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 Bob McTavish
Bob McTavish was born May 14, 1944 in Mackay Northern Queensland, Australia. He began surfing on a 16' hollow paddleboard at the age of 12. After dropping out of high school, he began shaping surfboards at 17 in Sydney. He worked for the then major manufacturers of surfboards in Australia including Larkin Surfboards, Dillon Surfboards, and Keyo Surfboards.
Bob was a natural shaper and a competent surfer. However, he was constantly looking for better equipment ideas and how to use the power of waves. In 1965, on a trip to Noosa, Australia he hooked up with friends Nat Young and George Greenough. After their trip, with influences of Nat and George, he helped design a surfboard for Nat they called “Magic Sam.” This surfboard was a thin-railed and a lighter 9-footer with a Greenough high aspect fin. Nat won the world championships on this board.
In mid-1966, McTavish, Young, and Greenough were the core of the “involvement” school of surfing. Their goal was to ride more actively in and around the curl of a wave without any loss of speed.
 In the beginning of 1967, McTavish concentrated on an entirely new bottom design. The design consisted of a deep “V” shaped into the back third of the board, and a wide tail. He called this surfboard the “Plastic Machine.” For seven months, these boards got lighter and smaller; down to 7'6" with a weight of 14 pounds. All had the new type of fin invented by George Greenough. These “high-aspect ratio fins” came from the template of a blue fin tuna. For the first time, fins gave turning leverage to surfboards rather than just steering them.
McTavish and Nat rode their V-bottom surfboards in 8' surf at Honolua Bay. This was put in film in the Australian-made surf movie “The Hot Generation.” Bob McTavish worked with California’s Morey-Pope Surfboards the following year.
These shorter, lighter V-bottomed surfboards with the new Greenough-designed high aspect ratio fins began the short board revolution. Surfboards and the style of surfing changed forever with the evolutionary concepts and designs of Bob McTavish, George Greenough, and Nat Young.
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