /
- The Impossible Wave /
- Into the Vortex /
- Gerry Lopez, Pipeline Firewalker /
Getting Slippery with Bob McTavish
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.