This is a shot I took of George a couple
of years ago...
I spent 2 weeks with him off Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef in the early 80's as a boat driver and safety diver with him while he shot footage for a Sprite TV commercial for the States. He had his spoon windsurfer with him and would go out each afternoon when the wind would pick up. He had a blow-up mat that he would carry with him that velcroed into the spoon if he needed float the get home when the wind dropped off. I think the board had a stainless steel fin from memory, and rubber inner tube across the swallow tail that could flex up if it needed to.
We would use the ham off the sandwiches they sent out with us to fish for reef fish between takes and waiting for the right conditions. George had a big, box shaped camera housing that he had used on Big Wednesday. I believe and he would rest it on his half inflated mat to support it, to pan from above water to below as required. It was very heavy!
Kind regards,
Grant
www.SurfboardsByGrantNewby.blogspot.com
http://www.thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com/
http://www.thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com/
2 comments:
Great pic, I love how GG always seems to squeeze every last drop of life out of a wetsuit! What's the story on the orange mat?
The orange mat is a prototype I made in 2008 (I think). It was made of light rip-stop nylon. Very stiff material, in spite of its light weight. The rip-stop threads were made of dacron, which is very unforgiving stuff.
My impression was I didn't like that mat. I don't remember what George said, but if he had liked it, I think he would still be riding it. Not sure what happened to it.
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