Has any body experienced riding bonzer kneelo's?

[slucepan]

I have found two examples of bonzers on the net that is particularly interesting.
The first one is a little green shoe board off of swayloc's site and the other example is actually a surf cyak with the fins pushed forward simuller to a modern kneelo.

http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/shoe-k ... dsurfboard
http://willersurfcraft.blogspot.com/201 ... chive.html

The surf cyak shoes that it is possible to run the fins forward like a modern style kneelo as apposed to the older California style fins at the rear of the boards out of the ninten seventies. From watching videos of people surfing bonzers in general the turns look very fluid and forgiving to aniciate. From some of the forums I have read the boards tend to like peaky energetic waves however if you have a more forgiving tail shape and a smaller nerrower center fin it should ride good in smaller mush surf. A 5" fin usually as a posed to a 8" fin. I could be tempted to shape ether a crosier slab or a rounded pin board. Looking about and reading about the bonzer boards really gets one to ponder the relation of fin to bottom foiling on a board and the trade offs it offers up.

[wanderer]

I used to surf a single fin 5'8 bonzer with a deep single concave
What a great board
but it was the late seventies early eighties!!
At a place in Australia called boneyards near kiama way south of Sydney Australia
near where sparrow lives now
it was a great board it had a greenough style single fin with a 12" box &
8" bonzer triangle glassed in side fins about 2" in height at the peak running along the sides of the deep single concave
i have a photo of a cut back with a sheet of glass coming off the nose all the way back in one clean line in a flatter section of the wave
it had one of the classic 80s spray jobs underneath
i did love that board
ill try to find the photo
I'm sure a modern shape will do it more justice but today's boards are really more versatile & much better !
It's always good to think back to the good old days
But then again I remember sliding out at the bottom of a critical turn on some big steep waves looking up at the lip as it loomed over me
& wishing I had a little bit more control as things went dark
Don't look back just go with a good shaper & maybe go for a 5 fin option that will allow some fin experimentation
I do prefer the future fin boxes as they are a lot stronger &
Buy one of the old boards on eBay for a bit of fun & a reality check
We have come a long way in design
Cheers

[HOOPER]

yep got three of them in fact thats all ive been riding for the last few yrs go well for me five fins or three, round tail dimond tail and swallow tail have look in the board section under hooper they all there .as it happens the red one for sale cheers hoops

[Headwax.]

Hi

I experimented with ordinary tri fins using similar keel fins as the outside fins a few years ago ago.

They certainly werent bonzers but I think there's a little bonzer in all thrusters.

I think the standout feature was that the water tended to 'jump' over the outside fins on the critical part of the turn and give almost a spinout. I could have fixed this with as larger centre fin but the result would have been a stiffer board. The keels themselves while not playing up did indeed give smoother truns courtesy of the wide base - but they were smoother because of the larger turn radius 0 not necessarily desirable,

I reckon the bonzer design looks as if it would really flow because of the organic way the fins and bottom contours combine. But I;m not sure that flow is conducive to "modern surfing" (rip tear lacerate and go vertical)

Love those examples you posted - that modern board is certainly designed with the heart in mind.

It's always a give away when the fancy name is as important as the fancy finish who cares if it doesn't go? (just a joke)

[slucepan]

Here is the basic fin setup on a bonzer that I have researched.

bonzer fin setup:
· Runners are toed in at 1/4 inches.
· In from rail is 1.5 inches.
· Space between rear and front fins is 1.5
· Over lap between front and rear is 0 to 1/2 inch.
· Cant is 20 to 23 degries.
· Rear fin is taller and longer than the front fin think twinzer.
· Dimensions are as follows:
· Rear pair has a depth of 3 inches and an overall length of 6 inches.

I was wondering that since our boards run a touch wider than a regular short board if the bonzer runners are as effective as compared to a modern quad or thruster. I suspect with a little bottom contouring and some of the modern fins you could come up with a pleasing set of trade of's depending on your surfing style.

[Mark Ramirez]

When you mentioned about bonzer kneelos, I remembered this from a couple of years ago. This was shaped by one of the original bonzer guys:
http://www.surfysurfy.net/2010/11/octa- ... mment-form

[albert]

Its on the list!

[slucepan]

To sum up bonzer's since we mount the fins farther up from the tail and our boards tend to run wider than most short boards the bonzer runner or runners should be taller than what is on a stand up board to be effective.
The bonzer will make a smother bit longer turn than a thruster.
Any knee boarder would not pass up a chance to ride and compare the board against the board that he or she is currently riding.

[waka]

These are a few pics of mates old bonzar kneeboard

[fullalbumimg]31830[/fullalbumimg]

[fullalbumimg]31831[/fullalbumimg]

[fullalbumimg]31832[/fullalbumimg]

[fullalbumimg]31833[/fullalbumimg]

This was made by Mick Carabine @ Carabine Surfboards Wollongong, for old WAKA club stalwart Ian 'Froggie' Lewis......give him a call Bert and I am certain he would lend this to you for a try

[RW]

i actually had one made. talking with malcom, he said that putting the fins on any board (3 or 5 fin set-up) would make it better, flat, double concave etc. no matter of the bottom contours. so on mine we put slight vee in the tail and that was very very slightly concaved. its an incredible board but, it ended up being too thin for me so i passed it along to a fairly good friend. if you want to know more about its incredible shred factor you can reach him a geno@kickyourassatthejetty.com

I've ridden a hand me down Captian KneeMore to Gen-O 5'6" bonzer shaped by Mark Schneider at kick-ur-butt-at-the-jetty surf break on a solid 4' day with long roping walls. It frickin' flew down the line with the control of a spoon in the pocket, along with the flat out projection of a fish. I was impressed having never ridden one, but had seen them perform amazingly at the Rock, the Shoe, and Casa's in the mid '70's. Gen O hasn't ridden anything else for years now in all our heavy breaks. As a note, they don't do well in the flats...gotta have a good pocket and a funneling wall. They aren't yur everyday squigglebutt boards most prefer.

On another note, KneeMore, aka SmellsLikeFish, affecftionatly know as "The Big Fish," let me ride one of his Klaus Jones hulls a few years back on a grinding 4-6" swell at CatBox/Hezbollahs.....I was in Pig Porker Heaven.....a spoon that one could paddle into waves! The thing flew. Fall in, lay it up on a rail, and feel the thing arc into long swooping rollercoaster lines. Fastest thing in the lineup that day. Short side being, no drive out of turns like a real spoon. Otherwise, a refreshing ride amidst the conundrum of commonality of contemporary designs. I didn't have $350 at the time he was selling it and some dork from San Clemente bought it. Bummer.

If you want to expand your experience, ride anything and everything that comes across your path. Put some soul into your equation and expand your perceptions.

It's all about the ride......the ride of your life.



Bobby