Born in 1948 in Gosford. Began surfing at 14 and shaping at 17. Worked at Bennet and Keyo in the 60s. Founded McCoy Surfboards in 1970 and was the first Australian to introduce twin fins to the marketplace. McCoy eventually came to be known as ‘The Twin Fin King’. After several years of designing twin fins, McCoy, seeing the limitations of the design, across the wave range decided to move on pursuing a more progressive single fin design, now known as the Lazor Zap. In the ‘70s and early ‘80s, Geoff McCoy ran the most happening surfboard factory in Australia, perhaps the world, providing groundbreaking equipment for a stellar crew of team riders. A pattern-maker by trade, McCoy brought a meticulous eye for detail and an intense focus to his surfboard design. Through the ‘70s and ‘80s, the distinctive McCoy label was everywhere. He made boards for many of the country’s best surfers - MR, Mark Warren, Grant Oliver, Bruce Raymond, Cheyne Horan, Larry Blair, Pam Burridge, Damien Hardman and Nicky Wood. Yet, by the mid 80s, McCoy’s empire, which extended to the US and Japan, had collapsed. The victim of too rapid expansion, mismanagement, a divorce and growing resistance to his increasingly radical ideas. With his extreme, wide tailed Lazor Zaps, developed for perennial world title runner-up Cheyne Horan most saw him as the wild experimentalist who went too far.
   By 1990  All but broke, and broken, he toiled away in isolation in a tin shed in Woolgoolga, a sleepy back water on the NSW mid-north coast, completely removed from the surfing mainstream. He spent 18 months in a tin shed in Woolgoolga by himself. He had to get away from everybody, and he made huge advances. Slowly, by word of mouth, McCoy developed a small but loyal following for his nuggets. Older, larger surfers, beginners, average recreational surfers wanting to catch more waves and accomplished surfers looking for something new all migrated to the nugget’s beefed up dimensions and forgiving curves. Today he lives in his modest timber home, surrounded by rainforest, on the outskirts of Byron Bay. Another enigmatic design guru like Dick Brewer, Geoff lives with his Japanese wife Mieko, a keen surfer herself. He shapes in a backyard bay. He thinks the modern shortboard is a hoax. It is the biggest distraction to surfing experienced in 20 years, aka paper chips. Geoff is not a fan of surf shops, in general, and confidently predicts their imminent demise. 
   Tthe Lazor Zap remains a valid design, still in demand from customers. McCoys aren’t about sinking rails, it’s about floating and skimming. Simon Anderson would be the first guy to tell you that the reason the thruster had a narrow nose and wide tail was because of the Lazor Zap. It put the volume under the back foot. Simon’s the first guy to say that Geoff influenced him. Cheyne Horan remains a huge admirer of Geoff’s boards, riding his shapes almost exclusively, even in his big wave and tow boards. Cheyne says “His boards are such a complete package right now. He’s doing his master strokes. I tell guys, get as many as you can get and hang on to them because these are his master strokes.” In 1992 Geoff was named as one of the country’s 50 most influential surfers by ASL. His fellow shapers also acknowledged him in a peer poll as surf history’s 4th most significant boardmaker.