Dale Solomonson on GG

"George`s energy has always been directed forward. He`s quite happily focused on what`s next, not with what was. With or without publicity, his wide-ranging curiousity and innovations have continued unabated. He`s definitely not one-dimensional. Regarding the media coverage surrounding him over the years, it`s been fickle, sometimes inaccurate and even deceptive. Unfortunately, most surfers who`re interested in learning about George and his projects have few vantage points from which to sift through any of this. On a personal level, George makes good use of his answering machine to screen out the unwelcome... and he`s a great bullshit detector. The many stories, insights, images and artifacts shared through his network of long-time friends including Charlie Coffee, Bob Duncan, Stan Pleskunas, Chuck Ames, Michael Cundith, Peter McGuire, Boyd Kellner, Warren Pfeiffer are invaluable. Yes, a well-documented look at his musings, drawings, and equipment would be a wonderful idea. The closest to that goal is the International Surfing Museum`s current exhibit, "George Greenough, Beyond Surfing".

"It took Greenough to put them on the map publicly with his super trim, flying down the line style of riding. It caught many of us slack-jawed when seen in movies like, Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, circa late 60's. Yet the Mats were always just a novelty or offside dalliance to regular surfing. A sideshow so to speak. They were too hard to master for the body boarding generation. And, there is the difficulty of actually constructing them in a suitable aerodynamic and ergonomic way as to make them work. Not to mention who was going to build them."

"George Greenough first inspired me to try surf mats, but no one taught me about building them."

"So I asked George Greenough about building my own mats, but he reckoned that it would be too much work, as the mats he used were fairly cheap, readily available and a lot easier to buy new whenever old ones wore out. Still George left me with some wise advice: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."