Stab Magazine | Larry Gordon's the reason for what we ride today.

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

224 Views

Larry Gordon’s the reason for what we ride today.

On New Years day surfing lost one of its greatest innovators, Mr Larry Gordon. Larry was 76 when he passed from a Parkinson’s related illness. He and good friend Floyd Smith partnered up in 1959 to create the aptly named Gordon and Smith surfboards in Pacific Beach, San Diego. G&S at one point would become the largest surfboard manufacturer in the world. In a time period that transitioned from the traditional balsa wood boards, Larry and Floyd were of the first to experiment with polyurethane and set the mold for the sleds that currently glide beneath our feet today. His influence weighed heavily on shapers who would later be known as “influential”. Esteemed men such as Skip Frye, Rusty Preisendorfer, Mark Richards and Barry Kanaiaupuni shaped for G&S before going their own ways. Matt Warshaw could not have put it better: If you surfed in California during the Nixon years, you owe Gordon a debt for the 1974 introduction of the full-templated, soft-railed G&S Modern Machine, which helped wake us up from our collective North Shore-worshipping hypnotic state and thus give up the Sunset-ready pintails we’d been riding at Hermosa Pier, Trestles, and every other gun-inappropriate break up and down the coast. “We still shape and glass surfboards about a mile from where his first factory was,” his daughter told the Guardian. “The reason he made surfboards and the reason we keep making them is for the love of surfing and the stoke it brings in giving people the best ride of their life.”

news // Mar 8, 2016
Words by Stab
Reading Time: < 1 minute

On New Years day surfing lost one of its greatest innovators, Mr Larry Gordon. Larry was 76 when he passed from a Parkinson’s related illness. He and good friend Floyd Smith partnered up in 1959 to create the aptly named Gordon and Smith surfboards in Pacific Beach, San Diego. G&S at one point would become the largest surfboard manufacturer in the world.

In a time period that transitioned from the traditional balsa wood boards, Larry and Floyd were of the first to experiment with polyurethane and set the mold for the sleds that currently glide beneath our feet today. His influence weighed heavily on shapers who would later be known as “influential”. Esteemed men such as Skip Frye, Rusty Preisendorfer, Mark Richards and Barry Kanaiaupuni shaped for G&S before going their own ways.

Matt Warshaw could not have put it better: If you surfed in California during the Nixon years, you owe Gordon a debt for the 1974 introduction of the full-templated, soft-railed G&S Modern Machine, which helped wake us up from our collective North Shore-worshipping hypnotic state and thus give up the Sunset-ready pintails we’d been riding at Hermosa Pier, Trestles, and every other gun-inappropriate break up and down the coast.

“We still shape and glass surfboards about a mile from where his first factory was,” his daughter told the Guardian. “The reason he made surfboards and the reason we keep making them is for the love of surfing and the stoke it brings in giving people the best ride of their life.”

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Watch: Rip Curl Mobilises Its Teenage Army In ‘Dunno’

A 30-minute surf film by Vaughan Blakey and Nick Pollet.

Jul 14, 2025

There’s A New Number One Surfer In The World

And it feels so right.

Jul 13, 2025

Controversial Opinion: No One Needs To Yoga In Boardshorts

8 Trunks for the traditionalist.

Jul 13, 2025

Stab Edit Of The Year: Sam Piter Stars in ‘Rogue DNA’.

French blood, thick water.

Jul 13, 2025

Matty McG Skydives Into CT Heat, But Jordy’s Still The Main Event

A full day of heats at J-Bay, and only one shark warning.

Jul 12, 2025

Correction: J-Bay All Foreplay, No Climax

Slim pickings on Day 1 of the Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025.

Jul 11, 2025

What Do Hollywood, Surf Lessons, Michael Jackson And Traction Pads Have In Common?

A Stab Interview with Teva Dexter, the man behind surfing's hardest new hardware brand —…

Jul 10, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 10, 2025

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025

When Surfer’s Eye Is Actually Cancer

Erin Campbell's brutal journey from surf camp dreams to chemo drops, cryotherapy, and surgical horror.

Jul 3, 2025
Advertisement